Experimental Church
Want to blog about my Wednesday night service tonight. First, kudos to JC (not Jesus) for the idea.
Let me explain what we did and then I'll tell you how great it was.
After a short Praise and Worship time, we moved our chairs into a circle and JC explained his plan for the night. In short, it was a different kind of corporate Praise & Worship. It was a time of focused corporate prayer.
We started out meditating on Psalm 100 and pulling the definitions for God from that.
We prayed this scripture and others that came to mind; each time focusing on a meaning of God.
We moved from this, to confessing how we know that God is God. While the first part was very heavy on scripture; this part was more personal and more intimate. But – it was also corporate and there were walls that were being torn down between those of us there.
From time to time, people who start a song and we'd sing it through a couple of times. And, then move back to prayer or an insight.
Next, JC passed out a page with the names of God; we meditated on these and when one of them spoke to us – we prayed that. Confessed that God is “the God who heals” or “the Lord of peace” and what that meant to us.
Finally, we broke into groups of three; and we each confessed something that we were having a struggle with – then the other two people in our group prayed for us. It was very private and open ... and it was wonderful and scary.
OK – so that's what we did (more or less – I didn't take notes). But, what happened was that walls were torn down between us and we were forced – if we really wanted to commune with God – to commune with each other. To begin to create community.
Community. Something that my church has been needing. It really was a beautiful thing; and I was so honored that God had me there tonight.
Thanks JC (both of you).
Andy
Let me explain what we did and then I'll tell you how great it was.
After a short Praise and Worship time, we moved our chairs into a circle and JC explained his plan for the night. In short, it was a different kind of corporate Praise & Worship. It was a time of focused corporate prayer.
We started out meditating on Psalm 100 and pulling the definitions for God from that.
Verse 3a: Know that the Lord, He is God
Verse 3b: It is He who has made us
Verse 3c: We are His people and the sheep of His pasture
Verse 5a: For the Lord is good
Verse 5b: His mercy is everlasting
Verse 5c: And His truth endures to all generations
We prayed this scripture and others that came to mind; each time focusing on a meaning of God.
We moved from this, to confessing how we know that God is God. While the first part was very heavy on scripture; this part was more personal and more intimate. But – it was also corporate and there were walls that were being torn down between those of us there.
From time to time, people who start a song and we'd sing it through a couple of times. And, then move back to prayer or an insight.
Next, JC passed out a page with the names of God; we meditated on these and when one of them spoke to us – we prayed that. Confessed that God is “the God who heals” or “the Lord of peace” and what that meant to us.
Finally, we broke into groups of three; and we each confessed something that we were having a struggle with – then the other two people in our group prayed for us. It was very private and open ... and it was wonderful and scary.
OK – so that's what we did (more or less – I didn't take notes). But, what happened was that walls were torn down between us and we were forced – if we really wanted to commune with God – to commune with each other. To begin to create community.
Community. Something that my church has been needing. It really was a beautiful thing; and I was so honored that God had me there tonight.
Thanks JC (both of you).
Andy
posted by AndyM at 11:50 PM
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