Trip to Frontline church today to meet Andy the main tech guy. Very helpful showing me all the tech gear they have there. More of that later for those so inclined.
The service was enjoyable and also moving, with nearly 20 adult baptisms, about a dozen of them Iranians. Each gave a few words of testimony (as suggested in Common Worship)! The 10-piece band played background music with a chorus of a popular song as each candidate was duly dunked. 'Jesus we Celebrate', 'O Happy Day' etc. Excellent. We also got to sing 'We exalt thee' in Farsi. (My Farsi is not that good but I'm sure they changed the last 'O Lord' to 'Jesus' - not that there's anything wrong with that.)
Frontline is an extraordinary church that is certainly very popular. I would recommend it to any student moving to Liverpool. But. I did leave with some questions. The service was seeker-friendly, and needs to be seen in the context of their other services, especially the earlier more Bible-focused one. But I was still surprised to not have any Bible at all - not even a slide. The speaker talked about Peter getting out of the boat, but didn't mention where that story came from. He likened it to Luke Skywalker trying and failing to lift his X-Wing out of the swamp on Dagobah. Fair enough, but Luke got a film clip and Peter didn't. Sometimes I unexpectedly feel like a proper Evangelical.
It's probably not fair to criticise on the basis of one service, and I may go back. The real concern I have over Frontline is more to do with its heterogeneity. ("sameyness"). Most people seemed to be in their 20s, many with accompanying children. Exactly the kind of people that are achingly absent from all the other churches. Now I know why - they're all at Frontline! That's only half-joking. The rest of the churches in town miss out on the liveliness, the passion and the energy of these young believers; and the corollary is that older, more seasoned believers can't pass on their wisdom of years spent walking the walk. I'm not sure that's a good thing.
The counter argument is that like attracts like, and many or most of the Frontliners wouldn't go to church at all if it meant smells, bells and candles. Or even small worship bands playing cheesy old songs and preachers thinking they're cool for having a couple of slides of PowerPoint.
It could be that we're in a transitional time between geographical and networked models of church, as personal mobility continues to increase. Frontline could really do with a car park though.
I came away having enjoyed the experience overall, and with some chocolate, but with just a faint sense of unease.
Essay already - anyway that's too much for the less techy people. Now a bit about that. I'll grey this out to make it less important.
Frontline has more tech than any church I've ever seen. More than we have in 4 churches put together where I'm from. Importantly they have a team of about 18, properly rotad to look after it on a Sunday. Which starts about 6.30 a.m. for Andy. They don't just have a projector, they have 2 with 2 spares and a big plasma screen at the back so the person at the front can see what's on. They have 2 cameras and 5 computers. Plus an iPad which can remotely control the digital sound mixer desk. They have one computer just to control the lighting. Which is so subdued that I couldn't read, but had an effective spotlight on the baptismal pool. They had live translation into two other languages, which is done through wireless headsets given to anyone who wants one. And then there's the video and sound recording of the service which gets put up on the website. And did I mention the £3000 camera used just for stills? This is a big budget operation, and Andy's MO is to only buy the best equipment available. Only the best is good enough for God - something you're more likely to hear in a cathedral than in your struggling parish church.
- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad. Currently not controlling any sound system.
Location:Frontline - Shed
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