Church innovation has become widespread & refreshing! Guess what is my favorite church innovation.

Over the past generation or two, the way of having church in our society has changed a lot as we have seen new ideas creatively introduced in many churches: Pews were replaced by theater style chairs. Traditional hymns by praise songs and choruses. Song books by Powerpoint slides.

This process has been called worship wars.  Worship wars can be defined as conflict in church about how to conduct the Sunday service, usually between contemporary innovations and more traditional ways of doing church.

In many churches passive lip syncing has been replaced by passionate singing with raised hands. Dressing up has been replaced by casual dress. Short drama productions have been inserted in many Sunday services, as well as YouTube clips. Worship dancing has been a creative innovation. In some churches a live preacher has been replaced by a giant TV screen picturing a preacher from another location. Some churches even let people get into small groups and pray with one another during the worship service.

However, the most exciting innovation to me, goes by several names: simple church, organic church, participatory church, etc. It is based on the Bible verse, 1 Corinthians 14:26, and replaces the traditional, one-man sermon with open sharing and participation as directed by the Holy Spirit.  Why?  Because we live in a participatory/interactive age.  To actively engage the upcoming generation, church needs to be participatory.

To quote Bob Rognlien:  “When you use the mediums of communication of 100 years ago, or even 40 years ago, our people are unmoved.  We are speaking a cultural language that our people do not understand.  We must seek more effective ways to engage the mind in worship.”  –from the book Experiential Worship.