The members of Caddo Gap Baptist Church are trying to offer a comfortable atmosphere for everyone to come worship and get to know God better through a new monthly celebration service that allows you to “come as you are.”
The idea for a new kind of worship celebration at the church began with the Minister of Music, Glen Polsey. Glen started to feel called to do something different after reading a book titled “No Perfect People Allowed, creating a come as you are culture in the church.”
The book, written by John Burke, explains that a lot of younger people shy away from church because of their perceptions of church as being a place that is judgmental and formal. Burke offers suggestions for churches that can help them reach out into the world around them and reach people as they are.
Caddo Gap Baptist Church, which just celebrated their 110th year of service to the community, offers a very informal family approach to their regular service so Glen felt that the church needed to try and find a way to share that feel with a new gneration.
God led him to create a celebration service that incorporates modern worship songs and styles to reach a younger generation.
The church already uses a blended style for their worship service on Sunday so the transition to a more modern style for the monthly service was not difficult.
Another change that was made involved the date of the service. The celebration service is held on Saturday evening. Glen explained that he thought it might be more comfortable for people if they did it on Saturday.
Caddo Gap Baptist Church has held two Celebration Services with the most recent being last Saturday. They plan on holding their next one in March.
Pastor Dewayne Holloway is excited about the possibilities this could open up for the church. Caddo Gap still meets every Sunday morning with Sunday School starting at 10 a.m. and worship service at 11 a.m.
Dewayne explained that the Celebration Service is just another opportunity to gather and worship the Lord. His hope is that as people come to check out the celebration service they will come and worship on Sunday as well.
The church is looking to expand their outreach into the community in other ways and would love to have the input of the community so they can better serve them.
Caddo Gap Baptist Church is located at 48 6th Street in Caddo Gap, across the street from the post office. You can also find them on Facebook at www.facebook.com/caddogapbaptistchurch.
