One Sunday morning at Trinity Community Church outside of Barrie, Ont., lead pastor, Carey Nieuwhof, started his sermon by talking about Satisfaction by the Rolling Stones. The song had been played earlier in the service. He discussed the sex, drugs and rock'n'roll ethos of the song, the search for worldly happiness, the hedonistic pursuit of pleasure, and the emptiness of that search. He used the song to talk about real satisfaction, that deep down spiritual pleasure that only God can offer.
On another Sunday his congregation listened to Under Pressure by Queen. It's that kind of a congregation; one that understands pop-culture better than it does Christian tradition and theology. Patrick Voo, associate pastor, refers to Trinity's congregation as the post-modern, post-Christian seekers. The church is geared to those people who have a spiritual urge, but no personal history of religious training.
Voo tells of a young woman, a student at a local college, who was volunteering at the church. A comment was made, in passing, about David and Goliath. He says she had no idea who he was talking about. In a 2003 Record article Nieuwhof wrote, "Church is simply not on their radar screen. In Canada, we are now on our second, third or, in some cases, fourth generation of secular Canadians." But, like the Stones song, secularism provides no satisfaction.
The Trinity service targets this large body of seekers, using the language and the stuff of non-Christian culture, within a Christian context. Nieuwhof wrote, "By using contemporary Christian songs, secular music that raises theological issues, prayer, drama, video clips and biblical preaching designed for people with no biblical knowledge, we're trying to create a service that anyone can access." Voo gives an example he learned from a visiting guest pastor: in biblical times people might have carried water in skins, sought it from wells or rivers. In our times, we carry water in plastic bottles or get it from a tap. "The water," Voo says, "is the same. Only the packaging has changed." And, so it is with the Christian message, the story of Jesus and God's grace.
The Trinity service seems radical in ways that shouldn't seem radical. The dress code — that of the choir, the preacher and the congregation — is casual. The tone of the service is conversational more than churchy. The images on the screen, the songs in the sanctuary, are often more secular than Christian. But, this is radicalism only in the context of traditionalism.
Trinity also offers a Wednesday night service. While Sunday morning is for, as Voo optimistically and confidently calls, the "pre-believer", with a heavy emphasis on teaching, the Wednesday night service is for the "believer", with an emphasis on confession, meditation and faith development. Jim Czegledi, Associate Secretary of Worship and Evangelism for the Presbyterian church, believes the Wednesday night service is the great untold story of Trinity Community. "This is where church members come to worship, and for Christian nurture to support their outreach ministries."
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