When we think of being part of a church, most of us will think about attending a church service, which probably features preaching, music and/or liturgy, and with a definite order of service. But it hasn’t always been that way.

So why do we do what we do in church services? What are we aiming to achieve?

And what are we actually achieving?

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The mission of the church

Jesus left his followers with three clear commands which summarise the goals of the church:

• To love God whole-heartedly (Mark 12:30).
• To love our neighbour as ourselves (Mark 12:31).
• To go into the world and make disciples (Matthew 28:19)

The early church was active in all three areas. When they met together, it was mainly in homes (see Ref 1), more informally than today’s services, with everyone encouraged to actively participate (1 Corinthians 14:26-28).

Acts says their meetings included the apostle’s teaching, fellowship, the Lord’s supper and prayer (Acts 2:42). Paul (1 Corinthians 14:26-31) mentions hymns, a word of instruction, and revelation (perhaps via speaking in tongues or prophecy).

Achieving Jesus’ mission today

Churches today tend to organise themselves around of the following (see Note 1 for more details):

• Fellowship
• Worship
• Teaching
• Evangelism
• Serving the wider community
• Discipleship
• Meeting with God
• Receiving the Holy Spirit
• Reinforcing faith and understanding.

Do church services achieve these aims?

Of course not all these purposes will necessarily be achieved in church services (after all, churches may have many other activities), but let’s see which ones may be.

Fellowship

In the New Testament, fellowship is one of the most important purposes for meeting together. It is one of the aspects of church life mentioned in Acts 2:42, and encouragement via fellowship is important in Hebrews 10:24-25.

Christian meetings in the first couple of centuries were built around fellowship, sharing and each person contributing (Ref 1). But this isn’t the case with most present day services, where the service is generally conducted by a few and the rest sit passively for a large part of the service. There is more fellowship before and after the service than during it.

But a service that is more interactive, perhaps around a dinner, may achieve this aim, though this is perhaps only possible in smaller churches.

Worship

Worship is a tricky topic. Clearly it is associated with loving God wholeheartedly, but it isn’t as simple as that (in the Bible, at any rate).

In the Old Testament, “worship” has several meanings:

• bowing down in respect, reverence and submission, or
• serving God through obedience or sacrifice (hence the term “church service”).

Thus temple sacrifice, singing, etc, were seen as worship.

But the prophets made it clear that God was more interested in obedience than worship. “To obey is better than sacrifice” (1 Samuel 15:22). “Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps. But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!” (Amos 5:23-24)

The New Testament reinforces this message. We are instructed to do many of the things we regard as worship (e.g. sing, pray, listen), but they are never described as “worship”. Rather, our worship is to live sacrificial lives and to be renewed in our thinking (Romans 12:1-2).

Our words don’t matter as much as our actions (Matthew 21:28-32). We must obey the word, not just listen to it (James 1:22).

So while “worship” is a good thing to do in church, as in the rest of life, we need to think about how it helps us meet the goals Jesus has set for us. I look more at this below.

Teaching

Teaching is the sharing of knowledge so that the hearer benefits. Clearly it is needed in the church, especially by new believers who may know little about God, Jesus and the Bible. So it seems like a church service is a good place to do this.

But there are two reasons why we need to re-think this.

1. Sermons, which are the main way teaching is done in church services, are a very poor way of teaching. Our brains aren’t structured to learn things by passively sitting and (sometimes) listening. We remember most, learn best and are most like to act on what we hear, if we are actively involved in our learning, and the teaching is given in less than 15 minutes.
2. I can’t help wondering why christians need to be continually learning through sermons, decade after decade. If sermons were effective, wouldn’t we know enough after a few years, and we’d all be better served being encouraged and hearing practical examples of how to live out our beliefs?

So while teaching clearly has its place (in more academic settings), it needs to be done in better ways if it is going to remain part of a service that meets Jesus’ requirements. Fortunately there are better ways – see Church in a circle and Learning vs discipling.

Sermonising too often helps create passive believers.

Evangelism

Jesus has given us a mission to make disciples, and “evangelism” means disciple-making – though often people assume it means merely making converts, which isn’t the same thing! Several different methods of evangelism have been used in the past, but they aren’t always effective today, and need to be reviewed.

Some churches attempt to evangelise via their services. Seeker services which aimed to be slick, short, entertaining and relevant to ordinary life were popular for a while, though not so much now. Some Pentecostal churches believe outsiders will find attractive the devotion to God and meaningful life that is evident in their services.

But doing evangelism in services requires that non-believers are willing to show up, which increasingly isn’t the case, even when friends invite them. It can also mean neglecting the needs of the majority of Christians who attend.

So it seems that, while evangelism is a crucial activity for churches, it shouldn’t be a major focus of the services. Some churches suggest members should invite their friends to informal social gatherings (such as Alpha or other programs) where the Christian faith is explained and discussed. This seems to be a far better way to do evangelism.

Serving the wider community

The importance of serving in our local communities, as well as caring for disadvantaged people around the world, is an obvious way to love our neighbours, and more and more churches are taking opportunities to serve via meals, counselling services, justice advocacy, job seeking, financial advice, and more.

While these things should be talked about in services, and volunteers sought, this is necessarily a ministry that must be done outside the church and the services.

Discipleship

This is a goal with a clear aim in view. We want to see people more than just believing in Jesus, and certainly more than just knowing things about Bible and doctrine. Rather, we want everything in our services helping us all to follow Jesus’ teachings and play our part in the mission has has given to us.

So what things are most likely to help towards those outcomes?

The experts tell us a range of things that will help, including teaching, modelling, praying, and getting people involved in mission. The service can help with some of these:

• Teaching (if done via short interactive methods). Particularly useful for discipleship will be practical training in spiritual disciplines (prayer, Bible reading, meditation, etc), Christian living and how to read the Bible oneself.
• Encouragement – positive affirmations that encourage continued commitment plus hearing reports of how others are serving and learning about opportunities to serve.
• Worship and prayer can, if done with that purpose, help people open their hearts and mind to God and allow him to refresh them, motivate them and empower them.
• Community – everything done to build the community of believers and lessen any “clergy-laity” distinction.

I can’t help feeling these aspects and this purpose should be essential for church services.

Meeting with God

“Meeting with God” can be a cliche, and can be intensely personal. But opening ourselves to God’s comfort, correction and power is a crucial aspect of being a follower of Jesus, and necessary if we are going to have more than a human-based faith.

Helping Christians meet with God thus seems to be an important purpose of church services, especially if it leads people out of themselves and into active ministry in the kingdom of God.

Receiving the Holy Spirit

It seems that most churches go to extremes about the Holy Spirit.

Some churches teach the doctrine of the Spirit and the Trinity but don’t walk the talk by inviting the Spirit to be active in church life. Rather, they seem to ignore or even be fearful of the Spirit, so much so that they merit the criticism that their Trinity is “Father, Son and Holy Scripture”.

More Pentecostal churches, on the other hand, don’t only open themselves to the Spirit but also mandate how he will act – e.g. a second blessing of baptism in the Spirit leading to the gift of speaking in tongues, as if this is the only way the Spirit will begin to work in a new Christian.

But the Jesus said: “The wind blows wherever it pleases. You hear its sound, but you cannot tell where it comes from or where it is going. So it is with everyone born of the Spirit.” (John 3:8)

True openness to the Spirit requires that we allow freedom and opportunity for the Spirit to be active in our livers and in the life of our churches.

I believe church services should regularly provide opportunities for people to pray to receive the Spirit into their lives in new ways without circumscribing exactly how that should happen and what should be the outcome.

Reinforcing faith and understanding.

While extra Bible knowledge is always helpful, most of us know enough to live as God requires. Our difficulty isn’t so much knowledge as faith, application, energy and commitment.

Life beats us down and we can be tired, unmotivated, doubting or discouraged. Surely a major aim of a church service is to “strengthen our feeble arms and weak knees” (Hebrews 12:12), help us look again with the eyes of faith and encourage us not to give up.

Short encouraging talks (not long sermons), positive testimonies and faith-filled worship are more likely to do this.

In summary

There are probably better ways to do most of these things than in the rather formalised structure that we have imposed on church services. But since church services aren’t going to go away anytime soon, we could all benefit if we made them more fit for purpose.

Based on the discussion above, the following seem to me to be the most beneficial purposes and elements of church services:

• As intereactive and community-building as possible.
• Worship and prayer that assist people come closer to God and open their hearts and minds to the Holy Spirit.
• Teaching that is brief, interactive and practical, aimed at reinforcing basic truths, encouraging faith and commitment to serve, and training Christians to play their part in the work of God’s kingdom.
• Testimony and sharing of experiences and gifts, also aimed at reinforcing basic truths, encouraging faith and commitment to serve, and training Christians to play their part in the work of God’s kingdom.

References

• Going to Church in the First Century. Robert Banks.
• The Full Meaning of Worship. NIV Bible.

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Main photo by Memento Media on Unsplash. Cartoon by ASBO Jesus.