Ben Stewart

Speaking of churches…

March 24th, 2008 | No Comments

This weekend I attended one of the coolest churches ever. Ever.

First of all, the back-story.

Rebekah comes from a family that puts a lot of emphasis on family traditions. Basically this translates into “every holiday we are getting together with someone to eat a meal.” This is definitely a good thing and something that Rebekah and I fully intend to carry on in our family. Easter meals generally happen on Sunday afternoon after the entire family has gone to church together, however this year the family meal was on Saturday night because Rebekah’s brother just joined the staff of a church (and apparently Easter Sunday is kind of a big deal so they wanted him there). Since he was in Louisville and the rest of the family had no place better to go, we drove up to his church on Sunday morning.

And now for the good stuff.

Sojourn is a community of people in Louisville that gather together for Sunday worship and for weekly community groups. I know this sounds cliche because a church is a church and every church these days tries to call itself a “community of people” when really it’s just a building full on Sundays and empty the rest of the week. However, I really feel that Sojourn’s mentality is different. While I would still say that no church is perfect since people aren’t perfect and we are the ones in charge, this church has a lot of great things going on.

The people of Sojourn hold creativity and the arts very highly and they are a highly creative bunch. In fact, the old school building that they meet in doubles as an art gallery and music venue. They have people in the community that create beautiful pieces of art for use within the church and for special occasions.

A lot of the music that they use for their worship gatherings is original music which definitely helps them define their own collective voice. The general feel of the music at the service I attended was a modern, electric-guitar driven, bluegrass singing. The emphasis was not on playing a great show for the audience like it is at a lot of churches these days, it was very much on getting the audience involved in participating in every aspect of what was happening on stage. They definitely tried to unify the crowd instead of separating the audience and the stage. Their worship band even regularly records and releases CDs of their original music.

The leadership of the church encourages members to live in the community around their building so that they are all active members of their neighborhood (which is by no means the rich side of town). The teaching was simple but true and I never felt like the speaker was trying to (1) merely evoke an emotional response from the audience or (2) water his message down so far that everybody would leave feeling happy. These two traits are probably the most common issues that I have with Easter sermons (generally speaking). So it was a breath of fresh air to hear something different.

It is rare that I attend a church that makes me want to move to their city just to be a part, and that is pretty much what happened this past Sunday. If you are in the Louisville area over a Sunday (morning or evening) I would encourage you to check out Sojourn. Hopefully you will find it as refreshing as I did.

What qualities do you like/dislike in the American church? (Please, keep it constructive.)

Tags: christian, church, spirituality | Posted in Uncategorized

Too many churches?

March 22nd, 2008 | No Comments

Rebekah and I have been married for about a year and a half and still haven’t really felt connected in a local church. We met some wonderful people at the church we joined when we got married and we love a lot of things about that church. It is a great church. However, there has still always been some kind of disconnect. I’m sure part of it is because it is a little far away. Plus, a lot of the people we know who attend there live in other parts of the city (most 30 minutes to 1 hour away from us). And, of course, my travel schedule has kept us from really doing a lot of activities together (it’s always the guy’s fault).

Well, recently Rebekah has been attending a new church plant in Nashville called Green Hills Church. I still haven’t been to a service because I haven’t been in Nashville on a Sunday morning since January, but Rebekah has really gotten involved and likes it a lot.

My first reaction to the idea of a new church plant in a city so saturated with churches is, “Really?! Seriously?!” I would immediately jump to the idea that more churches only divides the Church further instead of fostering community among believers in the same area. BUT, in the same breath, I would have to say that it seems this church plant is exactly what Rebekah and I needed. Despite the thousands of churches around town, we had yet to find one that fit like GHC seems to have done.

So, at least for now I have put my cynicism aside about “another church in Nashville” and I am excited about the opportunity to take part in a new group of believers at a church finding its identity in the community.

What are your thoughts on church plants in America (especially in the Bible belt)?

Tags: christian, personal | Posted in Uncategorized