“We start our service with our ‘one another’ time. We give announcements and greet one another, but then we clearly shift to a God focus. We tell people this is what we are doing with a transition statement that goes something like this.” - Kevin Schaal
Worshiping God is fundamental to God’s people. He wants the redeemed of all ages to honor and serve Him with reverence and joy. Unfortunately, worship is one of the most controversial subjects in churches today. Instead of worship uniting the church, “worship wars” have scarred denominations and fragmented the church. These types of disputes are nothing new. The fault lines of worship controversies have marred nearly every turning point in church history.
“Most pastors (56%) say it’s important to incorporate patriotic elements into worship services the week of July 4th to celebrate America, including 27% who strongly agree” - Lifeway
“It leaves room for different Christians to worship in ways consistent with their traditions and culture, yet also calls us to ensure that, no matter what, our worship is ‘shaped and governed by the Word of God’ ” - Challies
“Benedictions can be confusing. Are we blessing God? Is God blessing us? Is it a prayer? Is it a pronouncement? The answer to the questions above is yes. But also that it is more of some of those things than others.” - Ref21
“the regulative principle of worship states that God alone determines the content, motivation, and aim of worship. …The further we get away from his directions, then, the less we actually worship.” - Ligon Duncan
“Several people responded to Aniol by posting Bible verses that describe people raising hands in worship…Psalm 63:4 and 1 Timothy 2:8… Aniol responded, ‘Prayer. Not emotional singing.’” - C.Leaders
“the more you talk about things in Sunday announcements, the less effective the messaging for everything is.” - C.Leaders
“Two years into the pandemic, more religious institutions are asking themselves what a hybrid approach can and should look like.” - RNS
“While online worship allows us to truly worship the living God, it ruptures our common sense [input from the five senses] in a way that doesn’t happen with in-person worship …. This is not to deny the real value of online worship… however, it does offer us a way to understand how it differs from in-person worship.” - TGC
