I recently read an article that Pastor Dorothy gave me from a small community magazine that circulates in Ottawa. It was written by a gentleman called Martin Holock who attended one of our services last year (some time in late summer or fall, I believe) and I would like to share excerpts of it with you and hear what you think and have to say about it. You can read the article in it's entirety HERE and I believe the article is on page 14.
The title was huge and catchy: CULT FOLLOWING
Subtitle: Born Again at Woodvale Pentecostal Church
This month’s excursion is to the west-end home of evangelical christians, Woodvale Pentecostal Church. You know the frightening version of Jesus Camp believers you’ve heard about who are into speaking in tongues and performing exorcisms? Those are Pentecostals and they are super popular.
....
Pentecostals love a big crowd, so they’ve had to build massive buildings to hold them. A lot of these mega-churches across the US and in Toronto are Pentecostal, and they see a huge regular attendance. While many other denominations are experiencing a drop in Sunday crowds, places like Woodvale, where I have to park blocks away in a lot guided by ushers, are thriving.
When I finally walk in, still 10 minutes early, I’m greeted with a handshake at every door along the way and there are already hundreds of folks singing the words projected on a slide above. I grab a pew at the back to take in as much of the action as I can.
The music’s pretty cheesy, but I mouth along anyway. I’m putting on the best Christ-loving mask I can muster. A black guy with dreadlocks is singing at the grand piano, and 4 other neatly dressed young singers wave their hands and pour out their hearts accompanied by a full electric band. People of all shades and ages keep arriving and, pretty soon, folks are dancing.
It’s a show - it really is. The music, the audience, the vibe. The closest comparison in my experience is a folk music festival. The quality of the music is mediocre, but the people who are into it are deeply, heavily feeling it. Only here it’s not stoned hippie moms and acoustic Dylan covers; it’s three or four songs repeated soulfully until you don’t even need the video prompts anymore.
Early on, the congregation is proud to present some of its friends to be baptized. The first talks as unironically as possible about “coming out of the closet” as a Christian and sharing his faith with the world. There’s another guy who’s loved Jesus since he was six. The last is a 20-something redheaded woman who talks evasively about the craziness she got up to as a teen and how Jesus helped her through. It’s probably wrong to say I’m looking forward to seeing her get dunked, live on the screens they’re now using to show the action on stage, but whatever. She’s pretty hot.
The children are then dismissed, and straggling spectators find their seats and get into position. The band is playing again. A few bouncer-looking types stroll up and down the aisles, monitoring us. Cal me suspicious, but I swear they’re identifying newcomers like me, for God only knows what purpose.
All I know is that a minute later, a single middle-aged woman is standing next to me, singing enthusiastically and chanting, “Thank you Jesus, thank you. Praise Jesus.” over and over. Seconds later, and throughout the service, this secret spy chick is whispering in tongues. “S h a k a l a s h a k a t a t a t a a a. M i s h a k a s h a k a l a s h a a... Praise Jesus. Thank you Jesus.”
Just act natural... Oh yeah, seen this *expletive* a thousand times... Yep, just some everyday tongue-talkin’... A real front-row shaker, dive-into-it type like this would usually be by the stage with the graying grandma who’s scooping up the spirit from the air in front of her, washing it all over her like she’s shampooing with it. The bouncers have fingered me and sent this shakalak woman here, I’m sure of it. There’s another single guy ahead of me, and lonely ladies all over. Why didn’t she go to one of them?
Another feature of Pentecostal Churches is the God and Country routine. The service this week is about putting the Extra into Ordinary, and being filled with the Spirit like the saints in the book of Acts, but there are other, more political suggestions. Many times the phrase, “God keep our land glorious and free” is repeated. The oh-so-energetic and inspired Pastor Mark Scarr even declares at one point, as be bounces across the stage, “It’s not up to the world to influence the Church. It’s up to the church to influence the world!!”
......
Ironically, it’s a big,enthralled crowd that gives them that personal feeling. And here at Woodvale, there’s definitely a crowd. We’re talking two floors of packed pews, probably around a thousand people, maybe more. And every single one of them is singing along. At least, unlike Catholics and Anglicans where the only passion of Christ is the bleeding Jesus pictures on the walls, here it’s pouring off the stage and dripping down the aisles.
This is no special Sunday. These thousand people, of all walks and colors, are here every week. Christmas, Easter and Pentecost (50 days after Easter), are even more ridiculously packed with donating disciples. Woodvale has had to relocate or renovate many times in it’s 50 year existence, and they’re still regularly at capacity. And with a fanbase like this, and spreading worldwide popularity (huge among Africans, Latin Americans and Pacific-rim Asians, especially Koreans), these guys aren’t going away anytime soon, so you’d better find a way to live with them.
14 comments:
I hope that someone has explained to him that we believe in the teachings of Jesus Christ and thats what we are worshiping at Woodvale. Love the lord with all your heart and love your neighbor. Woodvale is not a cult. Thats a lie and if I found him at the church I would tell him to not do that. Just a posing fool. Perhaps some correction would help him...yes yes I know some people would say to me we need to demonstrate love. Well being loving to someone sometimes means correcting them.
whoa there!!!
Paulo, I'd like to know what you think about this article!
At first I did not want to read it, as the publication is filled with a lot of sarcasm, confusion and attitude that wreaks of condemnation. The article that follows this one in their publication is about what crime people would commit if they could get away with it! Lots of fence-sitting no matter what the topic. It's easy to throw stones - not so easy to be the one to step out and make a choice what side of the fence to be on.
However, I did read the article, and experienced a deep sense that this man is marked to be one of us. The dialogue that most intrigued me is how he felt like he was being singled out. He could sit in most any pew and have someone praising Jesus and using their prayer language. The fact that he felt singled-out communicates something positive to me, that the Holy Spirit had his number! - all I know is that Jesus knows how to remove any masks, and this man is on the road to de-mask-us! If Saul could be converted, anyone can! Thank you Lord for guiding Him to us. May we continue to be sensitive to Your presence, Lord, and be open to relate to others around us.
Maybe this man really does want to make a difference, and is searching for authenticity - my prayer is that he finds it in Christ, and not of the world.
The enemy would want us to feel attacked by this. I do not believe that Jesus would want us to go there - I believe He would want us to remain open to God's hand being in this, and that this man's soul be won for Christ! I hope he comes back and we get to hear his testimony when he is baptized.
Blessings, MaryPat
I think this is an interesting insight into how we look to sceptics. goes to show the importance of what we loke to call friendship evangelism. Obviously the author of the article came with preconceived notions of what the "church" and "pentecostals" are all about and saw the service through those eyes, but let's face it - that's the way most of the world sees us.
becuase he was writing about our church it felt personal. yeah, we know the usher's are counting attendance for our records, not playing spot and target the outsider, and we know that the "middle-aged single woman" that sat next to him was probably sliding into an available seat in the section she normally sits in, and that we love our music (and our dreadlocked-wearing music pastor), but to the outside, not knowing our "customs and ways", though the eyes of the un-intiated or cynical, it can appear exactly the way it appeared to the writer.
through dialogues and friendships, we can dispell myths and preconceptions and introduce people to the true purpose of church and Christ.
peace and love, lori
AMEN LORI
I don't mean to sound unchristian or anything but a lot of what he said I actually have been thinking about a lot.....I really do think our services are politically inclined or things are just a little too planned. No church is perfect but articles like that really give us as a church a wake up call...to really look at the things we do and why we do them.
We really need to be devoted disciples not devoted to doctrine.
We need to understand and maybe have classes to help us better understand the world we are in.
Sometimes honestly I feel like somethings are fake but I will not judge....I just observe and make notes in my head. For me I know the reason I come to church.
those are my thoughts for now....
I find it very interesting to read descriptions given by people who are not Christians when they attend services.
It appears to me that generally his experience was positive - and I, too find it interesting that he felt he was personally "targeted".
(We really need to be devoted disciples not devoted to doctrine.
We need to understand and maybe have classes to help us better understand the world we are in.)
Thats great stuff.
That’s one way to get my blood pressure going. It took several deep breaths to get to the end of this article, and I’m sure that was the case with many of you. Wow, what an appalling piece of work!
While I was getting ready to write something (with my gloves off), I remembered a quote that I read not to long ago that kinda got me excited: “If you’re not being persecuted for your faith, then your light is not shining very brightly.”
Regardless of the author’s motives, I too believe his visit to Woodvale was intentional in the spiritual sense. He may have come to feed his curiosity and preconceived notions, but the Holy Spirit used the opportunity to sow seeds and stir up questions. He may have set out to write up a controversial article, but I’m sure that among his readership, there are seekers who will come out to Woodvale in search of the truth.
In my short walk with Christ, I’ve seen Him use the most unusual situations to further His perfect will. So, I wouldn’t be surprised that in the coming days, months and years, more Martin Holocks will come out in search of answers. So thank you, Martin H! You've been a blessing in disguise :)
Interesting though that our national anthem is being used everywhere, even at gay pride parades, yet when it is quoted from the pulpit, this man raises an eyebrow.
It’s not like Pastor Mark changed the lyrics!!
Whao, whao, whao! What a grim evaluation on our performance--song is cheesy,
music quality is mediocre, Jesus freaking (that's great), cult following
(sounds familiar-I Peter 2), energetic Pastor Mark, we also have secret spies.
On and on goes the remarks.
How did we stack up in the eye of a newcomer, non-church observer? And what
lessons can we learn from the commentary? While I have the tendency to take
this kind of casual observation with a grain of salt, but because it's coming
from such a curious observer, I think there are some lessons we could learn
from it. I'm sure you've already noted the vibe on the music and stuff. I'd
caution you not to overly be concerned by it. Yes, we can do better. A wake up call perhaps for us a church.
But I like that he feels the passion for our Christ to be "pouring off the stage
and be dripping down the aisle".
But in all, I found it interesting.
I don't think the link takes us to the article anymore...I ended up reading some nasty stuff. Anyhow, about what I read in the blog, my first reaction I guess wasn't really my first reaction because I could kind of tell what this was all about from conversations between members of Woodvale. I found the part about the ushers being bouncers and being suspicious of him, walking up and down the aisles, especially funny because I'm pretty sure they do that to take the attendance. So I laughed at that. But everything else sounds like a pretty general description of how one would describe our kind of church (our kind being the free in Spirit) if they have seen similar representations (and misrepresentations) in the media or other churches. Except he noted basically everything that stands out at the church. HEY!! Praise God, we have more than 2 things that stand out at our church. Praise be to God that, 1. our church building stands out from down the road, 2. you have to follow a stream of believers into the church in order to get there because you might have to park so far away, 3. you are greeted by more than one person at the church when you walk in, 4. you already hear the congregation worshipping when you enter the church, 5. you can read the lyrics to the worship songs in order that you may join the congregation in worship and not feel lost, 6. the worship team drills the worship song into your head 3 times over so that you no longer have to read the lyrics anymore and likely will have worship music in your head for the rest of the day, 7. Pastor Paulo is not ashamed to come before his Creator and congregation just as he is (dreads and all!), 8. Members of the congregation are obviously not ashamed to worship their God (whether they shampoo in the Holy Spirit, sing in tongues, or dance at the altar), 9. Pastor Mark is passionate about the body of Christ (the church), 10. we love Jesus and apparently show it by attending regularly and giving it all we got (Pastor Paulo, maybe we actually really do have an impact on the congregation after all! ;), 11. And most importantly, God is sovereign, and Christ is building His Bride to a greater infectious body that will only become more infectious until He comes back. That is my summary of what I think stood out for this guy while joining us in worship at Woodvale. The way he finished that article, "We'll have to find a way to live with them" is either an indication that he really enjoyed his experience or it's an invitation for us to continue thriving more and more for Jesus so they can't live without us.
Initially, I was shocked by the title and the tone that Mr. Holock chose to use. Then I found myself feeling sympathy for him. It would appear that Mr. Holock was in a situation where he didn't know anyone and didn’t understand what was going on. We know that the "bouncers" are actually ushers who are simply doing head counts. It just goes to show that one’s perception of a situation isn’t necessarily accurate.
Over the past few days, I’ve had the opportunity to hear feedback from family and friends from out of town, who perhaps may consider themselves non-religious. They had only good things to say about the people of Woodvale.
I hope Mr. Holock comes back to visit Woodvale. Maybe he'll have an opportunity to make some new acquaintances, but more importantly, I pray that he gets to know Jesus Christ. Furthermore, I choose not to allow the comments made by Mr. Holock to offend me. Instead, I choose to take them with a grain of salt. I would like to see what we can learn from this and what we can disregard.
Joanna
As a former Woodvaleite (ok been many years but always looking to see what is going on) I was astounded by this article.
First of all the publication it was in had some very racy stuff in it and was childish IMHO to say the least.
Secondly the writer obviously had an agenda coming to Woodvale in the first place and would not be happy with anything he saw and was "looking for the angle."
Keep doing what you are doing. The reason Woodvale has HAD to build so often is that it is growing. That is a great thing and means God is moving. I look forward to visiting when I am back in Ottawa.
Blessings
Wes Wright
I actually just read this article again for the first time, and my reaction this time was a little different from the first time I read it. I actually laughed to myself - not so much because of his words, but because I put myself in his shoes and tried to imagine his experience.
I didn't go back to the source to read this article, so I don't know if there is any info anywhere on where this guy is coming from, but I'm going to go ahead and assume he's not a Christian.
Should I be surprised this man viewed our services as some kind of folk festival for us to get hyped up about? By no means! (To borrow a famous line from Paul) Of course this man viewed it all as folly. In fact, it's exactly how the Bible said it would be. Outsiders (I mean this strictly to mean non-Christians) can't be expected to understand our passion for Jesus when they don't even know our Jesus.
It makes me laugh to hear him describe the "grandmother shampooing herself in the spirit" and Pastor Mark bouncing around the stage. These are things I have come to know and love about Woodvale.
Still, I think there is something we can take away from being in this man's shoes. Are there people who attend our service on a regular basis who could be in a similar position? I had a friend come to Woodvale and say he would never come again because he didn't understand why the pastor cried every Sunday. I had another friend who was scared away by a lady standing beside him who was "speaking in gibberish with her antennas up in the air waving them to Jesus." Both of these people happen to be Christians. What shall we do? Is there value in somehow informing people that you don't have to be a hand-waver, tongue-speaker, crying out in passion believer to worship God? If yes, how would be go about doing it?
What can we do to let not only the world of non-believers, but other Christians who are unfamiliar with our charismatic tendancies know that we aren't cracked?
Post a Comment