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Four Great Outcomes for Meaningful Worship
Oh, wouldn't it be loverly...

Generally speaking, I hate sports metaphors—they're often cloying at best. But, because of the mass appeal of things like, oh…the Super Bowl, I'm going to use this sports metaphor anyway—have a glass of "lemonade," some chips, and a can of cheese dip and join me!

Arguably, we have become a nation of passive "participants," which is to say, not participants at all. I haven't played golf in several months and part of the reason is the cold temperatures that have taken some of the joy out of "chasing the ball." That certainly doesn't keep me from watching it on television (though the absence of Tiger has made TV golf a little less alluring). Is watching it the same as playing it? Hardly. I love the HD beauty of the golf course and the excitement of the crowds, but it's nothing like being there and smelling the salt water that creeps up the high cliffs of Torrey Pines GC. When it comes to golf, I would rather be part of the action.

Like TV golf, worship often becomes a parody of what it was intended to be—namely, a sweat-equity activity. For instance, you're sick and can't go to church, so the rest of the family attends a service and then reports back to you. You ask the question, "How was worship?" Your family responds, "Oh, he was pretty good today." Of course they're talking about the preacher, and you are asking about the overall experience...the active experience. After all, we're supposed to be an "experience culture" and we most often define our appreciation for something by how we were personally engaged by it. 

Here's a check-list of four things that ought to happen to us in every service of worship. If they don't—we're just passive spectators.

1. Your perspective ought to change. We live in a selfish world, and we ourselves are selfish people. We're not "nasty selfish," we just think far too much about ourselves. In a really good worship service, we should temporarily suspend our hyper-focus on ourselves and give over at least a portion of our consciousness to the One who created us. If we were to poll our congregations about our worship services, how many would actually be able to say that they encountered God and felt His presence? My guess is, very few. It should happen—it just doesn't happen often enough.

2. Your pulse should get faster. At a golf tournament, when one of the PGA stars hits a hole in one, you don't have to guess about crowd engagement. The gasp and attendant applause is spontaneous and adrenaline-producing. Everyone's "action chemicals" kick in and they can ride that "high" for minutes afterwards. Standing in the presence of God ought to have the same effect. A "happy-clappy" song that gets everybody riled up in church is not the same thing. (I can say outrageous things like that because I'm a former worship leader—don't try this at home.) 

3. Your face should reflect the wonder of where you've just been. I'm not talking Moses here—I'm simply suggesting that there ought to be a connection between your experience in worship and your countenance after it. When I was in college, I worked at Disneyland for several years. I really loved that job because people seemed to be so happy. They thought they might be happy, they got ready to be happy, and they were happy! They anticipated it and got it! Now, that was just fun happy. A church and its worship ought to be about great joy—better than fun and far sweeter than "cotton candy happy."

4. You ought to know the answer to the question, "Are we there yet?" Remember when you were a kid riding in the car with your parents and after about 10 minutes of driving you queried them about how long it would take to get to your destination. In most families, this becomes a kind of joke. Being in—arriving at—worship ought not to beg the question, "Are we there yet?" One ought to be able to tell that they have truly arrived at a worship service. How? Because every single thing that happens in that hour is intentional and focused on the One who extended the invitation to be present in the first place. 

Does this sound about right to you? Let me know.

Blessings
Doug

—Doug Lawrence, internationally recognized speaker, author, and advisor, helps churches assess and improve their skillfulness in creating engaging worship experiences by utilizing his more than 35 years of "deep trench" worship leadership in prominent mainline churches. You may reach him at dlawrenceconsult@mac.com. Or, if you wish, call 1-650-207-8240 for assessment information and scheduling.
 

Doug now teams with the slingshotgroup.net to place 
extraordinary worship leaders in extraordinary churches.