Mountain Monergism Movement

After the theology study that has just finished up in St Albans, God has led us to form a Reformed Baptist fellowship. We hold to the 1689 LBC and desire to have a high liturgy worship service. 

We hope to fill a void in our area by having a high liturgy pattern of worship when most churches have rejected this style in favor of a more relaxed contemporary style. It should be noted that being high liturgy in style does not mean we reject contemporary music, for indeed there are good songs being written today. What it means is that we feel called to give our best to God, no matter what style of music is used and that relaxed settings focus more on man than the One we worship. Worship is about God. Contemporary music can be used in a high liturgy pattern of worship and at times we will do this very thing.

Having said that, we will not set aside hundreds of years worth of Godly song writers work only because a new song has a better beat. Progress in the church needs get back to what it once meant. Today we see progress as new and better ways. In John Bunyan's day progress was measured in the heart of the believer and his walk with God. We feel a return to these days is badly needed the church today.

This is a rather bold move on our part when most of the church is going the other way. The move toward a relaxed setting comes from a reaction against what could be called  a classical, traditional pattern of worship. Why has that reaction occurred? R. C. Sproul address the reaction in a book called, " A Taste of Heaven: Worship in the Light of Eternity"

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At the time of the Reformation, some people in Protestant churches reacted against the traditional Roman Catholic style of worship. Some of that reaction was theological, but not all of it. Some of it was based on a zealous desire to do nothing in the way Rome did it. For instance, during the time Martin Luther hid at Wartburg Castle and translated the Bible from the original languages into German, one of his disciples in Wittenberg, Andreas Carlstadt, started vandalizing churches, smashing stained-glass windows, overthrowing the furniture, and doing all sorts of damage in the name of reform. When Luther heard of this, he was upset and disciplined Carlstadt for his over-zealous reaction against the sacred things of the past.

Carlstadt erroneously directed his ire against the "form" of Roman Catholic worship. The problem was not with the form but with the formalism into which Rome had fallen. The word formalism means that the form becomes the end in itself. Another word that means much the same is externalism, which is the condition that exists when all that exists are the external elements, while the internal elements, the heart and soul, are absent. The Reformers' true goal was to cure the formalism and externalism of the Roman Catholic Church.

In the same way, the Old Testament prophets were vehement in their denunciations of the dead, empty formalism into which Jewish worship had degenerated. As a seminary student, I had to read two books on worship, one that favored a low liturgy and another that favored a high liturgy. The book that favored the low liturgy was presented as an expression of "prophetic" worship in the church, whereas the book that advocated a high liturgy presented itself as following the priestly tradition of worship. After reading these books, we students had to defend one or the other style of worship. I was astonished to discover that I was the only person in the class who favored the high liturgy and the priestly tradition. My professor was equally surprised at me, because he knew that I was a committed evangelical Christian, and evangelicals traditionally shy away from liturgical worship.

Why did I choose the high liturgy position? The author of the book on the priestly tradition convinced me by showing that when we go back to the prophetic critique of the deadly forms of worship that God rejected in Israel, the prophets were reformers but not revolutionaries. What's the difference? The prophets nowhere rejected the liturgies of worship that God had ordained for His people. Instead, the prophets denounced the decadence of the people's practice in following these liturgies. The problem wasn't with the liturgies; the problem was with the worshipers, who came with cold hearts and went through the liturgies simply by rote, with uninvolved and untouched hearts.

Jesus, too, was a reformer in this sense. Exhibit A of externalism in the Bible is the Pharisees, who went through all of the outward rites, all of the liturgies that God had prescribed, but their hearts were not in it. They skated on the surface of superficial lip-service to God. As Jesus said of them, "Hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy about you, saying: 'These people draw near to Me with their mouth, and honor Me with their lips, but their heart is far from Me. And in vain they worship Me . . .'"(Matt. 15:7–9a).

There is no doubt that God wants His worship to have form, so the question is not whether we will have a liturgy or not. The issue is whether the liturgy is biblical in its content, and ultimately, whether we are using the liturgy to worship in spirit and in truth. 

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We agree with Sproul here. Changing styles does not address the problem, in fact in some cases it only adds to the problem. If the problem is a heart problem, relaxed worship only changes externalism to another style. One can see this in quotes made by those that feel relaxed worship is more expressive.

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From ..http://www.cofchrist.org/ccm/

 Our style of worship is relaxed and informal, full of joy and praise and spirit-filled. With the use of contemporary Christian music, there is room for many different expressions of praising God. There are people of all ages found in CCM ministries, but there seems to be a particular appeal for young adults and those who are searching for a more expressive, open style of worship.

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We would also agree that classical worship styles does not make a church more holy. It is the heart that we must address not the style.  If our mind set is that we can do just anything, because after all we are only going to church to worship God, but at the same time give much attention in how we address a business leader, what does this tell God about our thoughts of Him?

We feel that many well meaning churches have missed the point of worship. Maybe it's time we focus on change that matters more than change that make us feel better. After all, worship is indeed about God.

If your desire is to have such a worship service, please call today, 304-533-0001

A study of the history of theology is going on now in St Albans WV. Those that would like to join our small group are welcome. We meet on Tuesday nights at 7 p.m.. The meeting only last 1 hour and 15 min.

We first view the DVD called "Amazing Grace" and talk about it for the rest of the time. There are many handouts and a workbook to follow.

Call for more information: 304-533-0001