Opus 2025-528: Brain Storming

Tonight (written Wednesday) I’m going to a meeting at church and the goal of the meeting is to brainstorm where we want to go in the future.  There are a number of things that will be on the agenda, if there is an agenda.  First will be a concern with reaching younger people and trying to get young people into the church.  The second one will be a building program.  That is needed.  Beyond that I’m not sure where it will go or what direction.

I will need to sit on myself quite regularly because I tend to talk too much.  I have a lot of ideas, and am too critical at what others come up with.  So my challenge will be to listen and if there’s something that I just can’t hold back to go ahead and suggested.

What is going to make it difficult is the feeling expressed by the pastor that they don’t want to change anything.  Now when it comes to doctrine and the emphasis on scripture, I have no problem.  That should not be on the board at all.  When it comes to style of worship, he is big on hymns.  I think that’s a positive point but it’s not just that he’s big on hymns; it’s that he doesn’t let us sing anything which is not in the hymnal.  I find the typical contemporary worship incredibly boring.  I don’t think it reaches young people.  But then that’s the opinion of old guy.  However, there is a fair amount of what you would call contemporary music, which is quite singable, theologically solid, and worth adding to our worship service.  It should be a mixture of both hymns and the good contemporary stuff.

Then you have the issue of people in positions of leadership.  We have a pianist, who is very skilled.  She is an excellent pianist.  I have a CD that her husband gave me of what she did one time.  I’m told she never had to go back and do anything twice except when a motorcycle went by and somehow got through there sound barriers.  She is really good.  Or I might say she used to be really good but her skills have been going down seriously.  She’s in her 80s.  She has always played slow.  And the choir mentions they regularly trying to get her to go faster and she just won’t do it.  I don’t know if it’s lack of ability or lack of desire.  I know that you can use hymns and they can really lift people up but only if you sing them at the proper tempo.

As far as the building program goes, yes, we need to do something because we are at that point where people will stop coming because it gets too crowded.  My background tells me that’s about 80% of capacity.  My suggestion before they start a building program, would be to go to double services.  I don’t think that they’re open to that.  We’ll see.

So tonight I’m going to try to get there.  I’m going to try to be positive.  I know that God wants to use this church.  We’ll see if we’re open to it.

homo unius libri