While it would be easy to simply say, “You need to go to church,” maybe we should do some self-examination of our churches. Perhaps this has as much to say about us as it does them, and it might reveal a deeper problem with our churches today. Let me offer six thoughts.
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
1.Too many churches have made worship about the “customer” rather than about God. So we shouldn’t be surprised when we design our worship services to cater to consumers that our people make selfish decisions about attending. We’ve taught them to be self-focused.
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
2.Too many churches design their services to focus on the individual rather than the corporate nature of worship. Much modern worship creates spectators of “worship” rather than participants in worship. So, does it really matter where I am if it’s all about my time with God?
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
3.Too many churches know how to celebrate, but don’t know how to lament. We’re good at rejoicing with those who rejoice, but fail at weeping with those who weep. If every song in every service is a celebration fest, there’s little room for the broken-hearted.
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
4.Perhaps this is because we let other things guide worship rather than God’s Word. Imagine if our worship services were designed to feed people God’s Word; singing guided by the Word rather than the radio station; worship that takes attention off self & places it fully upon God
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
Imagine preaching the whole counsel of God rather than the popular hot topic of the moment; sermon ideas that come from the text rather than the latest block buster movie; series through books of the Bible rather than cherry picking Scripture for five self-help tips for whatever.
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
5.What if our churches simply did what Scripture calls us to do in our worship services: Read the Word (1 Tim 4:13), Preach the Word (2 Tim 4:2), Pray the Word (1 Tim 2:1), Sing the Word (Eph 5:19), Display the Word – Baptism and Lord’s Supper (Lk 22:19;Rom 6:3).
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
6. Maybe this reveals how starved people are for what they REALLY need. We need God’s Word to govern and guide worship. There’s likely more, but I believe this reveals our worship gatherings are not giving people what they need to sustain them in both the joys and sorrows of life
— Tom Buck (@TomBuck) May 15, 2018
Originally posted May 15, 2018.
Tom Buck has served as the Senior Pastor at First Baptist Church of Lindale, Texas, since 2006. He holds degrees from Moody Bible Institute (B.A in Pastoral Ministres & NT Greek) and Dallas Theological Seminary (Th.M. in Bible Exposition).
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