I've seen some Anglican churches down here have a wide range of liturgy and church order. What do you guys think of the below? By Jonathan Moules, Enterprise Correspondent Financial Times | July 25, 2014 Although growth is happening across denominations in London, a key element has been a group of inner city evangelical Anglican churches, which are being reinvented using strategies taken from the corporate world. Anglicans in London can now choose from several “mega” churches, notably Holy Trinity Brompton in Kensington, which has rebranded itself HTB and attracts several thousand worshippers each Sunday, and St Helen’s Bishopsgate in the City. These have supported the training of clergy and encouraged members of their own congregations to become the founding teams in churches they want to revive. HTB was for many years the home church of Justin Welby, the Archbishop of Canterbury. He was a lay leader at the church before quitting his successful oil industry career in 1989 and moving to Durham to train to be a priest. Sunday morning services aimed at appealing to a younger audience start with fresh coffee followed by TED-style talks, available later online. For evening service, wooden pews are replaced with sofas and floor cushions and the atmosphere becomes one of a music venue with a live band leading worship. Typical of the trend is St Paul’s Shadwell, a 350-year-old East End parish church, where nine and a half years ago Ric Thorpe, a former marketing executive at Unilever, was appointed rector by Richard Chartres, the Bishop of London. Read more at: http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/8a0c982c-05dc-11e4-8b94-00144feab7de.html#axzz39A8I2TNi
That is a good article. But I wonder if they don't lose something in moving away from our historical identity markers (liturgy, vestments, tradition, reverence)? I go to a very 'successful' parish with plentiful Sunday attendance. Our rector who led our revival had everyone gather in the parish hall, and told us that he was not interested in 'success.' He was only interested in faithfulness to God. Our success was not to be attributed to him but to God. His job was to continue to champion fidelity to truth, and he warned us, he was willing to see people depart and leave, if it led to a deeper more faithful witness to our religion. I was never so proud of our rector as on this day. This the only pattern for a genuine worker in the Vineyard of The Lord.
What would you say to my people who feel moved to bring in a flamenco style guitar as accompaniment? We have a different cultural context here. How would they stay consistent with your notion of truth?