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The 4-Way Worship Test
Is your church "perishable?"

Do you find it astonishing that discussions of worship values often boil down to little more than musical tastes? Even theologian Karl Barth once said, "It may be that when the angels go about their task [of] praising God, they play only Bach. I am sure, however, that when they are together en famille they play Mozart." We all have our tastes in music—even theologians. I'm grateful that God granted me an enormous tolerance for a wide variety of musical styles. My FaceBook friends include rock 'n roll legends, pipe organists, and Oscar winning film composers. I've never understood why everybody doesn't like everything...but they don't, so I've got to just get over it.

It's NOT about music, as we've said repeatedly in these pages. I once mentioned to a pastor friend that church leaders were talking about all the wrong things when it came to worship. He scolded me (actually, kind of mocked me) for not getting it. "It is about music if we're trying to build communities around perceived commonalities," he said. O.K., but while we keep trying to find perfect cultural "fits" for every group under the sun, where's the Son! Shouldn't our priority be the worship of a Holy God, and shouldn't that be demonstrated by what we do more than by what we sing?

Here's a disclaimer for what's coming next. This is not a theological tritise on the deeper meaning of worship. This is a pragmatist's view of how we might evaluate our effectiveness in our worship services. If we're going to endlessly talk about what people like in music, then I believe we ought to talk about something more practical first.

Did people show up?
Look, we can talk about this 60 ways from comeback, but the truth is that if people aren't coming to your worship services, the strong possibility exists that you're not doing something you desperately need to start doing. If you read the available statistics about falling worship attendance and diminishing denominational size (particularly in the mainline church) you might get the idea that the church is about to pass on to that great eternal worship service in the sky. That's not going to happen. Christ founded the church and sealed its existence through the intervention of the Holy Spirit. As hard as we sometimes try to kill it—it won't die!

That doesn't mean we shouldn't be thinking about what is missing in our communications and community demonstrations of love and compassion. As was always the case—our actions will speak louder than our words and newspaper ads. Are we loving our communities into our church with something other than glitz?

Were you ready for them?
A good strategic plan for increasing attendance at your services is, of course, a very important value. What often happens, though, is that the hype may be in place, but the contents and execution are extremely weak. It's never enough to get people to come to church and then leave them with tell-tale evidence that you actually didn't care that they came. Like what? Like poorly planned sermons, signage, information about your church's beliefs, and tangible evidence that you want them to come back.

Did you take them anywhere?
Worship services are for God's pleasure, but they're also about the growth and development of people. Every worship service needs application. If we never tell people how to move forward into the coming week, we are essentially saying, "You don't have to be here, because we're not going to offer you anything that will be useful and life-changing." We make this fatal mistake even though we know that their daily lives are in deep, deep Kimchi. Sermon applications should be practical in nature and easy enough for a third grader to understand. You can make all the lofty observations about Scripture you want, but don't leave people trying to figure out how they're going to apply it the next morning.

How did you leave it?
Some churches just expect that people will show up every week. They might, but there's no guarantee. Effective churches keep letting their congregations know what the scope and sequence of growth opportunities are going to be over the next several months and they have a plan to keep it straightforward enough for people to get it. They plan activities within their communities that will cement the perception and reality that Jesus helped and encouraged people with no thought about building an empire on a street corner or huge lot out in the suburbs. People work is always more important than steeple work! 

Worship is often the only chance people have in a week to come face to face with the realities of the Christian faith and the implications it has for their lives. Our job is to not blow this magnificent opportunity!

Blessings,
Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of "deep trench" worship leadership in prominent mainline churches. You may reach him at dlawrenceconsult@mac.com. Or, if you wish, call 1-650-207-8240 for assessment information and scheduling. Doug now teams with the slingshotgroup.net to help extraordinary leaders in extraordinary churches. Also read Doug's articles at Creator Magazine!