Pamela Miller of the Star Tribune writes,
“As guitar-driven rock accelerated and five mammoth video screens flashed with high-speed urban imagery, hundreds of young people swayed in a dark and crowded hall, ready to start the party.
But this was no nightclub. This was church -- a new youth service called the Gathering at Wooddale Church in Eden Prairie.
"We don't want to just be Bible listeners," youth pastor Chad Erlenborn told a crowd abuzz with spiritual excitement. "We want to be Bible doers."“
Just what does it mean to worship God?
Today we see this trend described above repeated across the nation. The idea as seen from the quote, is to make church attractive to non-church goers. To put fun back into worship is the goal. Change the method and not the message is a catch phrase today in many church growth plans.
The trend is to make the music, not sound so church like, but rather more like what we hear each day on a radio station. Big screens now project the words to the songs, so that one need not hold a songbook or need to look up the song in the song book. Pre-recorded music is now played in place of a piano and or organ. Drum traps and jazz type bands are now found in some churches, for this is what will bring in the non-church people.
Verses are shown on the big screen as the pastor preaches, so all can see the verses as they are read. Pastors try to not use words like “sin” so as not to offend non-believers. Coffee shops are set up in some churches to make others feel like they are more at a office than in church. People are asked to dress down so as not to have other non-church goers feel more at home.
People can now download the pastors Sunday morning message from the internet. This way if they have a golf game, they can still play the game and listen to the message later.
The goal is to get more people in church and also make our worship time easier to work around. We can get the non-believer in church and after they get in, the church will try to convert them to the faith. The focus is on the world and what they like, and the church will change its ways to what appeals to the world and thereby bring in the world.
Rick Warren in his best selling book “The Purpose Driven Church” writes:
“The best way to find out the culture, mind-set, and lifestyle of people is to talk to them personally. You don’t need to hire a marketing firm, just go out and meet with the people in your community face-to-face. Take your own survey, ask them what they feel are their greatest needs. Listen for their hurts, interests, and fears. No book or demographic report can replace actually talking with the people in your community...” (p. 166)
Rick Warren is one of the leaders of this redesigning of the church.
Is this what worship is about?
I say no.
Worship is all about the one being worshiped. Worshipping God is all about God, not us. To focus on the world or to focus on our needs is to focus on the wrong object, if in fact we say we are worshipping God.
The English word worship comes from the word worthship. It refers to the act of paying honor or ascribing worth to one whom deserves it. Divine worship then is giving to God what is due Him. Therefore, the way in which you show your worship is the way in which you think of God.
To look into God’s Word we see this same idea.
Genesis 24:26
And the man bowed down his head, and worshiped the LORD.
Exodus 4:31
…then they bowed their heads and worshiped.
Exodus 12:27
...And the people bowed the head and worshiped.
1 Samuel 15:25
Now therefore, I pray thee, pardon my sin, and turn again with me, that I may worship the LORD.
Mark 5:6
But when he saw Jesus afar off, he ran and worshiped him.
Worship is all about God!
One may ask, “But what is wrong with this new trend?”
What is wrong can be said in one word, “Focus.” Why is the church trying to be more like the world when we are clearly told to be more like Christ? Why are some asking the world what they want to see in church, and caring little about ways that they can do things better for God? Why are we trying to make worship easier for us? If we are worshipping God, why not give God the best? If we worship God, why not set aside time to do so?
This is not to say you cannot come to church in your T-shirt and yard-work pants. If this is your best, put it on and come to church. Nor is this saying we cannot use new technologies to better our service. It’s a mindset we need to fix. We have some that dress up for business, then wake on Sunday morning and say, “oh its only church, I’ll just wear my AC-DC shirt”. What type of mindset is that toward God?
If we use technologies as a way to put off our worship time, what does that say about how much God is worth to us?
If you have not the time to give God your best, then please do not call it worship. Some churches have turned church into a party place to meet their “feeling” of what they want to see, hear or do and give little thought to God. They call it worship, only because they use the word God in a rock song.
If you focus on the world, and your goal is to look like the world, and you want to sound more like the world, and have that same “world type” feeling, chances are you will be just like the world. This in no way is worshipping God.
What we now have are growing “Mega churches” filled with non-believers. This is not even church any more. A church is a gathering of local believers. We are to welcome non-believers, but not change the church to get them in
.
Yes, we will see churches grow under this plan, but what you draw others to church with, you will also need to follow with each week in order to keep them there.
If it’s a “show” they are coming for, then it’s a show they will always want to see. Once the laser light shows get boring, what will you do next to keep them? Mean time, you have run off some of your faithful believers.
This has been tried in the past and failed. It will fail this time as well. The YMCA was setup to do the same thing years ago. It was a “non-church look” to get the non-churched in. Once they got into the YMCA, members would witness to the non-believers and win them to Christ.
Well, that was the plan. When is the last time you have been to a YMCA Bible study? It does not work folks.
We are the best witness to the world by showing them that we love our God and will not change as the world.
In showing our love for Christ, can we not take the time to go to church? Can we not take the time to dress our best and not dress down for church? Can we not make the effort to hold a song book and to play the piano even if this means we will need to practice? Can we not take the time to carry our Bibles, and lookup the verses as the pastor preaches? Is God not worth our time and very best?
Addressing this subject, author Oz Guinness said:
“Never have Christians pursued relevance more strenuously; never have Christians been more irrelevant.”
The gospel has always been relevant. Worship of God should not be centered around people that do not believe in God in the first place. Why operate a church as the world would want it? Is not the church built for God’s people?
This is what worship is all about. It’s all about setting aside time for God and God only. It’s not to make things better for us.
Worship is all about God.
Let’s worship Him.