“But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.”
- Matthew 15:9
Many pastors are leading their churches to leave the faith and practice found in the New Testament and adopt a more modern, community oriented style. There was a time in most Baptist churches when the services were focused upon worship that glorified God, and the preaching consisted of instruction from the Scriptures.
In 2005 World Magazine, a weekly news magazine written from a Christian perspective, published this statement: “Nothing is more characteristic of evangelical church meetings at the end of the 20th century than their orientation to the consumer, especially the unchurched one. Churches decide what their market niche is; they study their target audience; they design the services to appeal to the consumer.” In a word, worship services have become us-centered, rather than God-centered.
Would you rather have your Sundays free to play golf or visit with family? Fine, we’ll implement a quickie convenience-service for you at some other time during the week so that Sunday can be your day.
Are the old songs boring? Do you find “Rock of Ages” and “Amazing Grace” unexciting? We understand, so they say, and so they jazz up the rhythm with some hand-clapping, foot-stomping or some other method to feed the emotions.
Are you tired of being preached to? An Alabama church uses videos of the old Andy Griffith Show as a part of their Sunday school curriculum. They spend the first portion of the class watching Andy and Barney and then discuss the moral lessens learned from the episodes.
Do references to sin and repentance annoy you? Okay, we can restrict ourselves to sessions on self-esteem, how to have “healing” in your life for emotional distress syndrome.
These methods of so called worship are as far from the New Testament pattern as the imagination can fathom and yet it seems that we continue to hear about new gimmicks on an increasing level that is alarming. God never intended for worship to satisfy the desires of men, to build self-esteem or to be planned at a time when they fit conveniently into our schedule. “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” – John 4:24
Post Author: John J. Bagby, Sr.