Middle of the road church

I often get asked, “What style of worship do you use at Grace Church?” Is it traditional? Is it contemporary? Is it progressive? Is it blended? Is it seeker-sensitive? That’s a difficult question to answer because different people have different ideas of the multiple styles of worship and services that exist today. Some people view a “progressive” style differently than others do and some people define “seeker sensitive” differently too. In other words, these words have different meanings and connotations for different people.

So what is our style of worship here at Grace Church? Well, I’ll use the term “Middle of the Road” to answer that question. Here is what I mean. Let’s compare our style of worship and services to two other larger area churches. First, there is Calvary Church out by Lancaster Bible College. This is a very fundamental church that is solid in doctrine and committed to reaching lost people and discipling them in the faith. How do we compare to Calvary Church? I think it would be safe to say that Calvary is a bit more traditional in their style of worship and services than we are here at Grace.

Then there’s Lancaster County Bible Church, known in short as LCBC. This is a much larger church that is seeker oriented. Again, this is a good church with a solid doctrinal standing and one that is fully committed to seeing people who are far from God become fully devoted followers of Christ. How does Grace Church compare with their style of services and worship? It would be safe to say that LCBC is much more progressive than we are on our weekend services.

So on one hand you have Calvary Church that is more traditional than we are here at Grace Church and on the other hand you have LCBC that is much more progressive than we are here at Grace Church. That’s why I say, in comparison we are a “middle of the road church” when it comes to area styles of worship. I think this is a very good thing for the church as a whole in our area. I would imagine that between our three churches (Grace, Calvary and LCBC) there are close to 10,000 people that attend services each weekend. To me, that is a very exciting statistic. It also allows those in our community to find a good church in which to be involved for the cause of Christ that fits with their personal style of worship. If someone visits Grace and says, “I really liked it but your church is just a bit too progressive for me,” then I can genuinely recommend that they check out Calvary Church. If someone visits on a Sunday and says, “I really liked it but your church is just a bit too traditional for me,” then I can genuinely recommend that they check out LCBC.

Now, don’t get me wrong. I am in no way saying that these are the only good churches in our area. There are many good churches of all sizes and styles. I just use these two churches as examples because they are more known in our area. After all, there is no competition between lighthouses! In fact, one of my goals in 2006 is to get to know the Sr. Pastors of Calvary Church and LCBC personally and to develop a friendship with them and to be able to rejoice with them as to what God is doing in their ministries.