Everything went wrong at church
What is church actually all about?. PLUS: Tech problems on Sunday morning, my own shortsightedness, and three verses about church gatherings,
At least I didn’t burn the church down.
I still remember the most chaotic Sunday service of my ministry career. On one particular Sunday, I got the chance to “play preacher!” At the time, I was merely the second-fiddle Associate Minister. But when the “real minister” goes on vacation, all the responsibilities suddenly fall on me.
The sermon-preaching part is one I've done plenty of times before, but there are also a lot of other duties on the checklist at a small congregation—most of them tech-related.
Things started rough when I got to church early, though not as early as I would have liked. I had to get the slides set up, the livestream ready, and the sound system turned on, etc. It was a lot more stressful than it should have been, but I managed to check off my main list.
What could go wrong?
Well…
Turns out, pretty much everything that could go wrong did! Okay, not everything, but a lot of things. Okay, not a lot of things, but a few things.
Enough to bother me.
One of my duties was to test the children's video that we played at the beginning of worship to make sure the sound worked. I had tested it in the slideshow, and it was fine. But when I saw the sound guy there early, I just assumed he'd test it up on the big screen during his normal checks while I finished my other tasks.
Guess what? When the service started, no one had tested the video, and it wouldn't actually play.
Though in my defense, even if I had tested it and it didn’t work on the big screen, I wouldn’t have known what to do!
The service continued, but then…a microphone inexplicably cut off during the opening prayer!
I did have the duty to check the batteries in the microphones. I saw all green lights and noticed one of the elders changing out mics after Bible class, so I logically deduced all was well. Guess not.
Next, when it was time for me to preach, my slide advancer wasn’t working, and the audience and I waited awkwardly for the screen to cooperate. (I had pictures to show that required the screen; otherwise, I’d have just skipped it.) Fortunately, it started working after a few moments. Whew!
Videos not playing… microphones not working… slides not advancing…
All in all, it was a chaotic and stressful service from my perspective. What a fun Sunday to be in charge! And did I mention my parents were there to see it all?
I had promised the senior minister that I wouldn’t burn the church down, and I’m glad to say, I followed through on that part splendidly. But technology was not being a friend to me. Everything else was not quite smooth.
Yet, in retrospect, I realized that I was judging the success of the service based on how well the technology worked. Videos, microphones, slide shows—those are all extras. Jesus never needed those. Paul never preached with those!
So what is church really about?
Before we continue…
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And now the spiritual point…
What I should be measuring a service by is how well we participated in the grace of God—glorifying our Creator with all our ability and setting our hearts on the things of God. Did we do our best to transform people? Did we show love to God and others?
Let’s explore three verses that give us a new perspective on what we do when Christians gather.
One of our first glimpses at the church’s activities is easily accomplished in any kind of space:
“All the believers devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching, and to fellowship, and to sharing in meals (including the Lord’s Supper), and to prayer.”
—Acts 2:42
The slides might not have advanced, but there was still teaching and prayer!
Also, an oft-repeated verse about “going to church” actually centers our time together not on the “experience” but on the relationships grown:
“Let us think of ways to motivate one another to acts of love and good works. And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage one another, especially now that the day of his return is drawing near.”
—Hebrews 10:24–25
Encouraging one another can still be accomplished when the mic goes out.
And Colossians tells us these activities we are to concern ourselves with as a body of believers:
“Let the message about Christ, in all its richness, fill your lives. Teach and counsel each other with all the wisdom he gives. Sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to God with thankful hearts.”
—Colossians 3:16
We could sing and praise God even without a children’s video.
Any other metric of “church” fails. It’s not about how many showed up. It’s not about how great the technical experience was. It’s not about being impressive.
It’s about teaching. And fellowship. And praise. Church “works” when focused on those important tasks.
Crazy enough, I had preached about changing our perspective on trouble and recognizing that God is in control, even in a supposedly no-win situation. And that was exactly the lesson I needed. I focused on all the wrong things! Too often, if you’re like me, you zero in on what goes wrong and not what goes right.
But that Sunday afternoon, while I was still grumbling under my breath about the failures, I received a text from a church member who was in the midst of a tough cancer diagnosis. She told me the sermon was exactly what she needed.
She didn’t mention tech trouble. She just saw how God had been working.
And that’s Church.
Be the church
Jake Doberenz
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