Worship service vs. worship experience

A couple of thoughts being "laid back" doesn't mean that a service ought to aim at people experiencing worship or that it shouldn't be as "perfect" as we can make it.

We do all our announcements prior to beginning the service so we don't break into a service that is genuinely experiencing the presence of God with the ladies dinner next weekend.

You can juggle the schedule without manufacturing an experience. It's a matter of your heart AND making certain that the order of service is not sent down from on high. It's just a guide. Give God the freedom to do whatever He wants.

 

Generally speaking, the church I attend by choice may have a few announcements at the front, but after that, the service flows....no offering plates are passed (there are boxes to place these things in).

Another church I am required to attend via work I struggle to gain flow because

1.) The pastor drains me by constantly talking at the preface of the service. Just get on with it.

2.) During the musical portion, there is a song, sit down, pray, stand up and sing, pray, sing, pray. Seriously?? You are dragging.

3.) People block the main exit because most want to shake hands with the pastor. Please. Step aside. Call him during the week. Really?

 

Worship is not about us or our personal experience. It is about God and God alone. The very second it becomes about you then it stops being true worship of God and idolatrous. We need to be prepared to worship with no expectation of anything in return eg. personal worship experience, feeling good etc. If you never had an "experience" would you still worship God? True worship can only occur when we have no thought of ourselves.

Bottom line is when you have begun looking for a personal experience you have stopped worshiping God.

 

I think you've put your finger on the problem. When I hear the term "worship experience," I semantically relate it to what I get from it. The focus is on me, and I sense that the goal is for it to be pleasurable to the participants. So, in planning such an experience, the goal is to incorporate such elements that attain that end.

Now, can worship be pleasurable? Of course. I have left many services with my spirit uplifted; I have gone out with joy. Seeing souls confess Christ produces joy. Having a young man surrender to the ministry produces joy. Watching new converts sink beneath the baptismal waters produces great happiness.

But I'm also reminded of Jim1999's comments in another thread about the Welsh revivals. There, worship services did not produce pleasure. They produced agony. They produced weeping. They produced conviction. They produced cries for forgiveness. What the Holy Spirit poured out on the Welsh was not a rockin' good time.

Worship requires an object for that worship. It ain't us.

 

Before you make any changes teach a series on worship and lead the church into necessary changes through the word. When you just drop changes on them often the change itself is a distraction. based on your sermon series have the church discuss in a Bible study what are the elements in a service that are necessary and helpful to worship and what is not. Let needed change fall out of that discussion. They will love you for it.

 

Although it is possible that you may hear something similar to " I do not care what the Bible says, we are Baptists!" Which by the way was said in a business meeting by a retired Pastor.

 

While worship may not find its bene esse in order and flow, order and flow are important to the ability to process things.
I find nothing more distracting in terms of flow, than having announcements in the midst of worship. I prefer to have them at the beginning, or at the end if that's not possible (the beginning is better). Congregational singing, prayers, then preaching and responding through offering are all Biblical elements (GASP...you mean the Bible should prescribe our worship?) worthy of our Lord. How you do all these things can vary, and as can when you do them (A local church has its believer's service this way: sermon first, then songs, then offering, seeing all as a response to the preached word).

 

The way I like to think of worship, in true worship, "service" is God-centered and understands that worship is something we do for God and unto God. God is "receiver" of what we do. The elements come from what God Himself has requested in the Bible. The word "experience" is a man-centered idea, focusing on what I "get" out it. While in true worship believers are blessed and receive great benefits, it is not people who are the focus of worship.

 

A few years ago, my wife and I were vacationing, and on Sunday morning decided to attend a rather large church, whose pastor is widely known in the SBC. He was known to be conservative, so we looked forward to hearing him preach.

When we arrived, instead of to the auditorium, we were directed to an assembly hall, complete with stage, strobe lights, rock music blaring from the speakers. The young lady who greeted us told us that the pastor was away, and the service was moved to the hall (for some unexplained reason.)

She told us "you're going to have a worship experience you'll never forget."

We went in, sat down near the bar where water and juice were being served up. My wife and I had our Bibles with us, but it appeared that we were the only ones who had them.

We sat there for a few minutes, looked at each other, nodded to each other and stood up and left.

I'm sure they had a great experience. Whether they had worship or not, I can't say, since we were gone.

But my own SBC cultural background was totally foreign to what they were doing, and while I'll not criticize it, I guarantee you I'll never get used to it.

 

In the same manner, I've visited many churches where you walk in, sit down, and never stand up again. The choir gathers and sings for about an hour, nothing but one or two stanza Fanny Crosby or Gaither songs, or stuff even prior to them. Congregational singing? None. No worship. Just feel-good entertainment. In fact, if the worship is good enough, the Bible never gets opened and the best services the church can remember had no preaching at all.

News flash: Rick Warren and Bill Hybels didn't start this.