Worship in 2024 | Have we lost our way?

When I was young, I was drawn to my favourite fast food outlet and there was nothing better than an instant burger and fries. Back then, after enjoying my meal I would soon be hungry again and need to go back for more. Fast forward to today and that repeated feeling of being hungry after one of those meals no longer results in another purchase, but instead a question ‘Why did that food not satisfy my hunger?’.  As an adult I have matured and I am now more aware of the kinds of food that are good for my body and sustain me for longer. One satisfies my hunger and adds nutrients to my body, the other adds very little and leaves me wanting more.

Worship Services in 2024 – I thought I was the only one!

The focus of this post is about our church services specifically thinking about the worship, and of course I wouldn’t want to compare any church activity to fast food as that would be insulting to all of us, but there are some parallels here that somehow bring clarity. The thought of fast food came to mind today as I was making my healthy tuna sandwich, and so I’ll go with it.

Maturity – What are you dishing out?

When we are young in our faith, we can only work with what is set before us, we know no different and depend on those leading us to teach us, disciple us and get us off the milk on to solids (See Hebrews 5:12-14 and 1 Corinthians 3:1-3). As Christians we are to grow up and mature, and our progress is in many ways dependant upon those who lead us and that which our local church provides from week to week.

Some thoughts and questions:

• If we present our congregation with feel good songs with no depth or substance, how will they grow? Worship teams – realise you are teaching through songs. What are you teaching? Is it even scriptural or just the latest idea?
• If our worship has become more about the style, the tech, the production or even those leading the show (yes I dare to use that word), how will they be satisfied?
• If our worship has begun to reference Jesus rather than being directed to Jesus, is it worship at all? If this is all you provide, how will they know any different?

You see what I’m getting at. A Christian new in their faith will know nothing more than what they’ve experienced. They don’t know why they leave feeling empty though it seemed good. They haven’t experienced much thus far on their journey that has really nourished them spiritually, and so they continue to search for something else when they leave. They’re young in their faith, and so going back for more instead of asking a question is their default response. The trouble is, there are six days to go before the next service, so what will they turn to?

Milk vs Solids – Worship that nourishes

Making it personal, IF I’d only ever experienced great musicianship, high level production and a feel good worship service without substance, I wouldn’t realise there’s an alternative. I would need more of the same. I’m thankful however that my experience has been broad and now I know.

The church I grew up in preached from the bible, not just a verse, but rich and deep teaching that satisfied, produced faith, and made disciples. The worship wasn’t always high quality, the lights were on with minimal stage lighting, no guitar solos, but the worship time was rich in biblical truth, always included Jesus in a personal way, and the Holy Spirit was evidently present without the need for high production tools and technology to help us along.

This experience left me nourished, sustained and without the inevitable question ‘Why did that food not satisfy my hunger?‘.

When you’ve tasted something that sustains, it points you to Jesus and the next time you’re hungry you know where to go, the alternative no longer satisfies. Interestingly, though I use the word ‘experience’, the time together with the church wasn’t about experience at all, it was about Jesus and exalting Him.

It’s been troubling me – I thought I was the only one

With many years experience leading worship in a local church context, it’s been an interesting couple of years since I moved on from where I had served for so long. Confident that we had been called out to what He had next for us, we have had a short break from regular ministry giving us time to dig deeper and seek Him for clarity on things. During this time we have visited many churches which has opened my eyes to many different things both good and not so good.

It saddens me to have found myself very concerned about a lot of what I’ve seen. Often, something has been seriously lacking, something not quite right but not always easy to spot, and I thought it was just me. I’m so relieved to have discovered that it’s not just me at all. Over the past few months, I’ve overheard conversations, seen social media posts and read comments, read books etc. and it’s obvious there is an increase in dissatisfaction towards a style and pattern of activity that has become so widely reproduced. People are seemingly becoming aware that they’re still hungry, but they don’t know where to turn.

Going back to my original thought, I have experienced rich, focussed praise and worship times that have led to wonderful times in God’s presence evidenced by the miraculous following. It is for this reason, that I am acutely aware of whether or not I leave nourished or needing another meal. You get the idea!

We don’t go to church to consume, but this thought is about being built up by the local church and also nourished as a result of what we do together when we gather.

What now?

To conclude, rather than speak negatively about the different expressions of church around us, let me simply encourage two groups of readers.

Firstly, if you’re a church leader responsible for the content and activity of your main weekly services, I would like to lovingly challenge you to think about what your congregation are receiving and experiencing from you and your team. Is your priority Jesus? Is it substance over style, depth over popularity, approaching Jesus or simply referencing Him, strengthening or just a quick fix? Time is short and experience must be secondary to substance. Perhaps give it some thought.

Secondly, if you attend a local church as a believer, and you find yourself leaving more often than not questioning what that was all about or perhaps you often feel empty, to be honest, this isn’t what I would expect. I would encourage you to pay attention to the song lyrics, the word preached and be honest about whether or not Jesus has been exalted and the people edified or not. If not, speak to one of your leaders and graciously explore this with them and see how they can help you. It may just cause them to consider the same questions.

How am I responding?

We can complain, or we can do something. Of course I am actively engaging with others on this topic where I can, but only to encourage, not to pull down. None of us are perfect and so we can all learn from one another.

We can pray. We can endlessly discuss, but I plan to pray more for the local church to thrive.

I believe it’s time for the wider church to take a moment to seek God and rediscover His heart for His church. This may require the laying down of many things we now hold dear, but there is only one way to see and experience the fullness of what He has for His church and that is to give in to His preferences and be wise with those things that we are at liberty to include alongside them.

Worship Evenings – Back to Basics

Back to basics! As we are aware of people searching, we’ll be starting some Worship Evenings in our locality that will be simple, uncomplicated times together with only three ingredients – Worship, Word and Spirit. Low tech, simple worship with a short Word and a willingness to ditch our plan in favour of what we see Him doing among us.

A simple, focussed worship evening, where it’s all for Him, about Him and towards Him. A time where Jesus is exalted and His Spirit has room to do His work among us as He wills.

The rest is up to Him.

Philippians 3:12-14 (NIV)

¹² Not that I have already obtained all this, or have already arrived at my goal, but I press on to take hold of that for which Christ Jesus took hold of me. ¹³ Brothers and sisters, I do not consider myself yet to have taken hold of it. But one thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, ¹⁴ I press ontoward the goal to win the prize for which God has called me heavenward in Christ Jesus.

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