Selah

As I was writing in my earlier post, my dad has a redemptive entrepreneurship approach to most of the things he does. One of the more recent things my dad has started is a Church called Selah that runs on Wednesday afternoons in the heart of Montreal, Quebec. Selah is described as a new way of living Church. The way my dad structures the sermons is also quite different from that of a normal service: Sharing -> Word -> Prayer -> Communion -> Silence.

Sharing: He begins by separating people into smaller groups and having them answer a question of the day. This helps people get to know one another and fosters intentional community. In many church environments, it is easy to attend without ever truly being known. This structure helps counteract that by making sure no one goes unnoticed.

Word: He then gathers everyone together for a short sermon. There is usually no worship, although there have been exceptions. Because Selah is smaller, he occasionally invites interaction at the end of the teaching. This gives others the opportunity to have their voices heard, pushing back against the passivity that can often happen when attending church.

Prayer: He then has a time of prayer at the end of the sermon.

Communion: Communion is practiced every week. This rhythm keeps God’s grace central rather than occasional.

Silence: At the end of the service everyone leaves for a moment of silence. People are free to pray, reflect, or sit silently. In a world surrounded by constant noise and stimuli this allows churchgoers a moment to truly pause and recenter their life towards Jesus before re-entering daily life. He then regroups everyone for a final send-off.

In this way, Selah offers a new church model that fosters community, participation, reflection, and relationality. It remaining a smaller church allows for no one to slip under the cracks.