Cineplex Churches?

I'm just now getting around to blogging about last Sunday's Tennesseean article about the church. Of course they had to talk to Rick Warren. He said that his dream was to triple their membership to 30,000 without building a new facility. He wants to have "movie church" where the bands do the music and then there's a video of him preaching. This way he can have services on the hour all weekend long. People can choose to pop in and pop out.

I know he is not the only one thinking about this; there are already people doing it. I'm sure the taped messages are engaging and all, but is that really what church is? Am I just old fashioned? This isn't the same thing as resisting the switch from organ to piano, or piano to guitar, or bringing a screen into the sanctuary, right? I'm all for visuals--all kinds of them, that's my thing. But to never see your pastor in person? Is that OK?

Two weeks ago we had some of our big authors come in for a meet and greet. Tex Sample was doing his schtick about participatory worship. He played a clip of a Janis Joplin concert and showed how the audience was just listening. She was the star. Then he showed a NIN concert and of course the audience was jumping, singing, etc. It was everyone's concert. His point is that UM churches need to take that difference seriously if they want to come back to life.

Then Adam Hamilton, the pastor of UM Church of the Resurrection in K.C. talked about why he started that church. He wanted to start a church that was all about reaching nominal and non-Christians and he believed that the Mainline church is where it's at for doing this. He talked about how so many Mainliners are content to say that their church is dying and then letting these churches die a slow heat death. Hamilton said that he wanted a church that was overtly UM, but that you could feel Life when you walked in the doors. He's a teaching pastor so he's got 7-steps for this and quips for that. But, his premise is so true. The Mainline church is sitting on thousands of years of history. It's not dying or going anywhere.

It strikes me that Rick Warren's cineplex model is 100% observation-style worship. The congregation gets to just sit there and take it in. He says he expects to grow to 30,000 with this model. Then there's Sample who says worship has to be participatory or people will stop coming. Are there really masses of modernists who are content with observing worship? I'm baffled.