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Nov 20th 2007 Who is the Church Service for? (Part 1)
Topic Started: May 4 2009, 08:05 PM (130 Views)
lightninboy

One question I have been mulling over recently is “Who is the church service for - believers or unbelievers?” Those who answer “believers” will often have church services that cater to the needs and desires of Christians. There will be an emphasis on programs and teaching that meet the needs of Christians. The sermons will often center on teaching Christians what they need to know to be better Christians. The songs will often use terms and ideas that Christians are familiar with. The programming will center around issues that Christians are dealing with. In the churches I have pastored, this is the approach I used. But we always did a poor job of reaching unbelievers, as do most churches who follow this model.

Unbelievers who visit a church that is focused on “making disciples of Christians” will often be confused and weirded out by what goes on: “What’s with all the teaching from Romans? What does ‘justification’ mean? You say Jesus is coming back? That sounds a bit like the legends that say King Arthur is returning. Why do I want to learn ‘Christian business principles’? I don’t really want to be ‘washed in the blood of the lamb’ or be the ‘bride of Jesus.’ ”

Some churches have understood that much of what the church does and says is a little strange to unbelievers, so they try to look at things from the perspective of an unbeliever, and make the church more “seeker sensitive.” They gear the church service not toward the Christian, but toward the non-Christian who knows next to nothing about the Bible or church traditions. This tends to attract lots of crowds, and even generates lots of new believers, which is great, but ends up allowing most of these new believers to remain in relative immaturity. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have recently announced this fact for their own church. The “seeker sensitive” model, while it attracts large crowds, does a poor job of bringing those crowds to spiritual maturity.

Is there a balance or middle ground between the two? I think there is, which we will begin looking at tomorrow. We will see that the solution to the problem begins by reassessing who the church service is for.
No I will not, No I will not
Not go quietly
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lightninboy

Comments:

1.Steve on 15 Jan 2008 at 8:27 pm #

Maybe there should be a third option to this question. Who is the church service for - believers, unbelievers, or Christ?

2.Jeremy Myers on 17 Jan 2008 at 2:00 pm #

Steve,

Certainly, the church service is ultimately for Christ. But to me, that answer is like the typical christian statement that everything we do should be “for the glory of God.” Well, of course, that’s true. But what does it mean? How does it look? So, who is the church service for? Absolutely Christ. But what does that mean? How does it look? What does Christ want us to do in and during our “church service”?

It looks like you and Owen and Robert have some good thoughts and ideas over there at morning meditations. Keep up the good work!
No I will not, No I will not
Not go quietly
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