NEW WINE

“And he spake also a parable unto them; No man putteth a piece of a new garment upon an old; if otherwise, then both the new maketh a rent, and the piece that was taken out of the new agreeth not with the old.
And no man putteth new wine into old bottles; else the new wine will burst the bottles, and be spilled, and the bottles shall perish.
But new wine must be put into new bottles; and both are preserved.” (Luke 5:36-38)

Many people in Jesus’ day did not understand His parables about repairing an old garment with new fabric or about putting new wine into old wineskins. Many people in OUR day don’t understand them, either. My friend actor Dennis Cole (about whom I recently wrote a posting on this blog) often speaks of the new wine in old wineskins parable. Dennis is concerned that pastors and churches try to keep things “religious” and “the way things have always been” instead of being directed by God’s Holy Spirit to what His will is for a particular church or ministry. That parable is on my mind as I write.

Yes, it’s been very difficult for me to not be pastoring and to have seen First Assembly of God of Framingham closed. However, I’m now beginning to understand that attending a very healthy church on Sunday mornings is a great blessing. I DO have a Sunday morning speaking engagement elsewhere in a couple of weeks, and I am excited about that. I also hope that during the summer months, I may get some more bookings when pastors are on vacation. I would NOT want to be out preaching EVERY Sunday, however. It’s been a real blessing to worship at Bread of Life Assembly of God in Westminster and I really don’t want to miss too much of what God is doing and will be doing there!

Gary and his wife Janis Collette are each Ordained Assemblies of God ministers. They have been at the church in Westminster for eighteen years. The original Westminster church was located in a pretty, quaint, white New England church building which maybe seated a hundred. When Gary and Janis went to the church there were maybe a handful of people there, if that! It was a tiny church in an out of the way location. It didn’t seem like a recipe for success. Under the Collette’s ministry, however, the church has grown. Within a few years, they sold the original church building, bought property and built a gymnasium/multipurpose facility where the church currently worships. Plans call for a nice new church sanctuary to be built sometime in the future.

After over twenty years as a pastor, I can pretty well get the “feel” of a church within a few minutes of walking into the lobby on a Sunday morning. Some churches are very cold and unfriendly. Some are so “friendly” they SMOTHER you. Some are very INSULAR...they don’t want outsiders there. Some are very into hype and emotionalism. Some are stoic and quiet. From the very beginning, the Westminster church made a great impression on me. The church is friendly, but they don’t try to smother visitors. The worship services are contemporary and upbeat, but they DON’T feature the find of loud obnoxious music that characterizes many of today’s charismatic churches. The services are a tad long. but they’re also VERY good...so good that I really don’t mind them being a tad longer than I was used to. Pastor Gary Collette is an excellent preacher. He’s a very pleasant humble guy, but a great public speaker. More importantly, his sermons are very “meaty”. They are solid Biblical messages.

Assemblies of God churches have changed drastically since I first set foot inside an AG church in the mid 1970s. In those days, all AG churches were pretty much alike. Everybody used hymnals; usually “Hymns of Glorious Praise” or maybe the older “Melodies of Praise”. The Sunday School material all came from the AG’s Gospel Publishing House. Every AG church had a Sunday night service. Church people went to services on Sunday morning AND Sunday night. Often, there were more people present on Sunday nights than on Sunday mornings. Sunday night services were longer, and featured lengthy “altar calls” in which people would go forward, kneel, and pray for the Baptism in the Holy Spirit, or for some other spiritual blessing. Most AG churches usually had a midweek service, or in some cases, a midweek Bible Study. That was usually the night the Youth Group would meet in a separate room. You could go to any AG church from Maine to Florida; from Indiana to Oregon, and they were all about the same.
Today, it’s very different. I’d say about 10% of AG churches in 2010 would fit the description of the 1970s church...but 90% would NOT. At least 80% of AG churches no longer have a Sunday night service. Altar calls have either disappeared or are rapidly disappearing from many AG churches. Services are getting shorter. Hymnals are mostly a thing of the past. Churches sing modern praise music. Much of it is very good, but some of it is very loud and frankly pretty awful. In the 1970s, most of the people, especially the ministers and their families, dressed up for church. Today it’s not uncommon to find pastors in very casual clothing.

I’d say there’s no “typical” was to dress at Bread of Life. The pastor and ushers dress up but most of the people dress fairly casual. Most importantly, the worship is GREAT and the atmosphere is great. Something that greatly impresses me is that the Westminster church often has Sunday MORNING altar calls on the level of the old time AG Sunday NIGHT altar calls . My experience is that there are very few AG churches (especially in New England) today where people are very hungry for God and thronging the altars on a Sunday MORNING. You can “mark” this blog posting; I expect there will be a GREAT revival at the Westminster church because the people are hungry for God and the pastors have a Godly perspective.

Another characteristic of the “old time” Assemblies of God churches was every family was given a “Pentecostal Evangel” magazine every week. (That’s the national church magazine.) That tendency is also “going by the boards”. A number of churches no longer get the “Evangel” because it’s available on-line. At the Framingham church we were still getting the “Evangel” but we had stopped buying the AG Sunday School materials and the weekly Sunday School “magazines”. About half of our Evangels were going in my recycling bin each week. I have a feeling that if we’d have stayed open we would have at least reduced the number of Evangels we were receiving. I was surprised at Westminster to be handed a Pentecostal Evangel magazine each week (along with a bulletin) as we walked into the service. Today, the pastor announced they’re no longer going to be getting the Evangels, but that they’re available on-line. Honestly, I always had a pile of Evangels in the bathroom where they made great reading material! The Evangel is a part of my 34 year Assemblies of God heritage, and I’ll miss it, but I know I’d much rather be at a church where the Holy Spirit is moving and there are no Pentecostal Evangels than to be at a church where they hand you a Pentecostal Evangel magazine but the services are dead.

So, bring on the new wine!