Church Street Bible Chapel
Location: Church Street, Timaru
Denomination: Open Brethren
Website:
www.brethren.org.nz
Church Services: 10.30 am Sunday, Worship and the Lord’s Supper, 4pm Sunday Prayer
Groups: Bible Study, Ladies Prayer Meeting
My own visit
Date: 6 March 2005
Service: 10:30 am Worship and the Lord’s Supper
The building: Close to the centre of town, right in between industrial buildings, this chapel sits at a main road. The red bricks and white window-frames give a tidy and dignified look. The ornate gable at the front rises high above the roof line. So that nobody is mistaken what this building is, it’s there black on white: “Church St Bible Chapel”.
Panes of glass form the walls of the porch giving it a very light appearance, somehow inconsistent with the main part of the building.
The décor: From the inside it is an old hall-like building. The white, ornate plaster ceiling is contrasted by the thick blue carpet. White walls are relieved by decorations such as national flags. The long curtains in front of the windows were shut. Long wooden benches face one side of the building where a large overhead screen forms the focus. To one end is a stage decorated with flowers and a screen. I have been told that the baptismal pool is behind that. Fans are suspended from the ceiling and hum along lazily.
Smiling face at the door: Certainly, and a firm handshake as well.
Start of service: People seemed to drift in for quite a long time, even after the delayed start of the service. First of all there was worship time with songs, hymns and prayers.
Congregation (approx) 0-12: 10; 13-20: 0; 20-40: 14; 40-60: 4; 60+: 7
Liturgy: Really no liturgy, except maybe the prayer before communion, which seemed to spell out the most important things quite poetically. There was a lot of silent time, giving space to reflect.
Music: Scripture in Song and old favourite hymns were sung throughout the service. Somehow it reflected more the mood of the 1980s. The hymns were just about all 19th century compositions.
Instruments: Piano
Children’s Talk: The children went out for teaching.
Sermon:
-Length: 34 minutes
-Method: It was more a teaching session, with a whiteboard
and map used. Rather than preach about a passage of the Bible, the teacher
went from one text to another, reading it and encouraging the congregation to
look it up in their Bible. The Bible passages served as examples of the point
he was trying to make.
-Bible reading: 1. Kings 18:36-37; 2. Chronicles 20:1-12, 20-24; Isaiah 37:14-20.
-Content:
First a recap of last Sunday’s sermon. It was about the prayer of
Jabez (1. Chronicles 4:10). The main points in Jabez’ prayer were:
- Bless me.
- Give me land.
- Be with me.
- Keep me from evil.
It was a prayer said in trying circumstances. How many of our hymns have been written in times of intense pressure from within.
The prayer of Jabez has the structure also present in the Lord’s prayer.
- Adore, ascribe. That is recognise who God is.
- Confess. Especially confessing sins and recognising who we are.
- Thanks
- Supplication. Seek from God.
In the first Bible reading we have the prayer of Elijah on Mount Carmel. In this prayer Elijah ascribes God his greatness. He himself is just the servant. Elijah does not seek any advantage or glory for himself. He is concerned for the glory of the Lord and asks him to prove that he is the God of Israel.
In the face of the devastating threat of a huge army, Jehoshaphat seeks the Lord in prayer. The prayer has a similar structure: Jehoshaphat praised the Lord. He then confesses the sin of the people admitting that they have worshipped other Gods and wronged the Lord. And he asks the Lord for help in the present calamity.
Jehoshaphat was a good king, but he had to face tough times. Many are the trials of the righteous, but God delivers them. God seems to choose the weak to confront the mighty. This was the case with the small nation Israel, and similarly is so today with the churches. The Lord may choose a small church to confront the mighty.
Looking at the prayer of Hezekiah. Assyria was the greatest empire in the region at the time. Hezekiah exulted the Lord, thanking the Lord for his salvation. The nation of Israel was delivered. Just one angel went out into the camp of the Assyrians and struck so many of them.
These three men prayed in desperation. They gave glory to God. They did not seek their own glory, but prayed: if you answer our prayer the glory will be yours. There were also many men who did not pray at crucial times. One of them was Rehoboam. He did not pray when his people sought a less oppressive regime, but consulted people of this world. As a result the kingdom was split.
Ahab did not pray. He was a wicked tyrant and was a pain in the neck for Israel.
Elimelech (book of Ruth) did not pray. At least we don’t read that he prayed. When there was a drought he emigrated from Israel to Moab and died there.
If you apply for a new job, enter into a relationship, set out to do anything, always pray!
Today as well we can see how prayer works and can change our perspective.
Other Highlights: Lord’s Supper. Before going on to take the emblems a few people in the congregation stood up and spoke words of encouragement, usually dwelling on some verses in the Bible which had come to their attention. There was lots of silence and time of reflection while the elements were served.
Wrap-up: Tithes and offerings were collected. Then a hymn was sung before a final prayer.
After the service: After sampling some of the cake, I spoke at length with one of the leaders, especially about what a church community should look like. He even gave me a few booklets to read on the topic.
Quality of morning tea: There was tea, coffee and cold drinks. The selection of biscuits was quite impressive, but it did not end there: cake and pikelets were served too.
Reflection: I thought and read more about the concept of a church just being a group of people meeting together in the name of Jesus and studying the Bible, rather than being an institution.
It certainly is a helpful model and reminds us of the basics of what the church is about. Nevertheless, I think it should be realised that even new churches that start out in that way, often tend to become institutionalised, as the need for order becomes apparent. While, theoretically, in a church without power structures, there is more equality among the members, they are in fact often dominated by a few people. Structures not only empower, they also set limits to power.
Another question is how we stand towards the tradition of the church. There is an immense wealth there, but of course they can also entangle us. We have to keep the historical development of the church in mind. It was the faithful witness of the church throughout the centuries, despite errors, heresies and abuses, that has transmitted the faith. Can God also use church structure today? To what degree do they have to be reformed?
Certainly, this Bible Chapel, is not very hierarchical and is closer to the group of disciples meeting together than the highly structured worship in other churches. Nevertheless, it, too, clearly has a set pattern, a form of governance and norms. In some respects it appeared more set than congregations that are part of larger church communions. It seems we humans cannot survive without rules.
4 questions:
b) and c). Of course there is the proviso that we humans have to accept
what Jesus did for us. The whole point of Jesus’ death was our salvation.
They are a good guide, but they have to be read in the light of the new covenant.
The Brethrens are right on the other side of the spectrum to the structured hierarchy of Anglicans, Catholics or Lutherans. Where people come together as a church, the Lord will raise up through his spirit people who do what is required, be it teaching or preaching or any other ministry. (As a purely personal opinion: the time for prophets and apostles is really past, it was more in the early period of the church).
Really the church is founded on one book alone – the Bible. All the other regulations and teachings are secondary to that. We might look at writings such as Luther’s but always go back to the Bible.
A church should be just a group of Christians meeting together to study the Word and praise the Lord.
No.