Church services, Worship, & the means to existence: what is it for?

What are worship services for? Are they merely an illegitimate child version of the latest get-rich-quick scheme or positive-mental-attitude-self-improvement-so-you-can-reach-your-true-potential seminar? Or, maybe, are they for... worship?

Do we tailor our services, and church organization, to meet the desires of Generation n? Consider John Piper's comments when comparing prosperity gospel to the real Gospel:

I'll tell you what makes Jesus look beautiful. It's when you smash your car and your little girl goes flying through the windshield and lands - like I was with a little girl, on 11th Avenue, two weeks ago - dead on the street, for three hours before the police would let her go. And you say, through the deepest possible pain:

"God is enough. He is good; He will take care of us; He will satisfy us; He will get us through this; He is our treasure. Whom have I in heaven but you? And on earth there is nothing that I desire besides you. My flesh and my heart and my little girl may fail but you are the strength of my heart and my portion forever."

Church, the worship of God, is all in all.

In Kansas, next year, Christians will gather in front of a foundation for a huge throne... and simply worship. No worship teams, no Contemporary Christian Music groups, no preachers... just worship before an icon of the throne of God.

At the level of practical application, MatthiasMedia and 9Marks will be hosting a conference, this fall, on church growth. From the website,

Understanding what the New Testament means by growth, and how that growth happens, sets us free. It liberates us from anxiety and self-doubt, and from the slavery of chasing the latest program.

Comments

[Phil Steiger]

Here, here! One of the temptations of Jesus was the tempation of size and pragmatism at the expense of true worship. I wonder often how many in the evangelical church have made that deal with the devil and substituted worship for pragmatics and engorgement.