Just Say No to the Status Quo

status quo - The existing condition or state of affairs, as in We don't want to admit more singers to the chorus; we like the status quo.*

I'm tired of the status quo when it comes to church. I have been for quite a long time. I'm getting a bit tired of visiting church after church looking for one I feel is "the right one." They are all little xerox's of themselves but they are like copies of a copy of a copy. They keep getting weaker and weaker until the image is barely perceptible. What I am looking for is a little originality...the evidence of a little creativity. I'm searching for a glimmer that someone actually stretched their brain just a bit to put together a church service. I haven't seen that too much lately and it's quite disheartening.
Nearly every service we've attended lately is a jumble of these elements.
- Worship music
- Announcements
- Meet and greet time
- Offering
- Prayer
- Message
- Communion
And most of the time, the service is in that exact order. No deviation whatsoever. And what gets me is that we've been visiting various denominations including some I've never heard of. What, are these people spying on one another? "Hey, I hear they got a good thing going on over at So and So Community Church. Let's do what they're doing." I am so tired of that. This church copies this church that went to that conference and saw that cool thing and over and over and over. The copies get copied and it gets weaker and weaker. Where is the brainstorming? Where is the original thought? C'mon people! God gave us a brain. Let's stretch and pull and hurt a little bit. No pain, no gain...right?