The US and UK: Transatlantic lessons

I recently returned to the UK for a preaching tour. I preached 13 times in about as many days. Godcenteredlife.org had a conference in London. We did a missions conference with Crosslinks in Belfast. And more.

It’s made me reflect, with renewed up close and personal experience, on the differences, strengths and weaknesses of the different church scenes. Obviously, there are many more, and much bigger, churches in the USA. Right before I came to the UK, I heard of another church in the USA of about 15,000 people in attendance – a church that previous to that brief awareness moment I had never heard of. If there was a church in the UK with 15,000 people in attendance I would have heard of it and been quite familiar with it. But the size difference is not the most notable, nor in some ways, the most important distinction.

There is also a distinction of resources. There are some still quite large seminaries in America with many pastors getting trained for pastoral ministry. The musical capabilities of a larger church in America dwarf all but the most ambitious church in the UK, and are on a parallel with the larger annual festivals and conferences in the UK.