What’s a church service for?
Written by Aron Strong on May 22, 2008 – 9:17 am -So I’ve had this discussion a couple times in the last couple weeks. What’s a church service for? Your answer will likely vary by the preference of who you’re talking to.
- Those who connect with God most through music will say the service is for worship, hence it being called a “Worship Service.”
- Those who like to discover new things about God will say they come to service to “be fed” and prefer exegetical style teaching with lots of exposition on the original Greek.
- There are some who are wired and/or simply get the idea that we were created for relationships and would say fellowship is of primary importance. The Bible does tell us to make sure we don’t stop meeting together.
- Others are looking for a powerful God experience, stripped down of all the “entertainment” that is common in church with especially larger churches.
So what’s the right answer? Or is there one? It’s hard to tell since Jesus didn’t exactly give church services when he walking around. But he left some clues I think to help us out.
How did Jesus worship God? As a boy he went to the synagogue and was found outside talking and listening to scholars. As an adult, he no longer sat and listened to them, but challenged them and their way of thinking. He lead a growth group with his disciples, but it was more for them than for himself. He preached to big crowds (perhaps we could say Jesus was the first megachurch). He did miracles. He counseled the hurting and lost. It would seem at this point we think the answer was how we went off alone to be with God. And many make the argument they don’t need church and worship by themselves as Jesus did.
Hmm, no easy answer yet. Let’s look at what Jesus expected of his disciples, maybe that will give us a clue.
The first thing Jesus said to these guys was, “Come and follow me.” He gave them an invitation. He walked with them, shared good times and bad with them. He prayed with them, taught them. He sent them on a mission trip. He empowered them to do great things for the Kingdom of God. He was quick to get on them when the did or said something dumb. He was quick to forgive them and restore the relationship. He challenged them beyond what they could have ever imagined. And he loved them completely.
Two different perspectives: Jesus and his disciples. I think there are some big ideas in here that extend even beyond a church service, but that’s a different topic. So for now, what do you think? What is a church service for?
Posted in the church |
By D Rho on May 22, 2008 | Reply
My 2 cents.
From what I can gather from Scripture: my simple answer would be:
Any church gathering, whether it’s two or two-hundred thousand, is for the edification (intellectual, moral, or spiritual improvement or enlightenment) of all who are present.
There are five basic purposes for the church: 1. Honoring God above all
2. Connecting meaningfully with people
3. Growing in faith and practice
4. Serving the needs of those struggling
5. Inviting others to be with you
I think this is what church services should be for (in many ways the typical Sunday service doesn’t really engage a lot of these in a broad and deep sense).
By Eric Rata on May 22, 2008 | Reply
My answer would be “all of the above”, but mainly for fellowship (which includes encouragement, love, support, and accountability). It’s the only thing you can’t do by yourself.
By Joe on May 26, 2008 | Reply
I just wonder if you didn’t describe the life of a Christ-follower more than you described the purpose of a Church Service?
On a fundamental level, I struggle with comparing Christs life to give us ‘clues’ as you did partly because Jesus seemed much more about GOING to the people instead of having people come to a ’service’ in a building… it seemed like what he did would be better used as an example of how we should live rather than clues to a good church service.
I’d also suggest that Drho’s comment describes the Christian life more than it describes an hour-long church service. Even as he stated it, “… 5 basic purposes for the church…” - I take that to mean the BIG picture (of which the ‘church service’ is simply a piece).
all that to say, i’m left wondering what makes an actual ’service’ good? Certainly nobody really means that EVERYTHING stated or suggested here can actually take place in 65 minutes?
By D Rho on May 28, 2008 | Reply
I’ll define a church service in today’s terms:
- teaching (main element)
- music (secondary element)
- video, drama, painting, graphics (extra supplementary, non-necessary elements)
This kind of church service is produced, planned, specialized, and rehearsed mainly by one person, or a handful of people in specialized areas. In a church gathering of even 100 attenders - that means that around 90% of the people there have no involvement or influence in the gathering itself besides a very “passive” - “come and watch” role.
Although Scripture gives no detailed model of church in one place - I do believe it tells us what a church gathering is and is not for.
It’s for:
1. Sharing the Lord’s supper
2. Sharing meals together
3. Praying for each other
4. Edifying one another
5. Giving to everyone as they have need
6. Loving one another
7. Expressing our awe of God
8. Inviting others into the community
9. Serving one another
It’s not for:
1. Idolizing men and women
2. Boasting about our works
3. Judging the world
4. Hypocrisy in any sense
5. Bickering over personal disputes
6. Finding a good lover
7. Being arrogant in what you know
8. Getting anything
9. Filing complaints
10. Being recognized first
11. Confusion
12. Arrogant displays of spiritual superiority
Anything that falls into the first list would good for any form of church service. My biggest concern in the church today is how well we’re making true, courageous, passionate disciples of Jesus Christ. I simply have not experienced a weekly church service have any lasting impact on this. So, for me, the way we orchestrate our church services needs to change considerably.
Maybe a return to older, organic, freer forms of church gatherings are now in our best interest? Perhaps the “NEED” for the cool-pro-CEOs and super-techno-hype and comfort-level-jonnies calling all the shots for the rest of us “lay” people is gone?
Maybe a church service can look something like this - no agenda - no time limit:
- Invite everyone you know (even the mean, sick, annoying types) over to someone’s house for dinner.
- At dinner explain the Lord’s supper and share it
- Move into the living room for more conversation
- Have those who can/want share a song, a poem, a painting, a video, a photo, a verse, a joke, a story, whatever… (something significant to God and faith and life)
- Pray for one another
- Pass a basket around for people to put money in, OR take money out as they need