GG's PROBES

FXFC - 3 - Expositing the Dream - (iii) Worship

WORSHIP

Biblically ‘worship’ is not the right word for what happens on Sunday morning in our church buildings. Biblical Worship is 24/7, not one hour a week (or even one hour a day if you have a daily time of Biblical reading, prayer and reflection). Biblical Worship is whole of life worship.

I am concerned that many congregations feel that altering or modifying their corporate worship format will make them culturally relevant in a biblical way. We seem to have forgotten the prophet’s advise that what God requires is not sacrifices and ceremonies but a life of compassion, justice and mercy.

I am concerned that many of those writing for and about the emergent church still seem to see the ‘Sunday’ Worship Service (even if held on a Wednesday) as the central pillar of how to be church. While they espouse the need to be missional and to change away from a focus on trying to ‘get people to church’, they still seem to focus on alt.worship as a key element. And this alt.worship is ‘what we do on Sunday’ rather than how we live our life.

I believe scripture teaches that there are three facets to Godly worship - Private Worship; All of Life Worship; and Communal Worship

The Priority of Communal Worship?

Most churches today have ‘corporate (communal) worship’ (what we do in the church building on Sunday) as the primary activity of the local church. A quick look at their ministries, budgets, staffing, etc readily supports this statement. Consequently they are tied to an attractional mode of outreach – trying to get people to come to the Corporate Worship event or to some introductory program (such as 40 Days of Purpose or Alpha) to lead them into this corporate event.

The resultant model of church is overlapping circles representing Worship | Community | Mission

However many people, myself included, consider this inappropriate. The pattern should rather be: Community >> Mission, all within the larger circle of Worship.

Thus George Lings of the Church Army (UK), in his presentation on the CofE’s “Mission-Shaped Church” report, writes: “We face a change of instinct about how church forms and what is most characteristic about it. I would summarise that as a shift from the priority of worship to the priority of community” (italics mine). It is obvious in the context that he uses the word ‘worship’ here for ‘what happens in church on Sunday’, rather that a whole of life attitude that is 24/7.

But ‘the hour on Sunday’ is of no value without the other 167 hours of the week. Rather than an emphasis on ‘communal’ worship, I believe we should give a much greater focus to the other two facets of worship – Private worship (which I hope to touch on more under Spiritual Formation) and ‘All of Life’ Worship which is a 24/7 attitude of mind with resultant impact on action.

All of Life Worship is not just All of OUR Life Worship! It is not just a focus on what we do in out ‘three score years and ten’, but on how we impact our society in that life.

(See also Teaching/Preaching)

posted by Gordon Gray @ Thursday, February 10, 2005