Mark & Nicole Conner from Citylife Church in Australia shared in the Thursday afternoon session at A2.

Nicole said they try to remove what they call the cringe factor. I think most church goers know what the cringe factor is intuitively. Here’s my definition: it’s something you do that is totally out of touch with culture or you couldn’t get by with outside the four walls of the church.

Nicole said we blame alot of the things that make people cringe on the Holy Spirit.

True dat.

I think our gatherings ought to have miraculous and mysterious elements that aren’t understandable to people without spiritual intuition. But those things don’t make people cringe. They produce awe.

We need to be diligent in removing human stumbling blocks. We need to do what we do with excellence. You know what makes people cringe? Misspelled words on worship slides. Sound problems. A irrelevant sermon. Off-key voices or off-rhythm instruments. Cut and paste graphics. Weird hairdos.

I sure hope our services drop jaws instead of making people cringe!

I think I Corinthians 14:25 is the holy grail for spirit-led-seeker-sensitive churches: God is really among them.