We simply must move from seeing church as a religious event to seeing it as a spiritual family. Without this context, leadership will emerge deformed—mutated by corrupt views of church and mission. Contrary to the Scriptures, those considered the top leadership will be the ones who are best at entertaining the crowd or organizing a large weekly event.
I am not asking if a Sunday worship service is right or wrong. I am asking, Why is it so important to us? Obviously, worshiping together is a good thing—but is it the main thing? Is that what church is according to the New Testament? I believe that our practice and priorities are way off.
In the next series of posts I will address the issue of whether Sunday morning worship services are as important as we make them. These entries will spark controversy. These are from my book Organic Leadership. I have heard many espouse that some who are questioning the priority of the Sunday Service are heretical and extremists. I only ask that you be bold enough to at least search the Scriptures to defend your practice and not give Biblical authority to something not found in the Scriptures.
3 comments:
i love that you are forcing us to wrestle with these issues. look forward to coming back for more.
This past Sunday evening (our “service” is at night) we had a little gathering of homeless friend, mentally ill friends, and the struggling assembled for the third Sunday of Advent. There are profound similarities with the early Church as I look across the room, with the 3rd Sunday’s theme, which was JOY. This Joy was present, and there is always something—an atmosphere, available in holding this worship gathering at night—a reverence and holy threshold, but we are carful not to call it church.
Later that evening, I was awake until 1:30 in the morning, discussing the difficulties of a dear woman’s struggle with God. She was preparing to bed down in our shelter around 11:00 pm, and we began discussing casually, as a group, the idea of joy in the shelter with a few folks, and as one after another faded, Donna and I were left. We had Church.
Thanks for discussing this Neil.
His Joy to you, and Christmas,
Kork
Wierd, I posted a comment on facebook, an have been asking many pastor this question for a while now: if you "hypothetically" : ) took away your weekly service would there be much left of your "church"? The answers I received were a harsh reality...some have seen and made changes...others cling tightly to that beloved gathering, allowing it to define their church. Look forward to the future posts on this topic.
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