WFX 2010: Day 1

Wednesday, November 3 was the first full day of WFX 2010, and it was packed. I attended an early morning session called "Staying Relevant in Changing Times," presented by a couple of church building contractor/experts, but the content was largely philosophical and thoughtful. There was some discussion of the impact of the digital age on church (and non-church) culture, and the importance of designing spaces that allow people to gather, connect, and participate. The concept of the "third place" was touched on briefly (more on this later from another session), and there was a lot of time given to the difference between "attractional" and "incarnational" churches. The digital age and the culture that comes with it has rendered the conventional, traditional "attractional" church model (build it and they will come) nearly irrelevant--the effective church today is an incarnational church--one in which the participants/attenders are actively pursuing being the body of Christ in their world. Our worship places should reflect this and provide spaces (such as "third place" spaces, like coffee shops and informal meeting areas for the community to use) where people can connect, interact and do life together.

The morning keynote was given by Ed Stetzer, president of Lifeway Research, and his focus was the importance of moving people in churches from being passive spectators to being active participants in the mission of God (his text was from 1 Peter 4:10). A notable quote: "You do not want a church full of knowledgeable, religious people, not living on mission, criticizing those who are." An unintended side-effect of producing excellent worship service is the possibility of producing worshipers who believe their role in church is to watch and consume. "We have made it normal and acceptable," Stetzer says, "to sit there week after week and do nothing and call ourselves followers of Christ." I really enjoyed Stetzer's message and was challenged to think.

I attended a practical session on lighting, set decoration and the like, presented by Alex Castro and Randy Burchard--this was a useful session that explored the many ways that we can create beautiful, compelling visual environments for worship on a budget. (Home Depot is your best friend in this world.) Burchard works at a church that is a strategic partner with Northpoint, so he has access to some cool resources and hand-me-downs from the Northpoint churches, but he, too, is on a budget, and showed many examples of how to create relevant backdrops for worship and preaching using materials such as chain-link fence, PVC pipe, paper, plastic and insulating foam. But the most important element of all: lighting. And it doesn't take much.

Another session I attended (which was nearly ruined by the rehearsal of the worship band next door) was about the concept of the "third place" (see above). Many churches today are building in coffee shops and cafés in hopes that they will become meeting spaces for personal interaction between attenders, but more importantly, for non-attenders and the unchurched. This is most effective in churches located in urban areas--the suburban churches don't have the foot-traffic of the urban churches--but many churches make it work. One pastor shared about how his church launched a worship service in one section of a bar on Tuesday nights, while patrons were still using other sections of the bar. Abandoning traditional worship music, he brought in a cover band to play music that related somehow to his message, and filled the place up night after night.

The vendor expo is the centerpiece of this conference, the bread and butter, if you will...over 220 vendors are hawking everything from playground equipment to fog machines, sound gear to seating, video projectors to building contracting. I picked up a lot of literature (and some of the usual conference schwag :-), and have learned a great deal about what is available and where to get it. All it takes, unfortunately, is money--lots of it. But even so, I will bring home a variety of ideas about ways that we can update our worship center without spending an arm AND a leg (maybe just an arm).

But so far, the most valuable insights have had to do with the focus on the shift from consumer-oriented church to active participation, and the various effects of the digital age on modern church life.

I'll have more to share about this later--time to head off to the morning keynote on Day 2!