Coral Ridge Ends Age-Segregated Worship

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nasa30

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From the Article
A Florida megachurch has axed its traditional and contemporary Sunday worship services, refusing to continue down the wide path of segregated worship.


Coral Ridge Presbyterian Church in Fort Lauderdale now offers only one service at 10:15 a.m. with, essentially, blended worship – that means no more separation based on age, likes and comfort.

I really thought this quote was unusual
The megachurch pastor also said he doesn't view separate worship services by style or age as any different from racial segregation, except that it's more subtle
 
Are there numbers quite low now that D.James is there preaching about the religious right? I have heard that the new pastor is quite different than his predecessor.

Is this an issue of "reforming" or is this an issue of not having enough members for this practice?
 
Are there numbers quite low now that D.James is there preaching about the religious right? I have heard that the new pastor is quite different than his predecessor.

Is this an issue of "reforming" or is this an issue of not having enough members for this practice?

Pretty large staff if they have few members: Staff

Good for them in brining everyone together for worship.
 
There's not much information to go on in this news account.

I'm not sure the title is even capturing the story. It seems, hard to tell with the scant information presented, but it seems the story is not about age, but not having separate "themed" worship services.

For purposes of unifying a church, this is likely a positive thing.

This church is now growing again, and there is every reason to believe, moving in a good direction.
 
I recall hearing an interview on the radio in which they stated, if my memory is correct, that the attendance and membership were growing quite well. I think they said that it was larger than it was when Dr. Kennedy passed away.
 
Scott1 said:
I'm not sure the title is even capturing the story. It seems, hard to tell with the scant information presented, but it seems the story is not about age, but not having separate "themed" worship services.

For purposes of unifying a church, this is likely a positive thing.
Yes, that is precisely what the story is about. Pastor Tullian even said at one point during his sermon that the church should not be separated over something as trivial as music style preferences. He preached on Epehsians 4:1-6, and If I recall correctly, he plans on going through the rest of chapter 4.
 
Reading the Pastor's blog, this is very good, sound biblical, reasoning.

While I don't know, it would not at all be surprising if there has been a good ground laid for this in recent preaching and teaching at the church, e.g. the basis of biblical worship, etc.

This is all very good.
 
Yeah, I really like his blog comments too. His reasoning is far better than the "we want to accommodate everyone" mindset you so often hear.
 
Scott1 said:
I'm not sure the title is even capturing the story. It seems, hard to tell with the scant information presented, but it seems the story is not about age, but not having separate "themed" worship services.

For purposes of unifying a church, this is likely a positive thing.
Yes, that is precisely what the story is about. Pastor Tullian even said at one point during his sermon that the church should not be separated over something as trivial as music style preferences. He preached on Epehsians 4:1-6, and If I recall correctly, he plans on going through the rest of chapter 4.

We would acknowledge that every aspect of what is called worship, and corporate worship specifically here is important. It's important that it be regulated by the Word of God, and not by the imaginations of men.

And I sense, could be wrong, but it really seems the good Pastor understands that, and by teaching through this thoroughly, biblicaly, he is leading in uniting a church in something that is very important- worship.

Remember, in reformed theology, the unity of the church must be grounded on doctrinal agreement. This includes a basis of worship.
 
Are there numbers quite low now that D.James is there preaching about the religious right? I have heard that the new pastor is quite different than his predecessor.

Is this an issue of "reforming" or is this an issue of not having enough members for this practice?

The New Presbyterian Church is getting ready to call their first pastor - a retired army chaplain (Belhaven & RTS grad).
 
Are there numbers quite low now that D.James is there preaching about the religious right? I have heard that the new pastor is quite different than his predecessor.

Is this an issue of "reforming" or is this an issue of not having enough members for this practice?

The New Presbyterian Church is getting ready to call their first pastor - a retired army chaplain (Belhaven & RTS grad).

I am very confused...:confused:
 
Are there numbers quite low now that D.James is there preaching about the religious right? I have heard that the new pastor is quite different than his predecessor.

Is this an issue of "reforming" or is this an issue of not having enough members for this practice?

The New Presbyterian Church is getting ready to call their first pastor - a retired army chaplain (Belhaven & RTS grad).

I am very confused...:confused:

"The New Presbyterian Church" is the name of the church formed by the dissenters after Coral Ridge voted to retain Rev. Tchividjian as pastor.
 
Sounds like Tchividjian is beginning to make his mark, and that Kennedy being called to glory is resulting in a healthier church. Maybe the church will now play down the politics that Kennedy seemed to be so absorbed in. It also reflects what happens in any church with a new pastor as the congregation begins to realize that the new guy is NOT the old guy, and has no interest in being the old guy. That can be a tough transitional time for some churches.
 
Scott1 said:
We would acknowledge that every aspect of what is called worship, and corporate worship specifically here is important. It's important that it be regulated by the Word of God, and not by the imaginations of men.

And I sense, could be wrong, but it really seems the good Pastor understands that, and by teaching through this thoroughly, biblicaly, he is leading in uniting a church in something that is very important- worship.
I agree completely. And I too think this is a good move on the Pastor's part. To me, it seems the best, most unifying, and most consistent way to be both non-EP and RPW. The only other thing he could do to be more consistent would be to sing at least one Psalm each service, but knowing how big a guy he is on the RPW, he probably is as consistent as one can get on this already. As I already mentioned, I think this is a very good move.
 
he doesn't view separate worship services by style or age as any different from racial segregation


A good move defended with a poor analogy.

why is this a poor analogy? Racial segragation is bad and so is age/style segragation. Both are unneccessary and unscriptural.

Because the age segregation was voluntary. They didn't have ushers standing out front turning away folks that were the 'wrong' age. Folks self selected, largely based on music choices. (Now, some folks will likely self select to a different location for the same reason).

During the good old days, some churches would station ushers on the front steps to direct those of the 'wrong' race to worship somewhere else.

Perhaps some view this as a moral equivalence. I don't.
 
Was there really age segregation? Were people told to go to one service or another based on their age?

We have two different services at our church and there are many young people at the traditional service and many old at the contemporary service. I find it difficult to believe that a church would actually segregate based on age.
 
The new minister at CRPC is a RTS grad and came from one of the most doctrinally confessional presbyteries in the EPC (Florida). I should think this bodes well for CRPC. I can't tell y'all how glad I am not to hear about how "America's Godly Heritage," "the faith of the Founding Fathers," etc has stopped spewing from this otherwise (apparently) sound church. It had gotten to the point that it seemed as if DJK thought that 1st 5 presidents of the US were part of the company of apostles or something.

Dr. Kennedy had many strong points, but the whole emphasis on US politics was just too much. Oy vey...
 
louis said:
Was there really age segregation? Were people told to go to one service or another based on their age?
Possibly. No.

Since Pastor Tullian seems to me to be the kind of person who won't change things for no reason, I'm sure there was some sort of "age segregation"--though I agree the analogy he made was poor.

It seems to me what happened was that though people were not forced to go to one place or another, it just kind of happened on its own. What probably happened--and I'm not saying this happens with all churches that have two different services--is that the people who started going to the traditional service started thinking differently about the people who went to the contemporary service and vice versa. So there was a natural "split" so to speak that was different then the "split" that occurs when a church has more than one service that is the same. Perhaps there may have been a few youngsters in the traditional service and older people in the contemporary service, but overall the majority in each service were relatively of the same age.

However, though that is a realistic scenario and has happened to some churches before, concerning Coral Ridge this is all speculation.
 
It doesn't have to be institutional. Sometimes people segregate themselves by age. In fact, to overcome it takes intentional effort, if you can do so at all.

In my church, our two Sunday services are identical except for the start times... and who shows up. One service tends to attract a younger crowd while most of the older people are at the other. Why is that? Does age, the presence of young children in the family, or some other factor make certain times of day more convenient for people? Or do folks just prefer to worship with their friends of the same generation, so that one age group ends up informally "picking" a particular service? It's probably a bit of both. We don't want it to happen, but it does. And short of major construction on the building to enlarge the meeting space so we can have just one service, we don't know how to fix it.
 
Heh. Had no idea that the folk who disagreed with the new pastor left CRPC and formed a new church.

Not a good look, in my opinion. Taking your ball and going home is childish.
 
Heh. Had no idea that the folk who disagreed with the new pastor left CRPC and formed a new church.

Not a good look, in my opinion. Taking your ball and going home is childish.

To be fair, that's probably close to what the old PCUS said about us back in 1973. ;-)
 
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