Kairos Church Experience

For several weeks I have been thinking about new church development, and what the emerging church looks like. So this Sunday, Ame and I went to Kairos church. This was a wonderful experience for us both. Both Ame and I have had our share of church experiences. We both grow up in vary active churches, that are still growing. We also have attended together two churches I have worked for. The thing that ties all of these churches together is their traditional format. They all have their own buildings, some of these churches were established in some cases as cities developed around them. All of these churches have a since of roots, and history. So attending a new church development was something exciting and held a sense of uncertainty of what to expect.

There were several things I noticed about this church. The first and most notable, there was some serious sincerity in everyone we meet from the Thomas one of the Pastors, to everyone we sat near and got to meet. During Thomas' sermon, he shared a very personal story about his and his father's relationship. It was so honest and open, and yet so refreshing. This sincerity was so amazing and left an impact on both Ame and me.

One of the other aspects of the service that was striking was how many young couples where there. There were more young couples - like early 30's and under, newly weds. For the two of us, who have been attending a church where our closest friends had a middle school aged son. So sitting in a church with a lot of young couples was exciting. And showed that there are young people out there who were looking for a community of faith to be a part of, and actively involved in.

The service itself could best be described as a what my experiences as a youth during youth group meetings. I don't mean this to say that it was overly simplified, or kiddish. There was no pretension, there was a great amount of openness. The service itself lasted roughly two hours. Neither Ame nor I realized this until we got in the car to head home. We both were amazed by this.

The sermon itself was challenging. The idea of not shying away from confrontation, and being willing to share my faith with others was challenging to me. I have no problem in being confrontational, it doesn't bother me. But the idea of sharing my faith has always been something I have struggled with. I am not sure if it is that I am overly Presbyterian and really cringe at the thought or word of EVANGELISM. So I have struggled with finding where that will fit into my life of faith and vocation as someone moving towards ordained ministry.

After this service I have begun asking questions about the church. Can this energy and excitement transfer over to the more "traditional" churches? How can this transfer to established churches? Are these churches willing to embrace the ideas about worship and community that are coming from these emerging churches? What will happen to these emerging churches as they become established churches?

There are many more questions and I am afraid I do not have any of the answers! We shall see as I will explore some of these ideas!