Featured A trend I've seen in contemporary churches

I've seen it for a couple years. I didn't think much of it or relate it to rock concerts, maybe because I don't go to rock concerts? LOL I related it to when we needed to start singing in the choir.

 

I only saw that at a "Battlecon" at a church in this area last month, which was a youth event.
Personally I don't see what makes it wrong. It's not inherently evil.

 

It's called a countdown. It's like an egg timer but more sophisticated. I assure you those churches using a countdown start the second the clock hits 0:00, if not a few seconds before.

When did this practice start? Near the end of the 18th Century. Back then they called them pocket watches. One of the elders would exclaim, "Forsooth, thy hour is upon thee!"

Borrowed from the world? Like the electricity to run the projector, central heat and air, cars in the parking lot, clothes with designer labels on them?

Rock concert? In my experience most people don't smoke weed at church. They might be sipping a Starbucks double frappe decaf but no weed.

 

Padre, not sure if my belly hurts from laughing or from stomaching the rotten sense of humor! Either way... :laugh: :tonofbricks:

 

Skip the potty break and you could pray longer. Pray longer and you won't have to resort to pot smoking, rock concert, stolen-from-the-world countdowns to get folk to shut up and sit down. :tongue3:

 

Wow. I should have paid more attention. LOL I'm such a dork, can't even say what our played, just watched the countdown at the last seconds to know when to look at the director.

I think your thread has given me more insight to my life than most any thread on here over the years. :laugh: I don't notice big things right in front of my face on a regular basis. People joke about it a lot. They're so very right!

 

It is better I suppose than some SBC churches in which I attended.

At exactly 12:00, you could literally hear the purses being moved, car keys jingling, folks closing whatever book they were reading (most didn't bring a bible) and some making their way for the exits.

I recall a visiting preacher got so mad he called the people down and preached for another 30 minutes.

When I came to Texas, the problem wasn't the time, but when was the game going to start.

One Sunday morning, the police were called to a youth pastor's house because of a possible break in, only to find a guy watching the TV. He was a member of the church, did TV repair, and was asked to fix the TV during the morning service so the game could be watched that afternoon.

Can you imagine when one of the deacons interrupted the youth pastor's SS class to ask if this was true - the police wanted to know if they were to arrest the man or let him finish fixing the TV.

BTW - this was in an IFB church.

 

The church I go to does it the old fashioned traditional way - they arrive 10 minutes late.

Rob

 

Our church has a multi-building campus, and we have HDTV screens throughout those buildings in the hallways and Fellowship Hall where people can see them. We also have three services on Sunday morning, and there are children's, youth, and adult Bible studies scheduled at those same hours. Families come in anywhere from five to 15 minutes before the next segment of activities -- service or Bible study -- starts and try to get everyone organized and where their going on time. Or maybe they do it like Rob's church and they're ten minutes late. :laugh:

About five minutes before the service, one of our associate pastors does the announcements on camera with a countdown clock in the left lower corner. It is a convenient way to let everyone know one of the three services is about to start. I can't believe anyone would have a problem with this practice.

I used to go to a church like that. Above two minutes before 12, wristwatch alarms would start dinging, as though that was going to get the pastor to "wrap it up." :tonofbricks:

This just confirms you're a Baptist. :laugh:

 

Per the OP, we use a countdown timer for all of our services.

We have it on our CGIs in the worship center and on monitors outside the worship center. We've used in for about seven years now.

It isn't "worldly" or "pagan." We simply want to be a good steward of our people's time and let them know when its time to go. Nothing goofy about that imho. In our four services on Sunday we have a specific service plan that starts on time and ends on time.

Padre did a great job summing up the rest of my points.

So, Speedpass, why do you have a problem with these countdown timers?

 

It is really very simple. It is about starting on time. People know that when the count down hits zero then they should be in their seats and ready for worship. Fellowship time is over. It's time for business.

 

What I'm getting from this is that you want to walk into the sanctuary without being "accosted" by anyone, not talk to anyone, not greet anyone, not acknowledge anyone, but just go straight to your seat, sit like a bump on a log, get up to sing -- by yourself -- get up (or bow your head) for corporate prayer, take notes during the sermon, then get up and leave, again without talking to or greeting anyone.

Is that about right? Or am I missing something here?

 

Otherwise known as "time to dig madly in purse for hand sanitizer time." I've often (jokingly) wanted to just start yelling "UNCLEAN!" just to see what people would do...

 

During flu season last year, our pastor suggested the "fist bump" greeting, or even better, the "forearm crash." :laugh: