Our society has become more and more transient. Fewer people today actually live or stay in the town in which they were born or grew up. In my parent’s generation, men worked for a single company their entire lives in the hopes of retiring and “getting the gold watch.” Today no one seems to work for the same company for much more than five to ten years before deciding it’s time to advance their career elsewhere. The internet, smart phones, lap top computers, ipads and innumerable other technologies have added to our increased mobility. We are a society more on the go than ever before. This mobility (which is both good and bad I think) has even impacted our religious life. It used to be that parishioners were generally life- long members of a particular church. Members were baptized, married and had their children baptized in the same communities. Historically church records have recorded the stories of families for generations. Unfortunately this too is changing. Today people change churches like they do jobs. The effect is often that newer younger churches offer a watered down message in favor of increased music or greater media content. Unfortunately, age old traditions, and important doctrines are often lost to younger Christians. Overall the church (meaning the church universal encompassing all denominations) has done a poor job teaching younger Christians the faith.
As a means of retaining younger members and attracting new ones, many main line traditional churches these days are offering what is called contemporary services. While the normal weekly service might be the accepted method of worship for members who have grown up in those churches, they can be significantly different for perspective attendees from different denominations. Starting January thirtieth, Christ Episcopal Church in Tyler will be rolling out its new contemporary service. But this is not simply mass with a band instead of a choir. The purpose of this new service is to offer young adults and perspective members a ground floor entry to the Episcopal Church. The service will have a simplified liturgy, a slightly longer homily or sermon (about twenty minutes), and of course more contemporary music. The hope is that this new format will help young people and non Episcopalians to connect with the Eucharist (which will remain a weekly practice) in perhaps a new and deeper way. The point is not to discontinue the church’s traditional practices, but to attract people buy better explaining them.
For more information on Christ Church visit their webpage at http://www.christchurchtyler.org/welcome.htm or call the church office at (903) 597-9854.