VOX: Pros And Cons

Yesterday I attended VOX City Church, a Church plant in the city centre. The pros: The venue was nice (though unusually situated), the preparation was first class, the content was well balanced, the Lead Elder knew how to preach, the emphasis was on Christ, and personally, I think they are doing good work that will bear lasting fruit. Any cons should be seen in this context. The cons: There is an enormous investment of resources and energy in this Church, for which I did not find a more specific motivation (but the general motivation is there). Also, I find that such emerging Churches (not emergent -- a narrower term) tend to distance themselves from Church the way it's (sometimes) become, yet unwittingly tend towards similar characteristics. In this case, it was a "formal informality": on the surface of it informality, underneath formality -- in my view, because people may be trying too hard -- natural, perhaps, for new beginnings. OBSERVATION: Take a look, by way of contrast, at my Winter Photo 39, where one sees an "informal formality". It's a formal Anglican service, where the priest has a "couldn't care less" attitude (jumping off the altar without a second thought), while caring very much, if that makes sense.