Are the celebration churches, as some would say, prairie fires that soon will spread and engulf all of Adventism in a conflagration of Pentecostalism? Is celebration a code word that stands for "no standards, no doctrine, just clubhouse happiness," as one critic has warned? Have these churches been appointed by denominational leaders for the purpose of attracting back "Fordites, Brinsmeadites, liberals, and kinship adherents" with "hot music and cheerful laughs"? Is the combination of celebration worship with small groups meeting in homes a satanic ploy to bring pluralism into Adventism? Do celebration churches lull listeners into believing they have received the Holy Spirit when in reality they have only had a flesh-based ecstatic experience?
In case you haven't heard the term, celebration church is a loosely defined phenomenon that in recent months has raised both excitement and fear among Seventh-day Adventists. The idea be hind these churches is to make Sabbath worship services a time of celebrating our joy in the Lord, and to change the worship service to emphasize this joy.
Several Adventist churches that changed their worship service to be more celebrative began to experience phenomenal growth partly from baptisms, but largely from transfers and winning back members who had ceased attending church. At that point the American maxims "Nothing succeeds like success" and "You can't argue with success" began to send ripples, then shock waves, through conference and union offices all across the land. In recent months pastors and church administrators have been flocking to these successful churches to try to learn what they can do to revive churches in their territories.
At the same time, the phones began to ring in the Ministerial Association here at the General Conference. And staff members began to be deluged with questions from concerned church members. People wanted to know: Are these churches leading us into Pentecostalism? Have the pastors in question abandoned belief in church doctrines?
The Ministry staff voted to send David Newman and Kenneth Wade to visit three churches that typically are labeled celebration churches and provide a report to Ministry readers. We visited the Celebration Center, pastored by Dan Simpson, in Colton, California; the Milwaukie church in Oregon, pastored by David Snyder; and the Buffalo church in New York, pastored by Edward Couser. We were particularly interested in the Buffalo church because Eoin Giller, who introduced the innovative worship service there, has moved to a pastorate in Tucson, Arizona, and we wanted to know whether the church had continued the same emphasis after his departure.
Certainly, attending a church for one Sabbath is no way to determine exactly what is happening there in the long term. Nevertheless, we did not feel that we could write about what was happening based only on second- and third-hand reports.
Use of instruments
Each of the three churches starts its worship service with the congregation singing to the accompaniment of a variety of instruments. Each also projects the words of the songs on a screen or wall at the front of the sanctuary. Buffalo calls its accompanists a youth orchestra. Fifteen people participated in the orchestra on the day Newman visited. Instruments included piano, organ, piano accordion, guitars, flutes, trumpets, trombones, violins, a saxophone, and a percussion section that included drums. Two singers led the audience in contemporary songs such as "I Will Enter His Gates With Thanksgiving," "His Praise Fills the Temple," "Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, Your Love Has Melted My Heart," and "Majesty, Worship His Majesty."
Two different musical groups provide the music for the Celebration Center in California since the church has two services each Sabbath. The accompanists are fewer in number than in Buffalo and use guitars, flute, synthesizer, and percussion, including drums. They lead the congregation in 8 to 10 songs during the service. Songs included "We Have Come to Celebrate Your Name," "In My Life, Lord, Be Glorified," "Jesus, Name Above All Names," and "Draw Me Closer, Lord."
At the Milwaukie, Oregon, service, worship began at 10:45 with everyone standing to sing "Majesty," then "He's Got the Whole World in His Hands." Perhaps half the people in the congregation joined the song leaders in clapping hands to the rhythm of the latter song. Two women and a man, accompanied by a bass guitar, a rhythm guitar, and a piano (the drummer was absent this particular Sabbath), led the singing. Several of the songs came directly from the Psalms or other biblical passages. Three or four people raised one hand above their heads during some songs, but no one danced in the aisles.
Following the opening songs, a quartet of teenage girls sang "Love in Any Language," a la Sandi Patti. Neither they nor the congregation swayed with the music. Characteristically, the congregation expressed appreciation through applause.
At the Buffalo service some people clapped, but we saw no raised hands, although we understand that this happens occasionally. In Colton, out of a congregation of 1,300, we saw perhaps 20 persons raise their hands and arms. Many in the congregation did clap in rhythm to a couple of the songs.
After the introductory songs, the Buffalo service follows a fairly traditional order of worship prayer, scripture, sermon, offering, closing hymn from the hymnal, and benediction.
The Celebration Center takes one and a quarter hours for its first service at 9:30 a.m. and an hour and a half for the second service, which begins at 11:15 a.m. After celebration in music comes celebration in fellowship. The pastor invites everyone to get up and welcome those around them with warm greetings and hugs, if so desired. The Buffalo church also provided time for welcoming and fellowshipping during the service.
Garden of prayer
Both the Celebration Center in Colton and the Milwaukie church celebrate the pastoral prayer in a special way. The pastor invites anyone with a request or who feels the need of a special blessing to come down to the front and kneel for the prayer. Some 200 in Colton went to the front. Nearly half of the Milwaukie congregation crowded to the front, spilling over into the aisles. At Colton the pastor or one of the elders leads out in the prayer while other elders move around, placing their hands on the shoulders of those kneeling.
At the Celebration Center Pastor Dan Simpson preached for 30 minutes from Acts 2:41ff. He took four elements of the early church—worship, instruction, fellowship, and expression—and applied them to today.
In Buffalo the conference president, Elder Lee Thompson, delivered the morning sermon.
In Milwaukie Pastor Snyder's sermon focused on the meaning of Daniel's 2300- day prophecy to Seventh-day Adventist Christians today. It is the hour of God's judgment, he insisted. But rather than making us fearful, that should make us hopeful. Judgment is for the saints, not against them. We need to focus on the big issues of the controversy between Christ and Satan and get our eyes off the petty things that Satan tries to use to distract us. We must keep our focus on Christ and what He wants to do for us.
Because it is the hour of judgment and the universe is looking on to see the end of the great controversy, we as a church need to help to prove that God is right and Satan is wrong. We will not give up, as Satan claims, because of suffering. We need to demonstrate that God can have an obedient people on earth. We need to teach and preach the gospel, but not legalistically. We need to live the gospel as a testimony to those around us. "Don't get so settled in enjoying this church that you forget that we have a battle ahead of us," he warned. There will be criticism it will even increase but "this church is built on the Rock, and it don't roll!" he ex claimed. It is time to get on with the business of saving souls. In order to do this, the church must be pure, and God is the one to purify it. Just as He removed the filthy garments from Joshua the high priest (Zechariah 3), He wants to remove our filthy garments and purify us.
Sabbath school
Buffalo has a strong, well-organized Sabbath school. The Celebration Center provides Sabbath school classes for children and adults at 9:30 a.m., the same time as the early service. At 11:15 four small groups meet to discuss a variety of topics. Attendance at these varied from 6 to 20.
Sabbath school in the Milwaukie church began at 9:30 with lesson study. Three of the four classes in the sanctuary were studying the book of Matthew: two of them using the quarterly and one taking a more leisurely pace through the book. The fourth class, led by Pastor Snyder, studies the 27 fundamental beliefs of Seventh-day Adventists. The topic of the day—Christian Behavior—stimulated a lively exchange of ideas.
Church growth
What are the results of this type of service? The Buffalo church, with a membership of 260, averaged 60 to 70 in attendance before Giller came. By the time he left four years later, average attendance had jumped to 180. The day we visited, one year after he had left, 145 persons attended. Baptisms were not spectacular during this period (29 baptized), but many nonattending members began to return.
After less than one year in existence, the Celebration Center averages between 1,300 and 1,500 at two services. Four hundred sixty constitute the core member ship. Many of those attending are Adventists and former Adventists who had not been attending an Adventist church. It is estimated that there are between 50,000 and 100,000 nonattending Adventists in the Riverside/Loma Linda area.
In Milwaukie 1,000 or more people typically gather for worship. This is up from about 135 seven years ago. For several years the church led the conference in baptisms, but the rate declined significantly last year. Those attending appear to cover the spectrum from infants to aged rather evenly.
The Celebration Center pays $7,000 per month to rent the First Assembly of God sanctuary. Church offerings for the four Sabbaths ending 1989 and beginning 1990 amounted to $41,383. The monthly church budget is $26,500. The Milwaukie church's monthly budget is just shy of $11,000, and in addition, they are collecting $12,000 a month toward their building fund. It seems that there is more than a casual commitment here.
Questions to consider
What are the implications of celebration-style worship services?
All three of the churches we visited emphasize the love and forgiveness of God. The common theme that people remark about in all three churches is the feeling of acceptance. If this means that petty criticism and judgmentalism are waning, this is a good thing. The danger may lie in going too far with the acceptance idea and failing to stress the holiness of God and what it truly means to be a Christian.
All three churches downplay the name Seventh-day Adventist. Their in tent is to emphasize their openness to the community instead of conveying the message that only Seventh-day Adventists are welcome. About five years ago the Buffalo church moved to the suburb of Lancaster and calls itself the Lancaster Christian Community Center; under neath in smaller print the sign identifying the church says "Buffalo Suburban Seventh-day Adventist Church." The Milwaukie church has just changed its name to New Life Celebration Church of Seventh-day Adventists. The Colton church displays on its church bulletin: "Celebration Center—A Seventh-day Adventist Church." Some critics quote from Selected Messages, book 2, page 36, where Ellen White warns against "shouting, with drums, music, and dancing." She disdains the "bedlam of noise" that "shocks the senses and perverts that which if con ducted aright might be a blessing."
We observed that while these services do use a more contemporary type of mu sic than the typical Adventist church, they seem solemn when compared to Ellen White's descriptions of counterfeit worship. The question of what is appropriate music plays large in discussions of celebration churches. Ellen White counsels that there is a place for musical instruments in the worship service: "let the singing be accompanied with musical instruments skillfully handled. We are not to oppose the use of instrumental music in our work. This part of the service is to be carefully conducted, for it is the praise of God in song" (Testimonies, vol. 9, p. 144); and Psalm 150 lists elements to be used in praising God (e.g., timbrel, cymbals, trumpet, dance) whose inclusion in a worship service many Adventists would find alarming today.
Some are concerned that Satan is trying to bring counterfeit religion into the church. And if celebration worship encourages people to just feel good about themselves while avoiding deeper levels of commitment, repentance, and con version, there is danger here. Giller explains, though, that this is not the intent of a celebrative worship service. Rather, he feels it is important to integrate the experiential with the rational in worship. Many Adventist services are characterized by a great emphasis on the cognitive domain. Those who promote celebration worship say we need to meet the affective needs of people as well.
Emotion in worship
Are we so afraid of Pentecostalism that we have gone to another extreme? Even saying amen with any enthusiasm causes heads to turn in some churches. Years ago H.M.S. Richards, Sr., commented that some of our churches are so cold and formal that a person could ice-skate down the middle aisle. However, a visit to our Black churches reveals that these congregations typically have music and congregational involvement that brings in more of the emotional elements than in most White churches.
How much of worship is determined by local culture and how much by divine precepts ? If one takes a careful look at the Bible, one finds abundant use of musical instruments, including percussion, and many exclamations of joy and emotional outpouring. Even certain forms of dancing were described as expressing praise before God. So again we raise the question How much of our worship is deter mined by culture? Is it accidental that Adventist worship practice closely resembles the Methodist service?
We need to go back and define what we mean by worship. Is "celebration" an appropriate synonym for "divine worship"? If this style is appropriate, is it for everyone? Should members be able to choose from a variety of worship formats?
Other important questions concern our definition of success. What constitutes a "successful" church service? A successful church? A successful pastor? Is there a danger that some who view in creased attendance and attraction of backsliders as success will begin to tailor not only their style of church service but also the message they proclaim to be popular and attractive in preference to truthful and honest? Will Adventist preachers acquiesce to the age-old urge to "prophesy smooth things"? Perhaps of greatest concern here is the significance of the fact that many pastors and laypeople are visiting the celebration churches simply to observe (and perhaps copy) the style of worship. Is it dangerous to emulate a worship style with the intent of attracting greater attendance without giving careful thought to the underlying theology that has produced the style? Is celebration really part of a complex package of ideas that will fall apart if a pastor at tempts to just add on certain formats to his worship service?
If success is defined in numbers, will we soon see increased competition be tween Adventist congregations to see who can put on the most exciting worship service?
Does the celebration-type service magnify God or man? Does it make people want to change? Does it bring commitment and a longing for the soon coming of our Saviour?
Only time will answer our many questions. At the moment we caution against the two extreme reactions: Some are condemning what is happening without ever attending a celebration service or making any attempt to understand what the pastors are trying to accomplish. Others see celebration as the panacea for worship doldrums and are ready to jump on any "success" bandwagon. The stakes in the battle for men's souls are far too high for us to judge without careful thought and reflection. Our only safety is found in prayer at the foot of the cross.
Let us all claim the promise of James 1:5 "If any of you lacks wisdom, he should ask God, who gives generously to all without finding fault, and it will be given to him" (NIV).
