Worship themes: clarity and next steps (PT 4)
Here are the last 2 major themes in transformative worship. If you’ve missed the previous articles in this series, make sure to check them out below.
Themes of transformative worship (Part 1) Trinitarian, recalling the major acts of redemption, covenantal ramifications, and Christocentric worship.
Communal and participatory worship (Part 2)
Wholistic and multisensory worship (Part 3)
Clarity and accessibility
One of the great debates in worship over the last 30 years has been to answer a single question- Who is Sunday morning for? At the core of this question is whether or not our Sunday morning times of worship should be designed for those who already believe in Jesus, or for those who are exploring Christianity and faith for the first time, or the first time again.
To make it even simpler, should what we do on Sunday be an evangelistic event? Or should it be a time focused entirely on those who are already Christians?
This is not actually a new question or problem. When you review church history, you will find this issue popping up regularly. For example, “Why are we doing the mass in Latin when nobody understands it or speaks it any more?” “People can’t read…let’s put the Bible in stained glass images!”
Is Sunday about evangelism or edification?
We don’t have to settle for one or the other. The truth is that when we look at the Bible, we see that Sunday can be both!
Edification
In 1 Corinthians 14 Paul is addressing the church’s time of worship. It appears as though there was a severe lack of understanding of what their time of worship should be focused on.
Things seem to be chaotic in the Corinthian church, with everyone enjoying their own personal expression of worship. They’re not concerned about how their personal worship is building up the person next to them.
Paul tells them that since they are so excited about experiencing the Holy Spirit, why don’t they do it with the purpose of “building up the church.” (1 Corinthians 14:12) Later on in the chapter he says that everything done in the service should be for “building up” (1 Corinthians 14:26) everyone in the church so that “all will be encouraged.” (1 Corinthians 14:30)
When the church in Rome was experiencing divisions, Paul encouraged them to “pursue what makes for peace and mutual upbuilding.” (Romans 14:19)
When the early church gathered, it was incredibly important that what they did together was understood by all. All church activity was done in a way that would help them grow in Christ-likeness. Worshipping together was a major way that they experienced edification. Worship was designed for that purpose.
Evangelism
On the other hand, it appears that when the Church was gathering together, there were unbelievers present. Paul expected that, over time, unbelievers would be invited to come and experience a gathering.
If, therefore, the whole church comes together and all speak in tongues, and outsiders or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are out of your minds? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or outsider enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all, the secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you. (1 Corinthians 14:23-25)
As Rory Noland says “Paul was particularly concerned about outsiders who came to church out of curiosity or at the invitation of a friend or relative.” He didn’t want visitors to be lost and confused. Paul wanted everyone who entered to feel welcome and included. He called on the leaders at Corinth to ensure that every part of the worship experience was intelligible and comprehendible.”
Our worship should prioritize believers, but be open, accessible, and understandable to unbelievers.
Considerations for worship:
Reinforce the “why” for both believers and unbelievers.
We are terribly forgetful creatures. We have a tendency to forget the purpose of why we do something- we simply move into action. We need continual reminding of why we sing, why we read scripture, why we take communion, and why we do all the other things regularly done in a church service. If we don’t continually come back to the purpose and meaning behind our actions, the actions will become dead and lifeless. We don’t want to hear Jesus say “These people worship me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Matthew 15:8-9)
Additionally, we need to explain why we’re doing what we’re doing for those who are brand new. Imagine never going to a church, then during communion someone says “We’re going to take the body and the blood today to remember the sacrifice of Jesus!” That phrase has freaked out a lot of people over the centuries. Unless we explain and understand what we’re doing, we can’t fully engage (or have others engage) in what we’re doing.Create an experience to make people excited about inviting others to join.
I think Rory Noland nails it again when he says “Non-Christians do not normally come to church unless they’re invited by someone who already attends. By the same token, believers do not normally invite guests unless they’re confident the first-timers will find the service to be a positive and meaningful experience. It’s a vicious cycle…leaders don’t see unbelievers among the congregation so there’s no incentive to accommodate them, and at the same time, church members don’t think to invite anyone because they fear their friends and relatives won’t be impressed.”
Ask yourself, is this experience something that I enjoy so much that I would want others to experience it? Why or why not? What about the service would need to change to be both edifying to believers and attractive to seekers?
Help guests feel welcome.
Think through what the Sunday worship experience would feel like for someone in each of the following scenarios:
A young family with kids.
A divorced parent with kids.
A teenage boy or girl, a single man or woman, or a person in their (20s, 30s, 40s, 50s, 60s).
Someone who has never been to church, or someone who is coming back to church after a long time due to painful life experiences.
If you were Jesus, what would you want each of these people to experience as they pull in to your parking lot and enter your building?
Clear next steps
It is my strong and passionate belief that Sunday is meant to be a major event each week, designed to help people encounter God and be transformed by him.
I also recognize that a single day will not lead to a transformed life on its own.
We need to make sure that we are equipping people to encounter God on the other six days of the week. We need to provide them with tools and smaller communal experiences that will enable them to grow even deeper in their faith. This is the point where a church needs to have an intentional strategy for discipling people, ranging from brand new believers to those fully mature in Christ. Then, once that strategy is in place, it must be communicated through the worship gathering on Sunday.
Developing an intentional strategy to help take people forward from their first steps of faith all the way to becoming a spiritual parent, sage, and disciple-multiplier, is a very big topic beyond what I’m covering here.
If you would like some direction on what this might look like, I would highly recommend three books.
Real Life Discipleship by Jim Putman. This was my first introduction to stage theory in discipleship. Once you begin to see stages of faith that people go through, the various mind-sets, struggles, and needs of each stage, you won’t be able to ignore it. He lays out stages named spiritually seeking, spiritual infants, spiritual children, spiritual young adults, and spiritual parents.
The Critical Journey by Janet Hagberg. As you begin to reach the end of the spiritual young adult stage, the gap between where you are and becoming a spiritual parent is huge! It often feels impossible, because what you got you here will not get you to the next stage. That’s where this book is helpful. Hagberg describes the initial stages mentioned by Putman, but then gives insight into additional stages that describe what maturity in Christ looks like and how to move toward it. It can be a bit dense, but if you can slog through this book, it’s worth it.
Here are two videos that summarize it, but in no way replace, doing the work of learning. Stages of Faith 1 | Stages of Faith 2
One of the most important things we plan for is when someone has experienced God’s presence and will, and that person wants to know “What’s next?”
Whatever your discipleship strategy looks like, I would recommend thinking through your sermon and corporate worship with these three steps in mind.
First steps
These are basic onramps for people who are new to faith, or new to your church. You may already have a system in place for people to meet others, learn more about what your church is all about, and learn about taking their first steps of faith. These are foundational steps in the spiritual journey that includes baptism, being part of a community, learning to read the Bible, praying, and the big picture of the Bible.
Next steps
This set of programs and groups is aimed at helping people go deeper in their faith as well as teaching them to serve in order to help others grow. This includes a deeper dive of knowing theology, how to study the Bible deeply, taking steps in using natural and spiritual gifts, and developing leadership skills. It can also be a deeper dive into how to be closer with God through the practice of disciplines. It is a great place to teach how to engage in evangelism and how to begin bringing others to Christ.
Continuing steps
This is all about creating opportunities for those who have been followers of Jesus for a good season of their life. They may either be hungry for what’s next, or stuck and unsure if there is more. This is where we begin to see that there is deep work in our lives that needs to be done. It might include one on one coaching, spiritual direction, offering retreats, and more. Some great places to start are with Pete Scazzero’s Emotionally healthy church, leadership, and spirituality resources.
Considerations for worship:
Where to offer next steps: The three best places to tell people how they can act on what they have heard and experienced is during announcements, at the end of a sermon, or at the end of a service.
You can’t offer something you haven’t planned in advance: To be able to do this well, there have to be some systems in place for planning worship, sermons, and church programming. The best way to do this intentionally is for whoever is doing the main teaching on Sunday mornings to have sermon series planned out in advance for at least a year. The various programs and activities of a church should be planned to correspond with how they fit with the teaching.
For example, if you’re going to have a sermon series that focuses on families and dynamics, what would be some first steps, next steps, and continuing steps that would fit with that series? Emotionally healthy relationships might be a really good next step to promote during that series. You might bring in a spiritual director at the end of the series to talk about how there are generational dynamics at play and how to learn to let God heal those things.
We made it! We’ve covered a lot of ground, so let’s put it all together in one last article!
