Sunday, September 25, 2011
New Life Church and Lincolnway Christian Church cancel worship services this weekend to participate in Faith in Action.
Yes, it's true. The church has left the building. If you stopped by New Life Church or Lincolnway Christian Church this weekend, you would have found the buildings empty. Both congregations are participating in Faith in Action and have canceled weekend services. Well, services, as in worship services. Both churches will be spending Sunday outside their church walls engaged in providing services to the community. "We want to follow the example that Jesus gave and go serve our community as Jesus served his," said Karen Ferreira, who is coordinating efforts at Lincolnway Christian Church where participants will be going out to various New Lenox grade schools. There they'll be mulching, weeding, picking up garbage, setting up game striping and…
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Sunday, September 18, 2011
Living in comfort where we do, it's easy to forget the fragile nature of human lives.
It's been a rough week for me. I don't typically subscribe to "it's a full moon" theory, but for me, intersections between life and faith include the natural world, which has divine rhythms all its own, rhythms that can rock our world from time to time. What started my little personal earthquake during this full moon week was the sound of my dog playing with a squeak toy in the back yard at 6:45 Monday morning. Apparently still not fully awake, it took me a few minutes of hearing this noise to realize that the pieces didn't fit. Jenna doesn't have any squeaker toys, but that's the sound a squirrel makes when she catches it (which has happened on rare occasion). I rushed out the door, yelling at her to stop, which she reluctantly did while …
Saturday, September 18, 2010
Pastor John Morlan has a plan to bring people back to church: drop the music.
When members of Grace Fellowship Church stepped up to take communion Sunday, Sept. 12, there was no music to accompany them as they stood in line. Their worship was carried out in a moment of silence, and instead of passing a collection plate (an act that traditionally requires music), they were reminded to give at the door on their way out. It was the non-denominational church's first 2-the-Point service, a new program that aims to pull in more churchgoers by removing one of the essentials of Christian corporate worship: the music. The end result is a shorter service, stripped down to a few prayers, a sermon and, on this day, communion. Around 25 people were in attendance at the 8:30 a.m. service on Sept. 12, a substantially lower number …
Karen V. Maurer
3:21 pm on Sunday, September 25, 2011
It is easy for churches to be consumed with the survival of a building -- the roof, the parking lot, the heating, the air conditioning...this "leaving the building" for a day does make you wonder what churches would be like without buildings! It's forty years since Avery and Marsh wrote "The church is not a building, the church is not a steeple, the church is not a resting place, the church is a … more ›