March 12, 2001
EDITORIAL:
Worship quest lasts more than hour
___Americans find worship almost as illusive as illuminating, according to a new study by the Barna Research Group. Baptists and other Christians must take both factors into account.
___The survey discovered that three-quarters of all U.S. adults--and 92 percent of all churched adults--claim worshipping God is very important.
___Those responses placed worship at the top of the list of six key faith practices, the Barna Group found. Next came the opportunity to "learn about your faith" (ranked very important by 63 percent of all adults), the experience of "moral and spiritual accountability" (59 percent), the responsibility to "serve the needs of the poor" (54 percent), the mandate to "share your faith" (44 percent), the opportunity to "belong to a faith group" (41 percent), the chance to "meet other people of faith" (39 percent) and the command to "donate your time and money" to religious causes (39 percent). A majority of "religiously inclined" adults--born-again Christians and people who attend Christian church services regularly--ranked all eight activities as very important.
___Despite the illuminating power of worship, a majority of religious Americans find that connection with God illusive. "Most (church-going) adults do not always feel as if they experience the presence of God during church worship events," the survey report stated. In fact, only one-third of regular attenders said they "always ... experience God's presence at church." Another third experience worship occasionally, and another third feel God's presence even less often.
___The disparity between the perceived importance of worship and the actual consistency of worship should be a major concern for our churches. If more than nine out of 10 adults come to church hoping for and valuing an experience with God, but only three out of 10 regularly sense God's presence, then we need to consider closely and carefully our approach to worship--and to God Almighty.
___The first topic that typically arises when American Protestants discuss worship is music. In most congregations, music is Ground Zero for the worship wars. We've discussed this before, and both sides need to exercise a greater degree of grace and generosity to each other. However, both groups need to realize one important point: The biggest fallacy of the worship wars is the notion that music will fix everything.
___People experience the presence of God while listenting to Handel, Wesley, Crosby and Jars of Clay. Music that is appropriate to the audience and occasion always can be worshipful; arguments about worship music never can be. We have seen pastors who believe if they can just move to "contemporary" worship their churches will pull out of the doldrums. Likewise, we've seen others who just as fervently believe they can revisit the glory days by reopening the 1956 Baptist Hymnal.
___Music is important; it touches hearts uniquely. But churches need to be just as passionate about reverence for God's house, prayer, appreciation of silence before God, reading and proclaiming God's word, and experiencing that singular sense of community present no other place but among the people of God assembled for worship.
___Barna's research also provides another clue to experiencing authentic worship. Look at the other numbers. Imagine that God grants us the experience of worship--a sense of standing in God's presence--as we are faithful to live according to God's plan. If contributing time and resources to God's work is not valued, if the command to share one's faith is not followed, if the needs of the poor are ignored, if Scripture is not studied, then how can one expect to meet God on God's terms? The Christian faith is not some spiritual smorgasbord, where "worship" can be ordered ala carte.
___George Barna, the director of the survey, addresses this idea, suggesting many people do not worship because they do not come prepared to worship. "Having never been taught much about worship, they find the inability to interact with God on a deeper level frustrating but don't know what to do about it," he lamented.
___So, perhaps our churches can improve worship by ceasing to worry so much how an order of service is filled out and focusing instead on how members fill out the priorities of their lives. We're so busy trying to create worship in our own power, for a good but somewhat selfish reason. Let us realize worship is a reunion with God that grows out of a faithful relationship.
___ Marv Knox
E-mail the editor at marvknox@baptiststandard.com
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