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Observation 8
Church Eight Observation Report
25th September 2005
None of the team had ever been to this church before and though between us we knew a few of the congregation, this was as close to being 'outsiders' as we have yet come. Church Eight is an evangelical Anglican church. The service - Common Worship Eucharist - was held in a separate building next to the church building.
The music was provided sometimes by CD, but mainly by a small but accomplished band of three musicians - one guitarist/vocalist, one pianist/vocalist and one lead vocalist.
In Sunday School the children sing classic Sunday School type songs (Father Abraham, etc) as well as Lighthouse songs. These are accompanied sometimes by guitar, sometimes by CD.
After the first hymn came the 'children's song slot', lead by the musicians. The children were not prepared for this in advance, but were invited to go to the front to face the rest of the congregation and take part in various action songs. This smacked of the performance model, particularly when (for two of the three items) they sang along to a CD. The adults 'in the chairs' were expected to participate too, however, so though the children were on show at the front, the songs they sang formed a part of the worship of the whole congregation. In this way, Church Eight has embraced music they feel ministers to their young people, without alienating them from the main act of worship. It was not entirely successful, however, as many of the young people at the front looked embarrassed and, as the songs they were singing were unrehearsed, they didn't really know what they were doing. The young people were stood with their backs to the OHP screen, so were unable to see the words either. The adults needed considerable encouragement from the musicians leading the 'children's slot' to join in - I think the phrase used was, 'Come on, we all look like prats!' or something very similar! If worshipping in this way makes everyone 'look like a prat', indeed, to the point where many are reluctant to join in, then can this really be an effective vehicle for worship? I think not. It was a well intentioned effort to include the young people in the main act of worship and this is to be commended, but this could have been done differently to greater positive effect. If the children were able to stay in their seats, facing the OHP screen so they could see the words and remain as part of the larger congregation, the performance element and the embarrassment factor would be lessened, making it easier for all present to worship. The use of CDs to accompany congregation singing is by no means ideal, especially when there are three talented musicians on hand, perfectly able to play the music required.
The children left for Sunday School after their song time and returned in time for the peace, prayers and Eucharist. This worked well, as the young people were in church for the larger part of the service, enabling them to learn and participate in the liturgy. This was the only church observed that made any such effort to actively include their young people in the main body of the normal Sunday service, and such efforts are to be commended. There was a noticeably higher level of participation amongst the young people at this church 1.
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- After the observations were completed and the data analysed, my initial impressions of the higher level of participation were confirmed - Church Eight had the highest level of participation of all the churches observed, no matter how the data was manipulated. Back to text
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