Oxygen #2

Oxygen #2 took place on Friday. We had 25 people, many different faces. Feedback was again very good with some saying that they felt God had really spoken to them through the service.

I learnt a few key things on Friday:

• The service needs a leader. Someone has to be constantly monitoring the flow of the service and needs to step in when we cross the line from reflective silence to 'dead space'.
  
• The team is too small. We were minus one person on Friday, leaving four of us. That, and the fact that I hadn't delegated specific tasks to the team meant we felt a bit rushed.
• The more relaxed we are as a team on the night, the more relaxed people will be as they enter through the doors.
  

Oxygen already is finding a niche and will no doubt serve a segment of people who thrive on being still and quiet when focusing on God.

Do Nothing

The Bishop of Reading spent time handing out egg timers to to stressed commuters at the Reading Railway station one recent Monday morning. His message: take time out to do nothing - and start an adventure of self-discovery.

He urged people to spend three minutes a day in silent reflection and find out what might happen when they simply stop and rest.

Stopping and looking back I've found is a crucial part of walking with God. Deuteronomy sometimes reads like a broken record, as Moses relays God's message to the Israelite nation of 'remembering' what He had done. By remembering what God has done for us, we see the big picture, the whole screen rather than just a few pixels.

"Remember how the LORD your God led you all the way in the desert these forty years, to humble you and to test you in order to know what was in your heart, whether or not you would keep his commands." Deuteronomy 8:2

Dell Church

An article was posted on our staff room wall today: Churches adapting to an influx of teens. (Nelson Mail, Sat April 14, 2007).

The article declares that more young people are going to church because the "majority" of churches are now becoming more active in seeking the "missing generation" and because even though New Zealand is a "particularly secular" society, it is still quite a spiritual one.

I think that both reasons are true, but it's important to note that, even though many churches are making an effort to reach the "missing generation", they simply don't have a clue how to do it.

Today I could order a computer from Dell, and have them build it exactly how I want it. Down to the last megabyte of RAM, the size of the graphics card and the number of pixels in the monitor. This kind of micro-segmentation is the future of commerce - being able to buy a product tailor-made for you. Is that possible in church?

The post-modern generation is complex, diverse and in a constant state of flux. One church with one service will work for some, but not most. Essentially, what Miramar Baptist has done is try to reach another market segment - creating a product more suited to those who don't 'get' the traditional model of church.

I believe that this segment will get bigger and bigger and bigger. Then, within that segment will sprout other segments and so on and so on.

Maybe a church in the future will be more like Dell than Henry Ford's "any colour you like as long as it's black"? A whole collection of different style worship services, each catering to their own small segment.

Seatoun Sunrise

I spent two hours this morning trying to film a sunrise over Seatoun. It was dark, gloomy and cold, and due to the low cloud and fog, the sun needed to lift much higher than the hills. Still, patience was rewarded with some good footage.

It will be used to back a short film about how God speaks to us. I interviewed several Miramar Baptist Church members last weekend and will have their audio over the sunrise.

"How does God speak to you," is a question I have never heard in Church before. I've never had anyone explain it to me and I haven't heard other Christians talking about it. It seems to be some kind of taboo subject. Over time, I am learning how He speaks to me. The answers from others on the film are not surprising: pictures, creation, voices, feelings, 'just knowing' and of course the Bible.

Despite the range of ways God speaks to us, I still believe the Bible is the key medium He uses, or wants to use to speak to each person that knows Him.

Why is it then that only 21% of New Zealand Christians read it daily?

Oxygen is Selfish

Oxygen is 'Personal space with God'. It's an 'emerging church' service, if you want it to be part of some 'movement' I suppose. Oxygen is really designed for one simple reason: to allow people to connect with God in their own way.

There won't be any worship singing. There's not going to be any sermon (although usually a very short 'talk' or message, sometimes split up into several parts, will establish the service's theme and challenge the participant. But it's not a message that you might hear at a 'modern' style Sunday morning church service. It poses questions that it refrains from answering and puts the participant in a position to ask, 'What's God saying to me?'

One of the best ways to describe Oxygen is to use a word that is considered 'unmentionable' among Christians: selfish. Oxygen is a time where one can, and should be selfish in connecting with God. "It's your time with God, so use it. Forget about everyone else. Be selfish."

Oxygen #1

Oxygen #1 kicked off last Friday night. I arrived at 5:20 to do the final prep - mounting the speakers for the sound system.

"What's the time," I asked a friend.

"7:20," she replied.

"Man, I haven't even had tea yet," I said.

A few minutes later, stuffing my face with McChicken, we sat down to pray. Prayer has been a key feature of our preparations for Oxygen. We constantly pray that God will use whatever we create.

8:10pm, doors open and the first people arrive. 27 in all, including new faces and non-church goers.

The focus was John 15:16, "You did not choose me, but I chose you". It was very hard for me to gauge how the service went. I was too focussed on pressing buttons. At first I was disappointed, because it ran for only 30 minutes. I thought others would find it bizarre, coming to church for half an hour.

But the hour or so following the service, and then for the following few days, I came to realise that people had loved it. Feedback on the length surprised me the most, one person said "that's how long church should be!"

Another said they felt God's peace there. That's the goal. I also realised it may serve as a medium to help people unwind after a busy week, to reflect on what God has done and to reconnect with Him.

I really am hanging out for Oxygen #2.