Worship
Spirituality
The Four Needs
Worship is the chief way that congregations address the need for spirituality. In worship a congregation gathers to hear God’s word, to express adoration and thanksgiving, to confess their sins, to share in the sacraments, to give offerings, to receive spoken blessings, and pray.
In its English roots, the word worship has to do with “the state or condition of being worthy.” Who is worthy? God is worthy.
“You are worthy, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Revelation 4: 11).
In worship members join their recognition of God’s inestimable worth with all the company of heaven who sing God’s praises. This is no small event. Worshipers who know this are full of life, and worship that acknowledges this is engagingly real.
Worship goes both ways. God is worthy, and God makes Christians worthy. God comes through the Scriptures, the sermon or message, and the sacraments. The members, in turn, sing hymns and songs of praise, confess their sinfulness, pray, share their faith experiences, and present their offerings. Worship is founded in what God has done for people and the people respond to this in different ways throughout the worship service.
Worship nurtures people’s relationships with God and with each other, and motivates worshipers to serve. Worship planners therefore always need to ask, “How can we best structure worship so the congregation is fully involved?” Since praising and honoring God and learning God’s word for the members’ lives is what worship is about, worship planners must consider how every worshiper can best honor God and understand God’s message of forgiveness and love. How can the older members participate? How can the youth? The preschoolers? The single members? How will those with physical challenges participate? Answers to these questions affect the time of the service, its duration, the style of music, offering special help to those who need it, and the like.
As important as worship style is, It is not nearly as crucial as worship content. The proclamation of God’s love in Christ can take many forms. An appreciation of God’s majesty will take eternity, never mind the one hour or so set aside weekly. The Bible, hymnody, liturgical tradition, great theologians, and the experience of Christians-all these resources can help congregations tell the age-old story and re-evangelize one another with the Good News that brings forgiveness, peace, and joy far beyond that which the world can comprehend.
The more that people are involved in worship, the more open they become to God’s grace. The more that people experience God’s grace, the more likely it is that they will come to see their church as an equipping and a sending station, preparing and propelling them into the world for ministry.
