April 2009
8
THE IMPORTANCE OF SUNDAY WORSHIP
I
t is no secret that Easter Sunday worship services are the most highly attended church services throughout the year. More people show up for Easter Sunday than they do on any other Sunday of the year. This has been true in every church I have served. This is true for our church. And this is why we have two Easter Sunday worship services each year.
But it is also true, unfortunately, that Easter Sunday marks the beginning of a decline in church attendance for most churches. After this glorious high-water mark, the crowds thin out for the remainder of spring and on through the summer.
Oh,we have a good Sunday here or there, like on Mother’s Day. But it isn’t until fall and the return of school that the crowds start to build back up on a regular basis.
Low attendance in worship and Bible study is, of course, a concern for the church and, especially, for the church’s pastor. Too often, though, it is a concern for too many of the wrong reasons. Too often, we get upset about small crowds at church because of the budget (small crowds make for small collections) or because of pride (we hate for visitors to see us at our worst) or because we see it as a poor reflection on the vitality of the church generally (we’re not growing!). Whatever legitimate value these concerns have for us, the main reason thinning crowds ought to concern us is that it is evidence that too many of our brothers and sisters are not growing in their faith as they should.
It is evidence of small faith on the one hand because Christians ought naturally to love being in church. They ought to be desirous of coming to church every chance they get. It is a fundamental conviction of our faith that Christians have been born anew to life in the Spirit – they are, as Paul put it, “a new creation.” They have, then, a divine orientation to life as believers. Thus, they should have a hunger for God and the things of eternity. They should have a natural desire to be in the Lord’s house on the Lord’s day among the Lord’s people. (This hunger should drive them to another church if it is not satisfied at the one they presently attend!) That they lack such a desire is evidence that something is missing in their believing.
On the other hand, the absence of members at church suggests a lack of growth precisely because worship is one of the primary avenues of growth in the life of faith. Alongside Bible study and prayer, worship is one of the main tools God uses to grow us up in the faith. Let us, then, spend some time here thinking about the meaning of Christian worship.
When we gather for worship, we gather in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. This means two very important things. It means, first of all, that we come before God in the only way we can ever come before him – through Jesus Christ. Here is a fact of the faith we take for granted all too often – we would not have access to the Almighty, to the Holy One of Israel, to the everlasting Lord of the universe, unless Christ had become our Mediator. Our coming to God through Christ eternally is manifest on a weekly basis where we come before God in worship through his name. Our gathering in Christ’s name means, also, that we are invoking our Lord’s presence for our worship. In Matthew 18, Jesus promised his disciples that where two or more are gathered in his name he will make himself present to them. The audacious hope for our worship is that Christ will meet us in real and tangible ways in this sacred hour.
As Baptist Christians, we believe that Jesus makes himself known to us primarily through the reading and preaching of the Word. Jesus, the living Word, living still since he was raised from the dead by God and is seated in the heavenly places at the right hand of the Father, comes to us through the written Word as it is read, proclaimed, hymned and prayed. Scripture is central in our worship for just this reason: so that Christ might make himself known to us in life-giving ways.
Now, what differentiates our Sunday worship from other times of Bible study, both individual and corporate, is that we have no control over it individually. At home, we can pick out the scripture passage we want to read. In the Sunday school class, we often have a say in what materials we will have guide us in our study together. In worship, however, we defer to the choices of others, the pastor and worship leaders, who, if they are doing their jobs faithfully, are deferring to the leadership of God’s Spirit. So it is that we don’t get to choose the passages we will hear when we come to worship; we don’t get to select the hymns we will sing; we have to let another give us words to pray by. But what a submission it ends up being if all goes according to plan. For then it is the Lord Christ, through his chosen servants, who is doing the choosing. Here, then, is an experience unlike any other in the life of faith. Here, then, is an opportunity to meet Jesus unlike any other. Here, then, is a unique chance to grow in the Lord.
Such knowledge, of course, is a burden not just on the average church member, but especially on those who lead in worship. We are, to be sure, but frail instruments of the Lord, we who serve in positions of worship leadership. But I can guarantee you that I take worship with the utmost seriousness, and that I try to do everything in my power, week in and week out, to let God lead our worship on Sunday mornings.
Well, the sum of all this is that worship ought to be the last thing we let get nudged out of our weekly schedules instead of the first or second or third. The hope of all this is that Easter Sunday 2009 will end up being the first of many Sundays this spring where the Lord’s house is busting at the seams.
Dr. Stewart
CHURCH BUSINESS MEETING
P
lease be present for our regularly scheduled quarterly business meeting on April 15. We will share in a fellowship dinner at 5:45 p.m. and enter into our business session at 6:30 p.m. There will be no youth or prayer meeting activities on this evening; the children’s activities will proceed as usual.
The Loom – Weaving our Congregation into Community
T
he church has made the news again. This week (March 9) as I tuned into watch the evening news, one of the lead stories on all the major networks was a new study that reveals more Americans are identifying less with organized religion, particularly the Christian faith.
According to the Washington Post, the percentage of Americans who call themselves Christians has dropped from 86 percent of the population in 1990 to 76 percent in 2008. The only group that grew in every state since the last survey was people who claim no religion at all. The survey claims this group is now at 15 percent of the population.
As this survey was being revealed, I happened upon another article written by Michael Spencer, a Christian living in the Oneida, Kentucky, community made popular by well-known author Thomas Merton. Spencer provocatively claimed that evangelicalism in western society is breaking down and bound to collapse within two generations. He does not claim Christianity will die; just that Christianity in the form we are most comfortable with will cease to exist. He lists many reasons for this. I agree with some of his rational but doubt his prognostication.
One indictment that hits very close to home for me is his observation, “Evangelicalism has used its educational system primarily to staff its own needs and talk to itself.”
I react to this comment in two ways. First, I want to defend our Christian education over the years because one of its roles is to instruct its members in doctrines that help us understand who God is, how we relate to God, how Christ’s life, death, and resurrection changed all of history, how we are called to respond to Christ’s gift, and how we then live out our commitment to Christ. If this is how we talk to each other, then please, label us guilty.
In broader terms, however, Spencer’s accusation that evangelicals just “talk to ourselves” may have its merits. And this newly released survey may be proof. Something has been happening over the course of a generation or two. And it falls at the very core of the language we use and who we say we are. How many people can easily explain the doctrine of atonement? What about a very important word like sanctification? I believe we still have an obligation to teach believers about these and other doctrinal words and I believe we have the ability. However, the means or mode in which we do it may require some re-imagining.
Eddie Hammett, a consultant with the Baptist State Convention of North Carolina, is a leading “thinker” in this area. Recently at the Virginia CBF annual meeting, he told a break out session I was attending that only 30 percent of the American population falls inside the traditional upbringing of church – that is the particular culture that understands “doing” church and how we communicate our faith to one another. The rest of the U.S. (70 percent) is of the non-church culture. Most still profess some faith in God or are at least interested in faith – particularly, Jesus.
The larger question for us “church people” is: How are we appealing to young would-be followers of Christ? These are people who are looking more for a relationship than instruction. They want to find ways to act on their faith rather than sit in rooms for an hour and be taught. You may be more likely to find these people serving breakfast to the homeless on a Sunday morning and then meeting to study the Bible over coffee at Starbucks than to welcome them into one of our Sunday school classes.
The rub comes when we in the church culture expect the way we do church to appeal to or even adequately communicate to this new generation of non-churched but spiritually savvy people. It is not that we have nothing to offer these people. That is far from the truth. However, are there some ways in which the church we love and the church that nurtures us misses the mark for those in the non-church culture? Might this require that we “go into all the world” instead of wondering why they do not come through our doors?
I ask these questions not to cast blame, or to say the “traditional” church is no longer relevant. However, I do believe we need to be equipped to engage this culture without giving up our own heritage. Here are some questions to ponder:
· What shifts are occurring around you? In your kid’s or grandkid’s lives?
· How are these shifts impacting our church?
· How might we interact with this non-churched but spiritually hungry culture? (How might we do this with respect without compromising what we hold dear?)
The bottom line is this – are we simply talking to ourselves or are we engaging the culture for Christ?
Matthew Hensley
SUNDAY SCHOOL
As we look forward to the warm weather, we must think and plan for next year. I sent out a survey to the Sunday School staff asking if they were planning on returning in their present position in September. It appears we will be looking for several staff members. Hopefully, someone within these classes will step forward so there may be an easy transition. I ask that you pray about your ability to fill these slots. More information will follow on specific classes that will need a leader/facilitator.
However, currently we are still looking for a person who is willing to fill in as the teacher of our preschool class on some Sundays.
Please keep your eyes out for a box of Sunday School Literature that has gone missing. The box was signed for but cannot be found. All the materials had to be reordered at a cost of over $550. Lifeway said we may return the books for a full refund if we can send them back in a timely manner. With our current budget constraints, it is imperative we find the literature.
Matthew and I continue to meet on a monthly basis to look at ways to improve our great program. If you have any ideas, please contact either one of us.
See you in Sunday School
Krista Kish
BGAV
COMMITTEE
Otelia Frazier has been appointed to the Scholarship Committee of BGAV. During this three-year appointment, Otelia will participate in the selection of candidates to receive monetary awards for use to further their education beyond high school. Last year more than 100 individual scholarships were awarded. Check the BGAV web site for information and application forms.
PEOPLE OF HOPE
At this time, the architect has sent our plans to the various agencies that are required to review and comment upon our proposal. I have been following this process, answering questions and generally trying to move things along to a successful completion. I am hopeful that we can advance this project toward full approval soon. Please continue to keep People of Hope and all those involved in your prayers.