Hi all, Yee and I attended 新生命小组教会 on Saturday and Sunday. I am truly impressed by their worship. Before I get into their music, let me first introduce the church.
The church is part of the Charismatic Movement. This church embraces speaking in tongues and the laying of hands on people (people collapse afterward).
My experience of the church was mixed. While the praise was phenomenal, I was not accustomed to the way they do things. The church has a policy where no one can enter the sanctuary once service starts (this is to prevent people from disturbing others). Since I was new, I left for the bathroom after worship and was subsequently prevented from entering back in. I was pretty upset about that. When Yee came out later to look for me at the end of the sermon, he wasn't allowed back in and found out why I went missing. While I was outside walking around, I found that they had a lot of activities and the reason for them was to attract people to church. By the looks of it, it looks like they're succeeding.
The church has plenty of good things going for them. For example, they have plenty of ushers, I respect that they value punctuality, excellent team of sound engineers, dedicated youth group leaders, phenomenal praise teams. But, there are some things I can't accept.
First off, the pastor dresses "very fashionably." When I was at the church, his hair was dyed green and he was in a red/gold jump suit. My view on what to wear to church is simple; we should dress our best to present ourselves to God. I understand what the pastor believes in, yes, God indeed does look at the heart. But doesn't our actions mirror what's in our heart? And though God is our friend, He is also our King. A King that is to be feared and revered. A King that will one day judge us. More often than not, we neglect the holiness and righteousness of God. We like to pick and choose what aspects of God we believe in rather than taking God as a whole. I believe in doing what it takes to bring people to church, but we have to draw the line at some point. I don't believe sacrificing respect for God is worth bringing new people. There are other ways (which they are pursuing) to bring people to church without dressing like a lunatic.
That said, the worship team was amazing. They were very tight as a group. No one instrument was overpowering another. They were able to be loud but not noisy. Though the atmosphere was 'big,' it wasn't overwhelming. Finally, the vocals were able to be heard clearly above all the instruments. There are definitely a lot of things we can learn from them.
The Band members include: 1 Lead Vocal/Acoustic Rhythm Guitar， 1 Bass， 1 Electric Guitar，1 Keyboard， 1 Backup Keyboard， 1 Drummer， and 4 Backup Vocals. If all of us sing, there is no reason why we can't emulate them. I think what we need to work on is balance and perhaps have a dedicated sound engineer.