“Sunday”, not “someday” in paragraph 3

(fat finger syndrome)

Several posters mentioned the desire to keep the Sunday Morning service for believers and their “Worship”. Someone even mentioned the direction of the from the pew to the altar.

Most “confessional” Lutheran churches call the someday morning event the “Divine Service”. The implication is that God comes to serve us. He refreshes and strengthens us with His Word and Sacaraments. It is about Him and what HE has done for us through the work of His Son, Jesus Christ.

Another comment on the use of Christian “language”. Christianity is, in some respects, like learing a foreign language. You don’t learn French or get a feel for French “culture” by reading English translations of French literature. You have to dive in and “immerse” yourself to get a real understanding. Same way with “Christian-speak”. Sunday morning should be for those who “speak the language”.

Seekers should say – “Man, there is something special going on here. I need to learn more!”.

I copied and pasted the link, but it’s not working. Go to http://www.9marks.org/ and click on the “Events” link for information on the Weekenders.

I’m intrigued that you mentioned Mark Dever as being the main (human) influence on your pastoral staff and that you also mentioned concerns about a lack of conversions at your church and the worship service being perhaps too “non-seeker-friendly.”

Have you ever attended one of the Capitol Hill Baptist Church “Weekenders” for pastors and elders? If not, it might be *very* encouraging for you. You can read about them here: http://www.9marks.org/partner/Article_Display_Page/0,,PTID314526|CHID616030|CIID1647544,00.html I’m a former CHBC member, and I recently read about Mark giving thanks for the fact that of his fourteen-year ministry there, he has seen the most conversions this past year.

I was wondering if I can totally steal your idea for my blog, which is much more of a local variety. I was thinking of getting several local Youth Pastors to comment on the direction of Church and Youth Ministry. Since all the pastor live and work in Lynden, WA I was going to call it “The Throw Down in L Town”.

What do you think?

The Gospel needs to be preached. Believers and unbelievers alike need to hear it’s message. Even if the church sanctuary does not have an actual cross present, the message of the cross needs to remain. In the New Testament, we don’t find as many people seeking as we find the Gospel being carried. Read the Great Commission passages again (Mark 16:15) and consider the journeys of the Apostle Paul.

kcillini77, I feel your pain.

Sometimes I think people would come to church if the whole forbidden fruit approach was used: “Sure, seeker, come visit one of our Wed. nite groups…but you probably wouldn’t like Sundays, they do a lot of serious praying and get really deep into the scriptures…”

“Later, he talks about the gift of tongues being for non-believers. However he states that if a nonbeliever were to walk into a church service and EVERYONE were to be speaking in tongues, the nonbeliever would think everyone was nuts. He therefore discourages this practice.

Here, Paul is being seeker-sensitive. He is encouraging us to consider what an outsider would see should they attend a service.”

Interesting. Thanks for mentioning this. Give me something to chew on.

Paul says that it is better for a believer to speak a very few words in a known language, than to even speak in the tongues of angels. His reasoning is that the purpose of a church service is to edify (build up) the believer. A believer can’t be built up by something they don’t understand. He goes on to encourage an interpreter for spoken tongues within the corporate body.

Later, he talks about the gift of tongues being for non-believers. However he states that if a nonbeliever were to walk into a church service and EVERYONE were to be speaking in tongues, the nonbeliever would think everyone was nuts. He therefore discourages this practice.

Here, Paul is being seeker-sensitive. He is encouraging us to consider what an outsider would see should they attend a service.

The bottom line as I see it is that we should plan and structure services both to edify believers AND to be seeker-sensitive.

But what do we do when these two goals conflict? I believe that our priority should be to edify the believer. After all, the most effective form of evangelism (especially in our culture today) is relationship evangelism. Therefore believers need to be equipped to understand how to think about their faith. We need to be equipped by the fellowship of the church as to how to live out our faith amongst nonbelievers as we live our lives in the market and workplace.

And the greatest thing I think believers need to understand is how to be a living mystery to the nonbeliever. We need to learn how to inspire thinking by being a living question to nonbelievers. This is the example Christ gave us when he witnessed to the Samaritan woman in John 4.