Motive Check
I recently overheard someone at our church comment that she loves coming to church each week so she can see all her friends she misses all week long. I didn't think much of it until I heard someone else tell someone that he comes because he likes the music. Those were things I used to think and say when I was inexperiences enough to not fully grasp the concept of the church. I am certainly not an expert witness on biblical teachings of the church, however, I don't recall ever reading that socializing and tunes were the focus of our church experience.
I realize that I overheard small sound-bytes and those claims may not be the reasons those individuals attend church. Subsequently, those are the reasons that many attend church. Is that what God wants? Does he want to get people in the doors of His church by whatever the motivation, or does He want those other things to edify the worship experience?
I believe that the church was established for worshipping and praising God. People exalted His name through song and words, but the precipice was worship. A pastor once told me that parishioners often mistake the purpose of church by focusing inwardly rather that outwardly. What can I get out of it? I needed to hear that! Additionally, I believe that preachers feed into that by crafting sermons that fill those desires of the masses. Sunday school and Bible studies are designed for learning. Worship services are just that: Worship. We as Christians should check to ensure that our primary focus on attending church is to praise the Lord and thank Him for all the blessings we have been granted. To pray for others and seek guidance. When we do that, God will teach us what we need to be taught and we will feel the Spirit move within us. It isn't about what we think we need to hear or what the pastors feel the congregation needs to hear.
God's love and grace is amazing when we give Him all the glory and praise. Ensuring that we look outwardly towards sharing that grace and allowing Him to direct us will certainly bring a movement in each of us. Pastors and committees discuss frequently how to get more people into church and get them involved. Fellowship, music, and food are great and some may claim important. ButI believe that when more churches and church leaders and Christian congregations ensure the focus of Sunday morning services are solely worship centered, churches will experience a renewal and revitalization sorely needed.
posted by bfuller @ 5:26 PM
2 comments
2 Comments:
Brad, this is a great subject and one that was just addressed in the Wichita Eagle this past Saturday. To view Tom Schaefer’s article go to www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/living/religion. Here are some of my thoughts. Worship is central to who we are as a church, but the reasons people come to worship and what they receive from the worship is very complex. In my worship experience, it is all about the sermon, everything else is window dressing (maybe that is why I like to preach). I need something that makes me think, that challenges my world view, that draws me into a better understanding of God. As much as I hate to admit it, not everyone is as jazzed about the sermon as I am. Some people are motivated to come to worship for the music or the fellowship. John Wesley learned early on in the Methodist Movement that music was a powerful motivator and learning tool. Instead of fighting the music, he and his brothers used it to build their movement. Charles wrote over 6,500 hymns and together they published some of the first hymnals. I also believe fellowship is a legitimate motivation for the church. Jesus made it clear that the greatest commandment is to love God and the second to love your neighbor. Community and fellowship are needs created deep within us. It is impossible to live out our faith by ourselves. We are commanded to love one another (something that we cannot do alone). These are just some of my rambling thoughts, but here is where I really want to challenge you. You wrote something really profound when you quoted the pastor who said, "Parishioners often mistake the purpose of church by focusing inwardly rather that outwardly. What can I get out of it?" Absolutely, but I want to take it a step further. If I hear you correctly, you are suggesting that worship is not about us and what I get out of it, but about God. We need to focus on giving praise and thanksgiving to God. So how do we do that? Is it just by showing up for worship and offering thanks? Is it just by embracing God's Spirit through worship? I believe that God wants something more. I don't think that God really needs our worship if it is just praise and thanksgiving (hear me out, don't stop here). What God really wants from us is the passion to go out and change the world. We come to worship so that we might be empowered by God to go out and make a difference in the world we know. The purpose of worship is to glorify God, but in its purest sense, glorify means to make God known or to reflect God's presence. In worship God is made known and we go out to reflect God to the world, to share the good news, to do justice, love kindness and build the kingdom of God. Your pastor friend was right, Worship is not to be inward focused but outward focused. Worship must push us out of our churches and into the world. As John Wesley once said, "The world is my parish." I honestly don't care what motivates people to come to worship, my concern is what they do when the leave worship and go back into the world.
Barry, I completely agree with everything you said. My contention is that inherently we are selfish people. The first family took care of that for us. I would contend that those who are inwardly focused are generally not the ones who are intent on leaving through the church doors at noon to affect the world in God's name. After college, when Laura and I got active again in church(we sorta took college off), I felt as if I needed to spend time working on me and allowing God to do the same. I felt so incomplete and unworthy that I thought I would be such a hypocrite worrying about spreading God's message and grace. Now, since then I realize that truly we are all sinners and everyone God has ever used, sinned. None of us is ever "complete." The point being that I'm not the only one that harbors(ed) this perspective. How often have you asked some member to help lead something at church? How often, then, has the reply sounded something like,"I feel like I still have so much to learn?" or "I'm not ready." or something else that begins with "I"? This is my point. Instead of realizing that we worship to further the truths of our Lord, we tend to worry about ourselves.
Music and fellowship play a part in worship and attendance. But should they dominate the service? When the pastor is allowed 20 minutes max in Spirit Alive or 12-15 minutes in the 11:00 service for the sermon, what message does that send about the importance of learning and understanding of God. I love the music, and it edifies the experience, but when I reflect during the week about the worship service, I don't recall the music. I try and apply the lessons learned. And that applies to both the inwardly seeking parishioner and the outwardly seeking one. Do we allot enough time then to focus not only on the teachings, but the challenge to go out into the world? Do the masses understand the purpose of worship as you have explained? Are we allowing God to take this church into the neighborhoods?
From my understanding, Barry, you are a sports guy. I am as well. How often have you seen a team that was sitting at the bottom of the standings hire a new coach to hopefully bring some improvement in the W/L column. After some time, that coach gets them into the playoffs but can't get to the championship level. Then, the GM makes a change to bring a new coach on to take the team to that highest level. I feel that way about our church. This church does a lot. It decided to become a church of earnest and incessant prayer. Through much prayer and work, most will concur that the movement is strong and continuing to grow, but EHUMC is a prayerful church. I feel that way about evangelism. Why can't we make the same commitment to teaching and leading the congregation out into the community. There are some members who do their part, but is the church leadership sending letters out or calling those who visit every week? Sure we place them on the mailing list after 2 weeks, but is there true follow-up of concern and welcomeness? Has there been a sermon series on understanding God's directive to go out and make disciples of men and how to do it? There has been a sermon here and there, but a concerted effort to teach and challenge the entire church? Are there programs in place that ensures the community knows about our church and the love of God? What is the church's long-term outreach plan in this community? We donate time, energy, and money to our foreign missions, as we should, but do we exhaust the same for our own backyard?
I know that I too have rambled, but I love my God and I love our church. It pains me to see our membership dwindle slowly, either through passing, moving, or local church changes. Ultimately, I know that we should glorify in that those who leave may still be worshipping but in another place. However, I feel that if we were to focus on the outward growth, we will each grow spiritually. The church will grow and God will be glorified. Have I said too much? I don't intend to offend anyone or the efforts being made currently. I just feel that God has laid many things on my heart the last few months and need to share them. Thank you for reading the message and the blog. Would love to talk more with you sometime. Brad
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