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Church at the Flicks!

I went to Church in a cinema yesterday. Christ’s Commission Fellowship in Manila is a huge Christian Community. The main service is held in a very large building, but still there isn’t enough room for everyone, so the service is relayed to two cinema’s nearby. Being a conservative type, I expected to find following the service on the screen to be distracting, but I was rather surprised to find that it was actually a very positive experience. The service started off with a very lively time of singing. The band was excellent and the worship leader (on screen) did a good job of helping us focus on the Lord. Singing in the cinema was accompanied by a small vocal group. Worship Time At CCF

The sermon, which lasted for about an hour, was excellent. The overall theme was based on Jesus meeting the Centurian in Matthew 8, but I found myself very struck by a passing remark that the pastor made. Commenting on Micah 6:8 he said that God makes things very simple – but when it comes to doing them, simple isn’t the same as easy. Think about it….

Another striking thing about the service was the age of the congregation. I reckon that there were about 500 in the cinema. Apart from a few (aged) Europeans and Americans, the average age could not have been above 25. In fact wherever you go in Manila the whole city is full of very young people. If you have any doubt about the concept that the economic powerhouses of the future will be in Asia (not to mention a huge slice of the growing churches) you just have to look at how the population is growing.