15 November, 9:30am
Monica and I visited one of the largest churches in the UK, Holy Trinity Brompton. It’s a charismatic Anglican church in the heart of London’s shopping district, right down the road from Harrods. It’s famous for creating the Alpha Course, a 10-week course for those looking to discover the Christian faith, as well as worship leader and songwriter Tim Hughes, author of “Here I Am To Worship.”
I say that HTB is one of the largest churches in the UK, but I was surprised at how small the room was. The church was started in 1829 and now includes St. Paul’s Church in Onslow Square. My guess is that there were around 500 people in the room, maybe less, but the two churches combined have 8 Sunday services, of which all but the earliest service at St. Paul’s are informal.
HTB has been successfully transformed into a place for modern worship without damaging any of the traditional architecture. It is professionally equipped with Aviom in-ear monitors, one screen with an aspect ratio of 16x9, flat panel TVs mounted under the balcony so that everyone can see, and at least two mounted cameras. Their media, print and video, is professionally done. I was amazed at how good the sound was in the room (IEMs have to make a huge difference in a cathedral!). Service flow was good, and still included some Anglican elements such as readings (from the screen) and the words of institution during Communion. The crypt below has been transformed into a bookstore, nursery areas and choir room.
Before the service, a row of tables was set up at the side of the sanctuary, with drinks and food. It was a great way to gather people in the room instead of congregating in the hallway. The service began with all of the kids sitting in the front of the room, some of them leading the first two songs with their leaders—hand motions and all! Then there was a congregational reading and a time of prayer for the persecuted church. We prayed in groups of two for the country of India, and then there was simultaneous prayer (out loud—“Asian style”) for the two Christian women who are missing in Yemen. After prayer, we watched the HTB News—the announcements via video. It was a clever, interesting and professional way to do announcements—announcements with B-roll video and a voiceover. It was very well done and didn’t detract from the rest of the worship service, I think partly because the 12 or so minutes prior were a great mix of being professional and laid back. We could certainly learn from that!
Next, the children were dismissed to their own classes and we had a 15-minute worship set, led by a young guy on guitar (possibly an intern), keys, drums, female vocalist, an older lady on a cello (she played by ear and rocked!), and another guy who was playing either bass or electric—I really couldn’t tell. I could hear both instruments, but there was only one. I assumed he was playing bass and the keyboardist was playing electric, but later I watched him strumming an electric part.
After this, one of the pastors introduced the sermon (a sermon on healing from a series on spiritual gifts) by interviewing three people. One had experienced healing in her own life, one had experienced the healing of a number of people while he prayed for them, and one had experienced healing in stages—emotionally, then physically. Tim Hughes gave the sermon, and I must say, it was the least sensational, most down-to-earth and most biblical message on healing from a charismatic church that I’ve ever heard. Tim himself is very well-spoken and passionate. He didn’t seem like a famous worship leader, but one who has a deep love for his congregation.
Following the service, we took Communion. The ushers went forward and brought the elements to different sections of the room, then we were dismissed by rows to come forward and receive it by dipping the wafer in the juice. The band led us in reflective worship during this time (mostly keys, guitar and cello), and continued to pray as Tim asked people to come forward if they wanted prayer for healing or if they would offer prayers for those who came forward. As the service was 1 ½ hours long, and they had another coming in ½ hour, one of the pastors gave a benediction while those down front continued to pray.
During the announcements, a Christmas concert was promoted, which will be led by the choir & orchestra at HTB. My understanding is that it will be classical. While we in the States have found it necessary to make our choirs contemporary (and rightly so), choirs here remain classical. A worship service with a choir will be traditional, where an “informal” service will be led by a band. It was great to have a cello included, however!
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