Jesus doesn’t want flash worship. He doesn’t want anything done well or appearing to succeed. It grosses him out. Keep it small, poorly executed and niche. Or just keep it in the style WE do it. Amen.
You make some excellent points here, Jonty. Sadly many who adopt this 'popular' idea have not even visited a church with a worship style different from their norm to see what it's like, what the teaching is or if they connect with God there. Hopefully this piece can help be honest with themselves long enough to examine their own motives and even be open to the idea that God is able to use these churches for His glory and purposes, even if they are different from their more 'traditional' style church. In my experience, I was blown away by the way God was using a new 'mega-church' plant in that city to reach many (hundreds) of unsaved people with the Gospel on a weekly basis, who didn't feel comfortable going to more traditional denominational churches. Bottom line, if God is choosing to use these churches, who am I to disagree with Him? (See Gamaliel's point in Acts 5:38-39.) Otherwise, who knows the awkward conversation you may have in eternity when you bump into Joel Osteen?
You make some excellent points here, Jonty. Sadly many who adopt this 'popular' idea have not even visited a church with a worship style different from their norm to see what it's like, what the teaching is or if they connect with God there. Hopefully this piece can help be honest with themselves long enough to examine their own motives and even be open to the idea that God is able to use these churches for His glory and purposes, even if they are different from their more 'traditional' style church. In my experience, I was blown away by the way God was using a new 'mega-church' plant in that city to reach many (hundreds) of unsaved people with the Gospel on a weekly basis, who didn't feel comfortable going to more traditional denominational churches. Bottom line, if God is choosing to use these churches, who am I to disagree with Him? (See Gamaliel's point in Acts 5:38-39.) Otherwise, who knows the awkward conversation you may have in eternity when you bump into Joel Osteen?