My thoughts on life, relationships, and everything else!

Thursday, March 03, 2005

All that glitter and old

Ever heard the phrase "all that glitters is gold?" well, when it comes to alot of churches anymore it's "all that glitter and old". Glitter refering to the "glitter pastors" most common in youth groups, who make everything pretty to get people in the pews. Old refering to overly tame services that are aimed at the 60+ crowd. Neither of these things done correctly are bad, don't get me wrong, but in excess can be disasterous.
Many youth, college, and singles aimed groups i have seen have really lost what it's all about. They have the "cool pastor" who jumps on stage, pretends to be ghetto, and takes them on cool trips.....but ask them what they learned and you'll get "i dunno". Yes, it does bring in the people, but they need to integrate a lesson, A REAL, IMPORTANT, CHRIST BASED LESSON! again, i'm not saying all are like this, just a few.
Another popular form of glitter pastor is the miracle worker. He struts into a church and suddenly BOOM!!!! 160 people are suddenly lead to God, baptized by water or Holy Spirit,or miraculously healed. plus he preaches so emotionally he has to run around screaming his head off. During one of these services i have been to, a man actually tried to push me over while praying! I'm like, "hello, its a broken arm, not broken spirit", plus he was pushing me over by the broken arm, so i wasn't a happy camper!
Then there are the 60+ churches. My church is one of these, but is done right. It's not too energetic, but not sleep prone. I have sat through many a service at a different church where 50% of the congregation is asleep by 11:30. The pastor has to scream during the service, and still most remain in slumber.
A happy medium im sure is out there somewhere. Everyone has their preference, hence all the different churches, but a good one is hard to find!