The Church Service is for Worship

A man Tweeted a link to “An Open Letter from Church Visitors.” The “Letter” was an attempt to cause the church to see how the typical service is “strange” to those outside the church. The gist of the letter is that we should try to make the unchurched feel more like they “fit in” in the local church.

I believe it is this type of unbiblical thinking that has been the key element in leading many churches astray. Somehow, the wrong philosophy of ministry has been embraced. It seems the prevailing philosophy today is that the church is where we are supposed to gather non-believers, for the purpose of helping them to become believers. Yet, such a philosophy cannot be found in the New Testament for the biblical church.

Nowhere in the New Testament do you find the assembly of the church for the purpose of evangelism. Believers assemble for worship and edification. Thus, the singing, giving and communion are all a part of the believer’s offering of worship to our Lord. The preaching/teaching of God’s Word is for the edification of the believer.

I realize that someone may argue, “But, what about the Day of Pentecost when 3,000 were saved?” That day could not be labeled as a “church service.” Rather, it was day of Spirit-filled preaching. Peter did not attempt to make the Gospel more palatable to the unsaved. Instead, he told them they were guilty of crucifying the Son of God (Acts 2:36). Such an approach would certainly be shunned by many so-called preachers today. The Day of Pentecost was an evangelistic outreach that gave birth to the very first members of the New Testament church.

Evangelism is to take place outside the confines of the church building. The heart of the Great Commission is the word “Go.” Nowhere is the non-believer encouraged to go to church.

Please do not misunderstand me. I am thrilled whenever a non-believer does arrive at our church, and they leave the place as a believer. I also encourage our members to invite their friends. It is amazing to watch conviction take place as the non-believer observes the worship of the believers.

Yet, we must understand that we scatter to evangelize and we assemble for worship. The truth is, Non-believers will never feel comfortable around the Word of God, because it convicts the sinner. It is fallacy and error to promote the idea that we should make the Word of God understandable to the non-believer. It cannot happen. Paul stated that the “natural man” (i.e., non-believer) cannot understand the Word of God (I Cor. 2:14).

In conclusion, I would submit that we must be kind and compassionate to those who enter our church doors. We must attempt to insure that they have a clear understanding of the Gospel, which will lead them to salvation. Yet, we must not alter our worship of the Savior, in an effort to make the service more “user-friendly” to the non-believer.