Worship 101

I constantly feel like the Sunday worship service is being turned into something it is not. People complaining about styles of music, songs, preacher, they didn't get anything out of it, etc. So, I wrote the following article for our newsletter. It probably won't help, but I needed to get it out of my system.

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When is the last time you walked out of a worship service critiquing some aspect (songs, sermon, communion time, etc.) or bemoaning the fact that you “got nothing out of it”? Or have you ever spoken to someone who didn’t see the need to go to church citing the superiority of their personal relationship with God over that of the body or questioning the spiritual state of the church, assuming that it was full of hypocrites? It seems that we all at some time or another lose sight of why we gather together as a corporate body. I know that I do when I get too caught up on flawless transitions and hitting every note correctly. So I came up with a few reminders that help keep our worship service in perspective.


It’s about the giving, not the receiving
All of us, at least once, have said to ourselves: “Worship is boring and long and irrelevant—what am I really getting out of it?” But that is the wrong question. A better one is: “What am I really adding to the service—am I helping others get something out of this?” We can reflect, meditate, pray, and even study the Bible alone. We can seek to be built up and encouraged by the body. But we can’t expect to only receive at the service. Simply, the church service is not about meeting personal needs, it’s about what we’re offering God and one another as a community of Christians.

God is the audience, not us
We call it a worship service, but a more accurate description for what most of us do today is something like a “spiritual show.” I think many people equate churchgoing with going to the movies. It’s a performance, and their role is to give it a thumbs-up or thumbs-down. We treat our worship service like our favorite TV program. As long as the show is entertaining and the characters and story capture us, we’ll stay tuned. But if it loses its edge, we’ll flip to another channel, another show, another church. In a consumeristic culture, we let us be reminded that God is the audience, not us. The choir, the minister, the instrumentalists, the servers, the audio/visual workers, and the people sitting in the pews are all part of the worship service, for which God is the point. When we become the audience we miss out on the purpose of gathering—to give God glory and praise.

Our commitments define us
Tony Campolo says we’re defined by our commitments. If we believe nothing and support nothing, we’re a part of...nothing. If we commit ourselves to the church, we define ourselves as part of the body of Christ. There, we can feel loved, supported, and part of something much bigger than ourselves. This mentality is far different from “putting in our time” or going to church because we are supposed to. Commit to the church and it will change from a burden to blessing.

We must learn to live with others’ differences and unify around our common commitments
The subtle and overlooked message of the “Wherever two or three of you are gathered...” passage is the directive to simply love one another through our differences by gathering. In this disconnected culture, most people have few opportunities to live and love with people who are radically different in age, interest, and perspective than them. Church offers them a chance to connect with others around a common set of desires and commitments. There is no doubt that this church contains people who have varying tastes in music style, song selection, etc. But why do we let such things cause a rift? If we are committed to building one another up in love and glorifying God why does it matter what songs we sing or what instruments we use?

We need others who can share our load
Central to the Christian life is “bearing one another’s burdens” (Galatians 6:2). If we are to grow into the image of God, we must move toward others whether they’re broken or blessed, through tears and through laughter. And we need others to help us lift our concerns to God. The last half of Hebrews 10:25 advises, “Let us encourage one another—and all the more as you see the Day approaching.” As we join together, committed to one another and to God, we will receive a blessing and an encouragement from the service.


May we be known not for the quality of singing or music, or for having a blending, traditional, or contemporary service, but for having a service of committed believers that are united in the singular goal of bringing glory to God.