The Rock

Well I guess it would be good to post about The Rock this morning.

At the moment my over-riding thought/emotion is confusion!

I was expecting a modern building, but it had pillars and stuff and was pretty old. There were middle-aged, and elderly gentlemen in the car park who showed me where I could lock my bike. That encouraged me that it wouldn't be all young people!

I was warmly welcomed by a young woman who took me through the church (which looked remarkably like york baptist church across the road, and in fact, pretty much like a lot of churches I've been in!) and through to the back where there was a cafe style place. It looked quite modern and recently done. The woman introduced me to some people and gave me a free drinks voucher (they charge considerably for drinks!!) as it was my first time. I ordered an orange juice and sat down. I felt very shy and the conversation was quite limited. I suddenly realised that I probably should be asking them questions too and not just answering theirs!

Anyway, that went on for 45 mins and then we all went back into the church. I sat with these people I met in the middle. The church is wider than it is long so you get a pretty good view wherever you sit. I realised at this point I should have asked if the tea and coffee was fair trade but I forgot. There seemed to be quite a mix of ages, but predominantly young people.

Now the front of that church was interesting. It was a complete proper stage (they have a dance academy too) with a sheet of black from the ceiling covered in lights like stars. From the floor to the balcony was a white sheet covered in the same kind of lights, but which also had spot lights in blue and pink shining down. Then I realised there was a complete light system going on! There was a big screen in the middle like we have at Fridays, and then the band took up the whole stage. This is where alarm bells started going off as I remembered a conversation with an old pastor who talked to me about the significance of the placing of things at the front of the Baptist church we were at. In the Baptist church, the pulpit was raised in the middle of the stage because of the centrality of the Bible teaching to our lives, below it was the table for communion, and to the side would be the musicians. I don't know whether it's me being 'traditional' or whatever, but that makes sense to me.

I don't like the band being centre stage as it leads to band worship. As in worshipping the band.

As the service started the musicians came on and this included six singers with hand held microphones. Everyone in the band had lots of makeup and looked really dressed up. I thought uh oh, this is really starting to look like a performance. I don't like it when people when lots of makeup. It makes me think they're insecure in how they look. I think it can make others who don't look so perfect feel unworthy. Then they started singing. One bloke, in a kind of gospel style but not quite. Then the other singers joined in, dancing around and really getting into it. There were at least two guys running around with cameras so that shots of the singers and band could be shown on the screen behind the words. Eventually it got to bits where the congregation could join in. I found it all very distracting, but when we got to songs I knew I shut my eyes and really met with God. The noise was so loud with people singing and enjoying themselves, you could just groove. But I struggled when I had to open my eyes to read the words. The whole thing felt like a performance. People clapped after each song - fine if their clapping God, but people shouted out well done to the singers and stuff!

I enjoyed the way they embraced the Holy Spirit and people spontaneously prayed. They certainly believed in the power of God to heal and stuff today. The talk was very challenging and appropriate. Talking about leaning on God and his understanding, not our own. Might blog more about it tomorrow. I couldn't write down the stuff he was saying fast enough!

The leader guy kept going on about this church being the best church ever. Not the only church, but the best. That annoyed me a bit. They don't seem to be in to doing things with other churches, but they kept saying, 'anyway we can serve you, let us know!' We served ourselves communion at the front. No one quite explained what it was.

I chatted to some people afterwards and asked about the work they do in the community. Not much was the answer. They do a drop in for the homeless a number of afternoons. She didn't seem to want to talk about community.

I then had an amazing talk with an older guy from Cyprus. He's been there 21 years and seen it change from a church were no one was welcomed, and now he actively encourages the younger people to welcome people. We agreed that it gives such an awful impression not to be welcoming. What does that say to non-Christians? I really enjoyed my chat with him. He kept squeezing my arm and was very enthusiastic. He seemed genuinely nice and interested. We talked about the importance of being routed in a church and stuff. I mentioned that I found the worship a bit showy. He didn't answer directly, just said something vague about not everything suiting everybody and you have to make allowences for some things. I guess he's right to a certain extent. So what if they're not doing much with the community - that's something we can sort out. So what if they're not using fair trade stuff - we can sort that.

But I just don't know. I think I'll try Kings the week I get back after Easter. Then I'll try The Rock again.