Tuesday Re-mix: This is a popular post from last year, updated and resubmitted for your consideration and comments.
Gathered worship is about approaching the throne of grace together. That’s what makes it a very different experience from personal worship. In gathered worship, the Spirit of the very God I come to worship lives in my co-worshiper. That makes relationships critical to gathered worship. 
When I look across the congregation and see my dear friend profoundly expressing his love for the Lord, it doesn’t matter so much whether I’m loving the music, because my dear friend clearly is. I worship because he is worshiping. All that matters at that point in time is how I feel about God and how I feel about my friend. That is enough.
So here is a bottom line: if relationships among worshipers are everything God wants them to be, worship style will not be an issue. If relationships among worshipers are broken or non-existent, it will not matter what worship style you choose. It will be wrong.
A word to my worship leader friends: spend less time worrying about whether to program hymns or choruses and more time invested in creating Biblical relationships among your worshipers.
© Blake Coffee
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4 responses to “Maybe Worship Style Is Not the Issue”
I completely agree. I preached a sermon this week and talked for a bit on this very idea. It seems churches are moving away multi generational worship to accept unity based on common experience and style. What makes the church different than other organization is that our unity is based on our savior, his kingdom work, and a unity founded in our shared part in His body. We must be careful not to make contemporary, traditional, cowboy, motorcycle, or other identities in churches. A cowboy church often finds unity in being a cowboy over unity in Christ. It’s the same no matter what you put before your church title (and this includes being a Baptist) If we place our worth in church in anything but Christ we miss the boat.
Fantastic response, Wes. I love the way you put it. Could not agree more. Thank you for the pastoral perspective!
Hello to all, the contents existing at this website are genuinely
remarkable for people experience, well, keep up the good work fellows.
Bikers’ church is where being a biker is a prerequisite; we see the same at the surfers’ church……being in Christ is of secondary importance only.
What sickens me, is that there always will be comments about “what Jesus did for me” and not “how I served His will and purpose.”
Church is a lost cause, an organisation without a cause and, to the downfall or unbelief of many, the main cause.
We need the early church, the church of Acts, nothing more and nothing less.