Comprise lad, do some james brown
My mom recalls it has been done before. In the early 1970 my mom recalled a new minister was in his 40s.By using the guitar it appeals to the young people(he thought) He played tunes akin to The Lord of the Dance.
He thought by using that technique, and calling people brothers/sisters that this would attract more. It had the opposite affect. All people wanted was more fun games in the church hall which appeals to all,with the occasional hymn at the end.
He aliened a whole group of people doing this. So be careful. Everyone left. It went down to 10% attendance.
As for the older generation, he decided that no longer could the ladies do things like- guessing the weight of a cake, and similar other thing for fund raising. He stated that this akin to gambling.
Not allowed by the Church Of Scotland. No longer could we have Bring and Buy sales using Bric-a-brac and cooking various goods, jumble sales and other traditional methods for fund raising activities.
His reason for this- health and safety, and
he did not believe in these activities. So all the groups, young mothers, the guild rebelled against him.
There was a great Stoosie and he was gone within a year. Victory to tradition. We don't like rocking the boat!
s as to how Sunday worship would henceforth be conducted.
- preferring instead to preach in suit and dog-collar. Next, he introduced a whole plethora of unfamiliar praise - resulting in congregational hymn-singing being reduced to something akin to an inept choir practice - with he, himself, on the odd occasion, leading on guitar ... in spite of our magnificent pipe organ!
for the old, well-loved, rousing hymns that "raised the rafters" ...
The Great Stoosie
Originally Posted by gary2jessica
Just thought it might be a good word to arouse folks' curiosity to an otherwise mundane topic - given the small percentage of Brits that actually attend church services nowadays.
approach led to his tenure of office being equally short-lived in your mum's church.
... in the end, these "new-fangled" notions very often prove to be the undoing of would-be "modernisers" like Rev Brown and his disciples. As you and I both know, people - the Scottish Presbyterians in particular - are fiercely proud of their old-fashioned traditions ... and none more so than the Kirk's followers. And already, whilst MY Church has had its share of new members, a substantial number of the staunch old 'die-hards' have, sadly, felt alienated and transferred their lines elsewhere ... 
, folks. But then ... when the day came for appointing a *Nominating Committee *[referred to in the 3rd paragraph of my opening post] church members who could be bothered staying behind after morning service to vote, gathered together in small cliques to make sure of their voices being heard (politics and religion are not so very dissimilar in many ways!). And the upshot was, that at least 90% of those chosen to "represent the interests" of the congregation were less than middle-aged. Indeed, at least two of their number - both clad in denims - had barely finished university!!
