Fridays was cool this week, though had a headache all evening so didn't concentrate. It was one of those evenings that made no impact on me but is seeping in slowly.
Went to Audacious tonight, was its one year anniversary and the name was changed to Awesome. I found it so difficult to focus on God, wherever I looked there was the band or pictures of the band and smoke and noise and distractions. I don't know if it's just me as a person that prefers a more introspective, quiet atmosphere. Audacious is a rollercoaster, it's a contant stream of images, music, speach, there doesn't seem to be any time for reflection or silence, to 'Be still and know that I am God'. It was just too much hype to cope with tonight. The talk was strange, I thought the guy (Mal Fletcher) was a good speaker but I did wonder when he was going to get round to bringing some Bible into it (he did near the end).
I hate being so critical of every church I go to. I desperately want to be able to appreciate a church service and be able to get involved and feel that what I'm getting involved in is right, but I don't feel I could do that anywhere at the moment. So tired of the whole church thing.
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6 comments:
there's nothing wrong with being critical of churches!
Audacious or awesome as it now is, I'm a bit undecided about, the old ones in the old building were much easier to focus on God but I agree that all the smoke and lights takes the attention away from God and they have too much atmosphere and too little space for God to fill with his own atmosphere.
I still really like audacious but I think that's more the music than meeting with God!
Shame about the name - I think Audacious was a lot more original and interesting than Awesome, which just sounds corny.
It sounds like a very extrovert night - different things suit different people I guess. Do they have a small group thing running alongside it or is Awesome stand-alone?
Carl - Awesome is just the evening service, there's also the morning service which is generally quieter and there's cell groups during the week which I've never been to. I think you're right about the extrovert thing, most of the people I've met at that church are super-confident and outgoing!
Mark - that's an interesting point about atmosphere vs God. Maybe it does depend on whether you can work with it - it becomes atmosphere vs God when we're distracted by it, but lots of other people could use exactly the same atmosphere to worship God.
Don't give up on the Church thing Laura! Try the morning service at Proclaimers, it's different and less in your face. Also last night was aimed to be an outreach service, hence lots of things going on in an attempt to grab attention and make people curious.
Carl - Audacious had to change the name because there is already another youth ministry in the UK with that name. Anyway I hoping the new name will grow on me.
Laura, a lot of the guys you see at Proclaimers who seem to be super confident found their confidence in God through church. I'm one of them, a year ago, outside of my friends I was very quiet and reserved and introverted.
And personally I know the spirit of God was working with me last night and had a presence there whatever the feeling of others about the atmosphere. I've had an emotional rollercoasater ride recently and I really needed God's strength and needed to find his support and I wasn't doing it too successfully before Audacious/Awesome last night, but I knew to do what I had to do last night, there wasn't any way I could do it without God.
I understand Audacious/Awesome might not be everyone's cup of tea. All I can say is that if people raise comments constructively on things like, having all the lights and smoke or whatever, I'm sure the leadership team will consider the views. It's when people simply go, 'I don't like..' and don't follow that with a "because...", or a "how about this instead of... because..." that annoys them. Sorry that's not a direct attack at you Laura, just a general thing which applies to any church/service not just Proclaimers/Awesome when people don't like how things are.
And sorry this comment is so long... :)
Long comments are more than ok, thank you :)
I know my post is mainly what I didn't find helpful about last night and it might come across as unhelpful criticism, so sorry about that. One suggestion I would make is that the video of the band shouldn't be put on the screen behind the words... it's a nifty piece of technology and very cool, but wherever you look the band is there, which isn't always conducive to worship.
Your experience of last night (who are you??) is great, I'm glad that Awesome is doing good things and obviously doing people good. That reminds me of another point - the video about the first year of Audacious was brilliant, but where were the testimonies of what God has been doing rather than all the references to numbers growing? Maybe I missed that part.
I've been to the morning service, it was good and more my cup of tea, but I'm still not sure it's what I'm looking for.
hi i just read your blog.i think you've got lots of very good points and i agree with many of them. im sure its really hard looking for a church because it takes a little while to settle in etc. i think its impossible to go to a church and instantly feel at home and comfortable. it takes time and effort so dont give up too quickly. you'll never find the perfect church, peole are people and make mistakes. :) sarah.
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