How long should a church service be? Question 2

30 06 2011

The last several weeks we’ve been looking at the question “How long should a church service be?”  To get caught up to speed CLICK HERE.  Again, we are looking at the regular meeting of the local church that should be happening at least once every Lord’s Day (Sunday). 

Today we are looking at the question “What are church services for?”  We really won’t be getting into the “elements” of the service but rather just discuss the purpose of a regular gathering of Believers.  1st, let’s look at what Sundays are NOT for:

1. Entertainment: You are not the spectator.  The service will not be tailored to your specifications.  Hopefully though, many things will be “your preference”  although some things you may in humility need to count others as more significant. (see Phil. 2:1-11)

2. Country Club:  This is not an “out of college” fraternity or sorority.  It’s not the place we come to in order to socialize and make new friends or political alliances.  Yes, there will be some elements of “socializing” going on, but much more of that should be going on the rest of the week.

3. The God clinic:  It’s not the place you come to get your “shot” of God that should last you the rest of the week!

Previously, I’ve already discussed the question “Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?” Suffice it to say that attending regularly is something Christians should do, should want to do, and need to do.

I believe the Bible is clear that the two major purposes of the weekly gathering of believers are: 1. The Corporate Worship of God and 2. The Edification of Believers

1. The Corporate Worship of God: I say “corporate” worship of God because of course Sunday is not the only day we Worship the Lord!  It is however, usually the only day of the week the whole local Body comes together to worship God.  Jesus says “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your mind, with all your soul, and with all your strength” (see Mark 12:28-30).  I often hear Brothers and Sisters in Christ say “God is my #1 priority”.  Yet, some of these same people miss the regular gathering of the church for trivial matters.  How are we saying that God is our 1st priority if we miss gathering with the local body for something more important?  This is inconsistent.  Hebrews 10:25 is a command from Scripture.  Scripture is the command of God.  Disobeying Scripture is disobeying God.  “If you love me, keep my commands.” (John 14:15).

2. The Edification of Believers:  The synonym I’ll use for “Edification” is “building up”.  Again, just like Corporate Worship, we can’t undergo corporate edification without regularly gathering with the local body. Paul says “let all things be done for building up” (1 Cor. 14:26). Does this mean everything has to be “positive” and “encouraging”? Certainly not, but it does mean everything must be done in truth with love (cf. Eph. 4:15).  I don’t want to go too much into the “elements” necessary to fulfill these purposes (which we will cover next week) but here I must mention that the only thing that will truly build us up is the Holy Spirit using the Word.  This means we sing the Word, we pray the Word, we preach the Word, and we live the Word.  I think if i were to use another term besides “edification” I might use “discipline”.  Sundays are part of the “discipline” of the Believer.  Now, this normally carries a negative connotation, but here we are talking about the formative discipline of Believers whereby they are “discipled” through the ministry of the Word.

So, in summary up to this point we’ve established that the “church service” is for Believers, and that it’s purpose is for Believers to corporately worship God and to edify one another.  Next week we’ll look at what elements must be present in our services to fulfill these purposes.


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How long should a church service be?

23 05 2011

Read another article this morning about the need for “1-hour” church services. This is something we’ve been wrestling with at FBC as we seek to bring honor and glory to Christ through our weekly gatherings.  So, how long should a church service be?

Right from the beginning we ask the wrong question.   Paul says “all things should be done decently and in order.”  In context he is talking about our regular gatherings so I do believe that it is important for leaders to spend time planning and preparing for Sunday morning services.  I am not advocating a “we don’t plan anything because we just get up there and let the Holy Spirit lead us” mentality.  Of course the Holy Spirit must lead us but that doesn’t give us the right to be lazy in planning our services.

But back to our question: How long should a church service be?  Why is this the wrong question? It is so far removed from the heart of the issue that it clouds the real issue.  It’s kind of like me asking this question: “How long should my doctor’s visit be?”  Well, there’s really no context for that question for someone to make an intellegent answer.  So, here are the questions that leaders must ask instead of the infamous “how long should our church services be?”:

1.  Who are the services for?- The lost? Believers? Some mixture in between?

2.  What are the services for?- Entertainment? Encouragement? Chastisement? Something else?

3.  After these two questions are answered then we must ask: What elements must be included in such a service so that it is geared towards the people it was intended for and meets the intent of what the services are for in the first place?

I think that the Bible is clear on these answers and in the next few weeks we will seek to answer them


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Do I have to go to church to be a Christian?

8 12 2010

“Don’t be deceived: If u r able to go to church and don’t, u r either in sin or you’re not a Christian”

On November 30th 2010 I “retweeted” the above quote.  Since then I’ve had some questions and comments about this quote so I thought that I would write a little…

Where in the Bible does it say a Christian has to attend “church”? Aren’t we all the “Church?”
Yes the term church in the New Testament can mean the universal church.  It can also mean the church of a specific region. But also very specifically, it can (and does in many instances) mean the “local” church. Check out for example Philippians 1:1. Notice Paul addresses the Saints, Overseers, and Deacons of Philippi. He was writing to a local congregation that gathered regularly.

Secondly, think about church structure. There are Pastors, and deacons in churches. This is clearly taught in the New Testament. Hebrews 13:7 says “obey your leaders.”  Teachings and verses like this wouldn’t make sense if there was not a regularly gathered congregation.

In Acts 2 we see the church regularly gathering.  In Hebrews 10:25 we have a specific command to not forsake the times we meet together. Also,  in the New Testament world the idea of “being a Christian” and “not gathering together with the church” would not have made sense.  Now days we do have many “Christians” who claim to be adopted by God but don’t gather with His family. Now, I do agree that the church is NOT a building.  We should not say “I’m going to church today”.  We should say “I’m going to gather with the church today.”  But in our culture, “going to church” and “gathering with the church” have become synonymous, so I don’t think we’ll win that battle!

1 John 3:14 tells us that we know we have passed from death to life because we love the “brothers.”  This is not talking about cheap “I love you” with my words love either.  This means that we can’t truly love one another if we don’t ever see one another.

Now, is the church supposed to gather on a weekly basis? Several passages of Scripture not only indicate yes, but they also indicate what day!  Take for instance one of the first gathering of the disciples post-resurrection (cf. John 19-20).   Then we look in Acts and see the church gathering on the same day (Acts 20:7).  What day were they gathering? Sunday! The first day of the week- Sunday- the day Jesus rose from the grave.  See also 1 Cor. 16:2 where Paul instructs the church at Corinth to collect money on the 1st day of the week, and also notice in Revelation where John was shown many great wonders on the Lord’s Day (Sunday).

Paul instructs Timothy to “preach the word” and even tells him that one day people will still “gather” but with false teachers because they can’t take sound doctrine (cf. 2 Tim. 4:1-4). Another interesting verse is 1 Thess. 5:27 where Paul instructs the recipients of his letter to read that leader to all the brothers and sisters.  These things would be impossible without a time that the church regularly gathered.

Also, Romans 12 and 1 Corinthians 14 talk about our spiritual gifts that we use when we are gathered.  What’s interesting about 1 Cor. 14 is that Paul goes on to detail for us some of the things that need to go on during worship together (1 Cor. 14:26-40).  The New Testament shows that God’s people gathered together in local congregations (that were led by Elders (Pastors)).  The Bible clearly commands God’s people to gather on a regular basis.

Finally, I’ll comment some more on Hebrews 10:24-25.  Just because you attend church does not mean you are actually fulfilling this commandment.  One may go to church and still be “forsaking” the assembly.  They may go to church begrudgingly or just for ulterior gains (power, political, etc.).  Also, one may be at home and not really be breaking the commandment given in these verses.  They may actually be unable to gather (sickness, unavoidable job situation, etc.).  The point is however, that the people of God desire to be with the people of God.  Those who are able, but don’t go to church are either living in sin, or not a Christian.


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Stop Dating the Church

14 04 2010

Just finished the book, Stop Dating the Church by Joshua Harris last night and thought I would share a brief review.

Harris, Senior Pastor at Covenant Life Church in Gaithersburg, MD, begins with a story that we’ve all heard about, seen, or been a part of in our own life.  He tells a story of how a boy named Jack fell in love with a girl named Grace.  At first Grace was everything in the world to Jack.  She was “the one”. But after a few years of dating the “spark” is gone.  Jack is dating Grace more for the familiarity of the relationship.  There is no passion and he has no intentions of marrying this girl. “One night, when [Grace] asks if they can define the nature of their relationship, Jack blows up ‘We’re together, aren’t we?’ he asks angrily. ‘Why isnt that enough for you?’ Obviously, Jack isn’t ready for commitment. And it’s unclear if he ever will be…” (pg. 12).

Harris enlightens his readers that there are “millions of Jacks walking around today. And Grace isn’t a girl. Grace is a church.”

In our culture today commitment has become less important.  My generation will change careers several times in their life and some will go through several marriages.  We are so busy with so many things that it is difficult for us to commit to one single thing… Unfortunately, for Christians, this mentality has carried over to the local church.

Harris emphasizes a high view of the local church.  Now, this is not a “high view” of the church as seen in the Roman Catholic tradition, but a high view in the sense that Harris sees the local church from a biblical perspective.  It is the bride of Christ! Harris does spend some time talking about the Church universal (all Christians united by the Holy Spirit) but his main focus in the book is the local church.  He even says that our involvement in a local church should be enough to keep us from moving to a different location, even for a job change! He also emphasizes his life-long commitment as a pastor to his church.  Obviously God can and does (at times) move pastors around, but if more pastors had a higher view of their involvement within the local church, perhaps churches would be in better shape…

What are you committed to? We give so much of our life to other “priorities” that we forget the place church must have in our lives. Here is the profile Harris gives for a church-dater:

1. They are me-centered: In this attitude we ask “what can the church do for me?”
2. They tend to be independent: They go to church because they are “supposed to” but avoid any real commitment.
3. They are critical: Yes, we are fallen and every church will have its flaws. But, should we treat the church with a “consumer mentality- looking for the best product for the price of our Sunday morning”? (pp. 16-17)

The local church is the vehicle by which God has chosen to carry out His great plan.  Don’t you want to be a part of that? Don’t you want your life to be about so much more?

“God has not only saved us; He has invited us to participate in His master plan…The church community is where we learn to love God and others; where we are strengthened and transformed  by truth from the Word; where we’re taught to pray, to worship and to serve; where we can be most certain that we’re investing our time and abilities for eternity; where we can grow in our roles as friends, sons and daughters, husbands and wives, fathers and mothers…” (pp. 20-21).

Harris goes on to discuss the purpose of the local church and the reason that it is vital to our walk with Christ that we be involved members. Charles Spurgeon says the church is “the dearest place on earth” (p. 129).  When we understand our responsibility and joy within the church we will understand Spurgeon’s quote to be an understatement!

Personally, my favorite part of the book is Harris’s “high view” of Sundays! No, he’s not saying that Sunday is the new Sabbath, but he is saying Sunday is the Lord’s day (this is the Biblical view by the way).  He is even so bold as to say that we should schedule our weeks around Sunday (instead of visa versa as so many of us do).  He says that we must be careful about our scheduling on Saturday night, so that we can give our best Sunday morning.  He encourages singles and families to read the Bible and pray on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings before church anticipating all that God will do during the service.  It breaks my heart that Sundays have become unimportant to Christians.  They go to the lake, or ballgames, or fishing, or just stay home, instead of being with God’s people! I’m not saying we can’t ever take a vacation with our family, but you know your own heart and motivations….

This book is only 129 pages long.  With just a few minutes each night you’ll have this book read in a week! I promise you it’s well worth it… You’ll come away with a better understanding of what our relationship is to be with the local church.  This will challenge and encourage you in your own walk with the Lord!

Are you a church-dater?


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