I hope this is not taken as criticism of Christian laborers seeking to encourage people to join in worship to our God. My purpose is to provoke reflection and dialogue on the best approach to glorify God with the dignity and honor owed to Him. There are many who, with the most honorable intentions, are working diligently to reach lost souls. We have visited several churches during the past few weeks. They have several things in common. They were all church plants, emphasized casual dress and contemporary approach to worship, and they were filled with warm and caring people. So, what is the criticism?
I fear that in our quest to make outsiders feel comfortable in worship we may compromise a couple of important areas of responsibility. I offer that the first area of compromise may be the fundamental purpose of our worship. Worship is given to God’s glory and His honor. It is good to be inviting to visitors and guests who come to worship, but the purpose is not to entertain them at the expense of honoring the Creator and Redeemer. While dress and appearance should not be a prerequisite for entering the house of worship, there should be a consideration of appropriateness. Should we dress better to go to a civil court of law than we dress to go to worship the Judge of all? We can be warm and welcoming to all and acknowledge that we are entering into God’s presence. For where two or three are gathered together in My Name, there I will be in their midst…Matthew 18:20
Have we lost the purpose of the service itself? Are we gathered to honor God, or to be entertained? Again, I approach this topic with caution and meekness. I have been emotionally stirred during worship, convicted of my sinful condition and of God’s great love. During a gifted solo performance, I have been cut to the heart by the mental images of Jesus redeeming sacrifice for me. Like in many things, it is when we honor God that we are blessed. However, the focus of our worship should be His glory. When for the sake of being “contemporary” we have bands and singers who sing songs that do not encourage congregational singing, who perform for us rather than leading us in praise to the Father, we are in danger of supplanting our desire to enjoy the performance rather than praising our God and our risen Savior. I am reminded of James exhortation for us to “be doers of the Word, and not only hearers…” James 1:22
Second, by stressing the casual contemporary worship as a means of seeking to bring the lost to Christ we compromise the fundamentals of the great commission. Jesus told His disciples to “Therefore go and teach all nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all things, whatever I commanded you.” Matthew 28:19 Our responsibility to evangelize is to bring others face to face with God. We engage in evangelism in our daily living and not just by inviting others to church services. Evangelism is the product of our personal spiritual transformation and maturity. I was encouraged by Charles Colson’s words in his book about the role of the church entitled The Body. Colson wrote, “We cannot give what we do not have. We cannot impart values we do not hold. We cannot do until we are. To be the church – our highest calling – depends on understanding the very character of the body of Christ on earth. Only then can we understand what it means to live as the people of God, serving God in today’s world.” My personal observation and conclusion is that we are so focused on reaching out to the “unchurched” and entertaining them that we have lost focus on reaching toward God’s hands and introducing human strangers to their loving Father.
In Him,
Dan
