I decided to do an online church service. It's filmed in an auditorium and then posted online so that others are able to watch without having to actually be there. This is something I watched alone.
The meetings are lead by Pastor Graig Groeschel and belong to the Evangelical Covenant Church. They didn't sing, at least not in the sermon I watched. The people weren't really shown, but there was a man and a woman sitting together in some of the seats shown in one of the corners that the camera panned to. All the people were sitting facing the Pastor.
There are several who are at the head of the organization, they all have different roles that are good for a well oiled organization. There's an innovation leader who works on finding other ways to spread this word all over the world. There's a team development leader who is responsible for the cultural development of the church. There's an operations leader who is over logistics, finances, construction, and missions. There is one who is over campus operations and he directs the leadership of campuses and their staff.
Participation is definitely encouraged. There were several times throughout the meeting where the Pastor asked the audience to say things with him. They weren't always good at saying what he wanted them to say or even saying anything at all.
The service is more of a lecture, or a bible study so to speak where the service is about a section in the bible.
I am a member of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints. Some of the bigger differences between their services and mine is that mine are three hours long, broken into Sunday School, a meeting where talks or sermons are given, and a third hour is for Priesthood and women meet separately. Our talks are given by members, occasionally those who preside over the meeting speak, but more often than not the members speak. Participation from those who are listening is not encouraged. We sing hymns at least two to three times during each set of meetings.
This organization does adhere to the world view of the church. The doctrine taught in the meeting was from the bible. What I do find interesting about the lecture is that they aren't calling the congregation to the church, they are calling the congregation to God. Which is true of most Christian faiths; however, most also call you to their flock so to speak. Come to God through us, but that wasn't a point made in this particular sermon.
