How do you define church. Church in the US has become a place that you go to get your spiritual fix. Sadly, we as church leaders encourage that. We are always trying to make our services more _________ friendly. (put in your favorite word i.e. seeker, post-seeker) When we critique our services we look at things like the timing of the sermon, the transition of the prayers, and the effectiveness of the powerpoint.
The church, though, is not a place, but us. We will quickly say, "yeah, I know, I'm the church," but do we know the implications of that statement. The church is the people of God on mission together to further His kingdom. That alone focuses our attention away from the weekend services or maybe I should say "gatherings."
The worship is not about providing a product that will satisfy the people, but about engaging people in worship to God. The questions we need to ask after our services is, "Did people experience the presence of God today?" "Were lives changed through the worship?" "Did our worship help to send out our church into a world that needs God?"
The questions don't deal with a product that we try to make attractive, but about creating worship experiences for the people of God to engage in.
These thoughts have been mulling over in head today thanks to a great book called, "The Emerging Church" by Dan Kimball. This is a great read. Tomorrow I'm starting on another of his books called, "Emerging Worship."
Have a blessed day.
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1 comment:
good thoughts! yay, i'm so proud you have finally finished that one. you crack me up with your 5 or 6 books you always have going. i guess i'm really just jealous. i wish i could keep up with all that and not get it mixed up and confused in my head!! i love you nerdboy,
summer
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