Well, have you ever felt that when you are in Church that you are
simply following the motions without thinking? Have you seen the members
of your church dwindle? Well, it is because of the same reason, the
Church has become stagnant and thus people do not feel the need to go anymore.
So rather than say why the Church has become stale, I would like to
discuss with you how to liven it up. So let us begin.
Ideas to improve the Church:
1) Music: There are different mediums to
music that can enhance the church going experience, but only so many can get
you to voluntarily get up on your feet and dance. What I propose here is
that we copy a little bit of the Christian music the Baptists use so as to get
everyone revved up and into the happenings of the Church. It does not
even have to be all chorus either, but a variety of music.
2) Use
the actual Bible: I
have noticed that when I do go to Church that we are not reading directly from
the Bible. This to me has not really sat well with me as it felt like we
were not hearing the word of God directly. I really cannot express the
feeling well enough to describe it in words, but it just felt wrong to me.
So instead, I propose using an actual Bible when doing readings from the
Gospels. In fact, let people use their own Bibles to read from so that
they get that personal feeling when readings are done. Also, let someone
other than the Priest read the Bible in the same way my Church has someone who
volunteers to do the reading every Sunday. Thus it allows people to
become more involved in the mass.
3) Embrace
discussions: Set aside time to actually discuss and debate the
readings and the Gospel that was read at mass that day. Basically, let
the congregation debate the morals and teachings with the Priest being the
moderator. In fact, the members of the congregation can be encouraged to
bring their pens/pencils with their Bibles so that they can make notations in
the Bible themselves on where our rights come from or to clarify what
Jesus'/God's message is. Again this gets people more involved in their
faith and helps them find the answers they are looking for from God.
4) Sunday
mass as an all-day thing: In the past, mass on Sunday was all day
affair. So why not bring that back. Each Sunday the Church can
hold a potluck type lunch for the congregation. So mass would begin at
around 10 and stop for an intermission around 12, and then pick up again at
about 130, and finish at 3pm. Thus, this would allow members of the
church a break and also have time for all these other suggestions. This
also provides time for more one on one type sessions with fellow members of the
congregation to discuss the happenings in the Church as well.
Conclusion: I believe that all these will
enhance the Church going experience and allow the Church to become a place for
conversations on morality, law and news. The Church has always been meant
to be a community gathering place that people can go to, to be with one another
while embracing one's faith. It has lost that ability as masses became
shorter to accommodate the faster pace of life, but can become something more
if allowed to freely embrace different methods of enhancing people’s desire to
worship.
No comments:
Post a Comment