“You Can’t Make Me Sing”

Chapter 6 introduces Wayfarers Collective, an “emerging church” that decries what it perceives as the superficiality and entertainment-centeredness of mainstream evangelicalism. The Collective meets in a temporary rental spaces, eschews categories of formal membership, and brands itself as a “last stop” for people who are considering leaving the church forever. The Collective faces significant evangelistic hurdles: residents of the Pacific Northwest tend to be fiercely independent, and hostile towards institutions that seek to limit their personal freedom, creativity, or identity. The Collective’s anti-authoritarian ethos both helps and hinders its practices of corporate worship. Positively speaking, sermons at the Collective are a back-and-forth conversation between preacher and congregation: all participants are on equal ground. Musical worship—where the congregation must follow the directions of an authority figure—is more problematic.