[M.K. Borders]

“… the blandness and ugliness of the physical building will often be met and exceeded by what is actually happening in it: People milling about in flip-flops and shorts, chatting loudly in the lobby and in the pews. A jeans-clad church band playing music too hokey to be secular but too secular to be sacred… Never a moment of solemn silence. Never a moment of contemplation.”

[Not_Who_U_Think]

I couldn’t have said it better myself.

Most churches don’t have much religion these days, gone are the old hymns and the voice from the pulpit is careful not to offend. They’re more of a community center.

My home church decided 10 years ago to have two services - the ‘casual’ service and then the ‘classic’ service. The classic service had the older congregation, and the causal service attracted the younger crowd.

The older congregants supported the church financially, and for years was the dominate service. But now with time, the two have combined, and the church is suffering as the casual attendees just don’t contribute as much and have little involvement in the church beyond Sunday morning. Sad to watch.

[Elsie]

Sounds like my church - that meets in a large building in an industrial park.

We had no loaves or fishes last Sunday, but we did serve coffee, cocoa, water, donut holes, and a REALLY damned good sermon!

[thecodont]

“… the blandness and ugliness of the physical building will often be met and exceeded by what is actually happening in it: People milling about in flip-flops and shorts, chatting loudly in the lobby and in the pews. A jeans-clad church band playing music too hokey to be secular but too secular to be sacred… Never a moment of solemn silence. Never a moment of contemplation.”

I know someone who attends one of those “churches,” a place that performs same-sex “marriages,” celebrates “the blessing of animals,” and has an espresso bar in the lobby. You call that a church?