Category Archives: Church

God-Focused Church Services?

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some_assembly_requiredI got a couple of responses to this weeks’ post that reflected the same idea: worship should be neither member-focused nor seeker-focused; worship should be God focused.

In a sense, I agree. All of life should be God focused. God should be at the center of everything we do. As Paul said, “And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Colossians 3:17)

For some, this is especially true about our assemblies. I’ve been calling them worship services, largely out of habit. Using Scripture alone, it’s hard to say that the main purpose of our assemblies is worship. Our should I say the unique purpose. We sing songs of praise, but one of the main purposes of our singing is to speak to one another and build one another up. Sermons should glorify God, but they are obviously directed at people. God doesn’t need to be preached to. Oppositely, prayers are directed to God, yet these are corporate, public prayers. At times we even speak to one another in our prayers. (as did Jesus in John 11:41-42).

We have made the Lord’s Supper about “me and God,” but the New Testament portrays it as a corporate time. We break bread together. We wait for one another. We do it with an awareness of the gathered body, or we do it wrong.

I think the answer lies in seeing worship as being focused not on one element, but three. To borrow David Mike Breen’s terminology (from Building A Discipling Culture), it’s Upward, Inward, and Outward. We need all three facets. Complete, holistic worship reaches up to God, in to the church, and out to the nonbeliever. Like the three-legged stool, our assembly collapses if we completely remove any of the three.

Up to God. In to the Church. Out to the believer.

The Case For Outsider-Focused Church Services

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Church welcome signHere’s the counter-argument to yesterday’s post. When arguing for an insider focus to our church assemblies, I referred to 1 Corinthians 14. Yet in that passage, Paul also makes a point about considering outsiders:

“So if the whole church comes together and everyone speaks in tongues, and some who do not understand or some unbelievers come in, will they not say that you are out of your mind? But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, “God is really among you!”” (1 Corinthians 14:23–25)

Paul envisions a situation where an outsider comes into the assembly, seemingly on their own. Our services need to be aware of that possibility as well.

Think about it. We advertise our church services on signs and sometimes in paid publicity. We often include some sort of “Come join us!” message. We’re inviting outsiders; shouldn’t we treat them as welcome guests?

In our society, most people have some concept of “going to church.” Many have had relatives that go to church, if they haven’t gone themselves. They understand “going to church” as a way of interacting with Christianity. If they are going to seek God, for many of them the first step will be to find a church service to attend.

It’s my point of view that the healthiest church services have a body focus while trying to make them something intelligible and attractive to outsiders. However, some churches thrive on the “seeker-focused” mentality. Their invitations to outsiders are “come join us at church”; evangelism centers around getting people in to hear a powerful message from the preacher. As we’ve seen, a case can be made for that.

The Case For Insider-Focused Church Services

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reservedToday let’s talk about the case for church services designed for church members; we’ll look at the other side tomorrow.

In the Old Testament, worship was very much insider focused. Outsiders could participate in some parts of worship, but they had to conform themselves to the norms of the Israelite community. And many parts of Jewish worship were off limits to Gentiles.

So what happened in the early church? From what we could tell, services were open to all. There’s some debate as to the Lord’s Supper, whether it was an open or closed event. One of the oldest extra-biblical sources, the Didache, affirms the closed nature of communion.

But let no one eat or drink of your Eucharist, unless they have been baptized into the name of the Lord; for concerning this also the Lord has said, “Give not that which is holy to the dogs.”

In 1 Corinthians 14, when Paul is talking about spiritual gifts in the assembly, he emphasizes that prophecy is superior to speaking in tongues, for tongues are directed at outsiders while prophecy is for the edification of believers. It would seem that Paul’s priority for the church assembly was the edification of the members, not the evangelizing of outsiders.

In practice, a church with a heavy seeker focus runs the risk of starving the faithful by continually feeding them spiritual baby food. No congregation can thrive with a constant diet of first principles. (This raises the question as to whether or not the assembly should be the principal teaching time for the church… we’ll save that one!)

We should also remember that, to some degree, visitors come to see what church will be like if they are members. They want something accessible to them, but not directed at them. In fact, many visitors feel threatened if they perceive that too much of the service has been tailored for them. It almost makes the church assembly feel like a sales event.

I’ll go ahead and say that I believe an assembly can be too member-focused; in fact, I think that’s a more common problem than the over-emphasis on visitor awareness. But a strong case can be made that the primary focus of our church gatherings should be the community of the faithful and not those who are there as outsiders.

photo from MorgueFile.com

Edification or outreach?

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worshipA worship service is not an evangelistic event. Yet it is a place where the church interacts with outsiders and hopes that they respond favorably.

So what sort of balance should a church strike between ministering to insiders and ministering to outsiders during a worship service? Is it mainly about edification or outreach? Or do the two go together?

I’d love to hear your thoughts.

What are the greatest challenges facing your congregation?

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abandoned churchEvery church is in its own context. We face different challenges, depending on many factors. There are common struggles, like the realities of sin and its effect on our members. There are highly specific problems, ranging from the effort required to begin a new work to the terror of external persecution. Some churches find themselves in communities that are dying, small towns where the younger families move away and the population slowly shrinks. Others find themselves in changing communities, with a new socioeconomic standard or racial/ethnic makeup.

For some churches, the problems are internal. Bad leadership. Rebellious members. Sin that has struck at the very identity of the church.

For others, the problems come from outside. Pressures from neighbors and city officials. Resistance from other religious groups.

For some the problems are about material things, like lack of building space for a growing congregation or lack of funds to support existing structures for an aging congregation.

For some, the problems are deeply spiritual. Ingrained legalism. Unloving attitudes. Disregard for biblical teaching. Factions and divisive spirits.

So what’s going on where you are? What are the things that the church must handle in the next few years? What are foreseen obstacles to new growth or causes of decline?