Worship - Evangelize or Edify?

Great Post, I would have to say edification of the saints.
I believe that the church building is a place for like minded believers to gather, sing praises to the Lord, recieve instruction,fellowship and to be strengthnd/rebuked by the preaching of the Word of God.
I do not feel the lost should be the MAIN focus there.
We are living in this wicked world most of the week , we need to be in the house of the Lord as much as possible.

[ January 24, 2003, 10:51 PM: Message edited by: swordsman ]

 

Would have to go with the edification of the saints.

Jeff.

 

Heb. 10:
21: And having an high priest over the house of God;
22: Let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience, and our bodies washed with pure water.
23: Let us hold fast the profession of our faith without wavering; (for he is faithful that promised
24: And let us consider one another to provoke unto love and to good works:
25: Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as the manner of some is; but exhorting one another: and so much the more, as ye see the day approaching.

I would think that the communal worship is for the exhortation of the saints and the edifying of the Body.

A servant of Christ,
Drew

 

Unfotunately too many DO leave out the prime purpose .. to glorify God ...

As the unregenerate can't glorify the God tey don't belive in, the secondary purpose is to edify and build up the saints.

Regards
Bob

 

Glorifying God has to be the first and foremost reason for anything we do...can't emphasize that enough....then the believers that meet together are built up in the faith through the preaching of the word,singing,giving,and whatever other forms of worship take place.

 

I would have to say the edification and equipping of believers, so that they (we) can better evangelize the lost.

 

I would have to suggest that worship should involve both purposes but not necessarily both having equal importance.

1) Glorifying God
2) Uplifting/Edification of believers
3) Serving as a witness to unbelievers/seekers who are present

The implication that seeker SENSITIVE services design their worship strictly for evangelism purposes is a misnomer and misrepresents the paradigm.

 

Rick Warren's book says their church is strictly for evangelism...he even states,if you don't like that go somewhere else. So,what is seeker sensitive? Why is it called that if the primary purpose is not evangelism? Why such a play on words?

 

Can you give me the exact quote where Warren says there church is strictly for evangelism?

Once again, you demonstrate your lack of understanding of Warren's overall paradigm. If Saddleback becomes strictly about evangelism, they have fallen into the very trap about which Warren vehemently warns and guards against (a church focused upon only one purpose).

Being seeker-sensitive does not mean that every single thing you do in church life is strictly for evangelism.

Have you read Warren's Purpose-Driven Life? I think you would find his chapters on worship very interesting. He even quotes John Piper on more than one occasion! It might help clarify some of your obvious misunderstandings.

Have you had an opportunity to answer my other questions in the "Contemporary" thread in the other forum?

 

Page 39,second paragraph....

 

1 Cor 14:23-25 speaks to the possibility.

That being said, the purpose of the church is worship. Worship can be a powerful witness, but the cart must not come before the horse.

 

A few obvious flaws in your post reveal the consistent tendency of some to generalize or misrepresent those with whom they disagree over philosophy and/or methods. W/o time for discussion right now, I will just point out the obvious:

1) Hybels' and Warren's philosophy are somewhat similar but very distinct. To lump them together reveals your own lack of research.

2) Most contemporary models do not even have altar calls, so your reasoning is flawed.

3) Neither are most of them seeking merely professions of faith.

4) Neither do they do "everything they can to get lost people in the door." Hybles, for example, emphasizes the necessity of building relationships.

5) Neither is the goal to get people to "come forward" (refer to #2).

If you want to actually discuss the validity of a particular model, I am willing. If you are merely in the "lump them altogether because they do it differently than me," then there is enough of that going on regularly.

 

While we're waiting on Jesus to come again...

1 Thessalonians 5:11  ¶Wherefore comfort yourselves together, and edify one another, even as also ye do.

 

I agree it is to edify the believer, to glorify God. but what do you do when the unbeliever comes to church? And how many times have I read on here peopole complaining if the preacher doesn't present the gospel in every sermon? If all the poeple are believers, then there is no need to preach on how to become/or the need of being saved/ becoming a christian. I can't see why if it were to be both(preaching to edify the believer, and evangelisim to the lost present in the room) it can't be glorifying God.
What are you going to do tell unbelivers not to come in.

 

Define "worship"

Pete