THOUGHTS & ADVICE ABOUT SEEKER-FRIENDLY WORSHIP SERVICES IN CHURCHES OF CHRIST
A young mother seeking the Lord comes to church with her two children: a four-year-old boy and a two-and-a-half-year-old girl. She twists, wrestles, and corrects, trying to keep quiet, wondering if she’s causing a distraction or if others are irritated by the children and her.
A family comes to a typical church of Christ from another background. Used to a very different approach, they don’t understand our shared convictions about worship and may feel disoriented. We don’t want them to feel out of place. If they feel out of place, they’re almost sure to be out of the place permanently.
Another person Jesus died for comes from no religious upbringing at all and has already overcome severe anxiety before walking into a church building in the first place. If this seeker isn’t warmly welcomed in the sacred assembly of God’s people, why would he ever come back?
First, I need to make it clear. The assemblies of Christians must not be primarily mindful of guests. If the focus isn’t mainly and obviously on God, it’s not really worship. Secondarily, Christian worshippers owe their baptized, believing, assembling brothers and sisters their partnership in all righteous activities, including worship assemblies. We are to “address one another in psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs” as we are “singing and making melody to the Lord” (Eph 5:19). However, after giving ourselves to these two primary focuses, there is still ample room for ordering our assemblies in ways that are “seeker friendly,” which simply means expecting, noticing, welcoming, and helping guests find their way into the fold with as little difficulty as possible.
What does that look like? —Different things in different places. According to Scripture, there’s only one church, and every faithful local church is a part of it. Scripture establishes no structure holding churches together other than free-willed fellowship. Every church organized biblically is autonomous. So, there will always be some variation. The churches of Christ broadly practice only the acts of worship for which we can produce clear, positive biblical authority. In other words, If Scripture doesn’t clearly say we must and/or can, we don’t. This isn’t merely because we want to be strict. I don’t suppose most folks in churches of Christ are any stricter than anyone else, in general. It’s because we want to maintain a sound, realistic, biblical platform for maintaining and restoring the unity of the Faith. It’s as simple as this: every time a church introduces an innovation into worship for which it cannot produce explicit Scriptural authorization, the result is division. We want to be sure we are pleasing our King and not guilty of worshipping in ways that would legitimately violate a fellow believer’s conscience and force their separation from us. In other words, we do our best to faithfully follow the ancient order exactly as revealed by the Lord through His apostles, not to feel superior to others, not to violate 1 Corinthians 4:5, and not even because it’s just what all of us would do if we had our own way, but because coming together on the first day of every week to observe communion together, pray together, sing songs a cappella together, give what we can to the cause, and hear the word preached together is clearly authorized in the New Testament. However fellow believers choose to “Romans 14” in their own daily lives, we leave between them and God, as long as they don’t bring reproach upon the church by living in blatant sin. But when we come together, no individual has the right to impose a practice on the whole church that isn’t clearly authorized in Scripture. This makes sense. Most churches of Christ worship as close as we know how to the way the early church worshipped. By maintaining this walk along the ancient path, we maintain doctrinal soundness and provide all who would end the division in Christendom a safe environment to worship and grow in without risk or violated conscience.
To answer the question, it looks like a biblically authorized, well-ordered, reasonably predictable (some slight variation in method and order helps keep things fresh and not stale) worship service and a friendly, welcoming, smiling group of Christians who take interest in the stranger who has come among them, and who take the initiative to befriend, show hospitality, answer questions, and in whatever other ways are needed and possible support the beloved guest to their services in the hope the wandering soul will be found, saved, sanctified, and thus become a vital part of the body. This is healthy church growth.
Seeker-friendly churches don’t give dirty looks to those who come among them who’ve not yet assimilated into biblical ways of doing things. If it’s a more formal or casual congregation, and someone comes in dressed the opposite way, don’t judge them; greet them. If they make too much of the wrong kind of noise, as long as they’re not being intentionally disruptive, be patient with them. If they say or do something offensive, give them the benefit of the doubt. Just take it and bear your cross for them. They’ll learn in time. Give them grace and time to grow! Things should be done consistently and, as said above, predictably so that new people can learn fast and grow to participate fully as quickly as possible. Preachers and other worship leaders should regularly (briefly) explain the who’s, what’s, when’s, where’s, why’s, and how’s of worship.
Every church that loves the people God loves should think about guests to their services and create an orderly approach to worship and Bible study assemblies that helps them (and guests like and unlike them) feel welcome. The church exists to be the embodiment of the kingdom of Christ on earth, so there’s no question faithful churches care about the souls who walk through their doors. The Great Commission calls us to seek them. Those who seek the Lord without us having sought them first are precious seekers, valuable people. Many of them will become vital, fruit-bearing church members.
---JLP
Image by Robfoto via Pixabay.
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