Worship and the Missional Church
As I've noted in earlier posts, my congregation is seeking to become a missional church. Of course, as with any attempt at becoming church, our expression will be unique to us. When we gathered recently to discern a set of core values to guide our congregation, one of the values we settled on was that we would be a "worshiping community of faith."
That statement defines us as a community. Worship -- corporate worship -- is important to who we are as a community. This worship includes music, prayer, preaching, and the Lord's Table -- as Disciples we do gather weekly at the table!
The question is -- how does one become a missional congregation while also being a worshiping community? I ask this question because I'm reading Reggie McNeal's Missional Renaissance (Jossey Bass, 2009), and McNeal's statements about worship are, to me, disturbing. I could attribute his sentiments to his Baptist foundations, but I'm not sure where they emerge. But, he seems to place little value on gathered worship. I realize he's trying to contrast attractional and incarnational models, but does one have to jettison strong, focused worship to get there? Does preaching have to give way to reports on what the people are doing out there in the world? I agree that the church is wherever the people are working. I get it, but does that mean we devalue the worship experience in the gathered community?
I want to offer this quote from the book and invite your thoughts. Perhaps I have misunderstood.
Now I can agree with much of this, but there is something about the tone that disturbs me.
So my question is: what should worship look like in the missional church? And where should we look for guidance? One of the things that has bothered me reading this book is that there is little theological or biblical interaction in laying out this perspective -- maybe that will come later in the book (this is an interim report), but I remain concerned!
That statement defines us as a community. Worship -- corporate worship -- is important to who we are as a community. This worship includes music, prayer, preaching, and the Lord's Table -- as Disciples we do gather weekly at the table!
The question is -- how does one become a missional congregation while also being a worshiping community? I ask this question because I'm reading Reggie McNeal's Missional Renaissance (Jossey Bass, 2009), and McNeal's statements about worship are, to me, disturbing. I could attribute his sentiments to his Baptist foundations, but I'm not sure where they emerge. But, he seems to place little value on gathered worship. I realize he's trying to contrast attractional and incarnational models, but does one have to jettison strong, focused worship to get there? Does preaching have to give way to reports on what the people are doing out there in the world? I agree that the church is wherever the people are working. I get it, but does that mean we devalue the worship experience in the gathered community?
I want to offer this quote from the book and invite your thoughts. Perhaps I have misunderstood.
People frequently ask me what worship looks like in an incarnational community. It is especially challenging for people steeped in attractional church to imagine something other than the Sunday event we call worship. The focus of the gathering in missonal communities is primarily to celebrate the work of God in the life of the community, mainly through hearing stories of what God is doing right now in the lives of those present and in their relationships with each other. Often a meal sets the stage for sharing these stories as well as hearing the needs of the group. Prayers are offered for healing and provision. Music is as varied as the group. Bible teaching, while practiced, is not the focus of the experience, as the sermon has become in most church services. Rather the central element is the sharing of God's immediate intervention and demonstration in the lives of those present. Worship is seen as the extension of normal routines, not something that is a discontinuity with the rest of the week. (p. 61).
Now I can agree with much of this, but there is something about the tone that disturbs me.
So my question is: what should worship look like in the missional church? And where should we look for guidance? One of the things that has bothered me reading this book is that there is little theological or biblical interaction in laying out this perspective -- maybe that will come later in the book (this is an interim report), but I remain concerned!
Comments
Now.. I would agree that its not a bad thing to hear what people are doing in the world. Our church prays for one of our missionaries every week before the sermon. But the sermon serves to feed the congregation, give us spiritual food to make it through the week.
-Chuck
I share your disquiet. If McNeal's discussion is indeed a critique of corporate worship, I think he has lost his way among the trees and lost sight of the forest.
You quoted:
"Worship is seen as the extension of normal routines, not something that is a discontinuity with the rest of the week."
As Chuck has suggested, the Sabbath is SUPPOSED to be a discontinuity from normal routines. While I can agree that we should live our routine lives as a worship experience, there is supposed to be a time set aside for rest, worship and holiness. I am not concerned here so much about the sin of not keeping the Sabbath, but about the lost opportunities for focused intimacy with God.
I also don't agree that the sermon is supposed to be the focus of the worship - if it is then the focus is on the pastor as the interpreter of the Word in the world, and not on God. Another objection to a 'sermon centered' notion of worship is that in such a paradigm only the pastor is doing the "work" of liturgy, only the pastor is engaged in actual worship, with the congregation merely witnessing to the work of the pastor.
For me the focus of the worship experience is God, and the highest and best component of this focus is the Eucharist, at communion table where we re-celebrate the sacrifice of God on the cross. Jesus didn't say do a weekly sermon in remembrance of me. The worship experience is further centered in the congregation through song and prayer in general. The role of the pastor is to guide and center the experience of the worshipers, and hopefully provide some instruction which will enhance their relationship with God in the future, both within and without the the communal worship experience.
It is possible that McNeal is not talking a about a congregational model. I have recently heard of a 'missional community' experience. The explanation was very limited but I gathered the following: The missional community seems to be very different from a missional congregation. The community, which is composed of people from a variety of denominations, does not truly engage in worship, merely meeting regularly to pray and share their missional work and then in small groups to pray and study scripture.
They understand themselves to be a non-denominational community and not a congregation.
John
This missional community idea is what McNeal seems to be talking about. I think it's attractive to the spiritual/not religious crowd -- but I wonder if such a community has legs -- that is, will it be able to sustain itself over the long term?
I will be raising more questions along this line. As for the sermon, it is one component in a balanced worship experience. Although I agree that the table is the culmination of worship, I'm not sure that it is appropriate to call it the center of worship. In Acts we are told that the community gathered for prayer, fellowship, Apostles teaching (which I take as proclamation), and breaking of the bread (Eucharist). I think all are part of a worship experience -- we can't prioritize them. The goal in the end, is that we draw closer to God and to neighbor, and are drawn in to ministry in the world.
John
I am uncomfortable with any theology that so sidelines worship. I am not so worried about Sabbath Commandments, but I am not convinced that we will minister in and too the world as God would have us minister, if contact and communication with our creator is such an afterthought.
I guess I lean toward Huaerwas. The job of the church is to be the church... to raise and train disciples. The main way we do this is in worship.
Having been born and raised baptist I don't think you can pin this view of worship on us!!! :)
Our worship seeks to be relevant and bit ecclectic (did I spell that correctly?) but it is still largely traditional. The sermon (as a bapist church ) is the primary focus. We still recite the Lord's prayer, sing the Gloria and the Doxology and Pass the Peace. I don't think we learn how to be missional without these key liturgical elements. I have tried some 'praise' music, but find it theologically inadequate for training new disciples. I still use some, but sparingly, and instead look for more contemporary hymn writers who address peace and justice issues in contemporary language. Fred Pratt Green is a current favorite. We utilize a variety of instruments in worship, but still rely heavily on piano and organ... I bang away at a guitar too.
This is the way I have made some slight changes to worship. Our social ministries have grown and our membership has also grown, specifically among 30 year olds, and even some twenty-somethings... and we haven't done anything close to power-point or praise bands. I still robe for worship and I have never preached in a hawaiian shirt.
for what its worth.
blessings
I would say that I found much value in Gary Nelson's Borderland Churches, which I think would be worth reading. I have read much that is valuable, but I think we have to adapt this to our own situation.
I think that for traditional congregations, and yours is probably bigger than mine, but similar in many ways, what we can gain from missional thought is a recognition that we can no longer operate from a Field of Dreams perspective. We have to go where the people are at. And the only time I preach in a Hawaiian shirt is outdoors!
I only have 75-85 on sunday's... not very big at all.
And I agree about the 'field of dreams' issue.
But I still think that the phrase missional church is a bit redundant. To say 'church' is to say 'missional'. To be church is to be missional.
didn't say it before... but your blog is a daily visit for me... thanks for sharing your thoughts and observations... I am often challenged and inspired
"Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you."
If your church is making disciples, it is being missional. It takes a steady diet of all components of worship including preaching to mature a disciple so that he in turn can go out and make disciples. There is certainly a place for sharing and telling what God is doing in the world and in your life. That is one of the purposes for Wed. night prayer meetings, small group meetings or Sunday School. The sermon is where we receive doctrinal truths that guide and grows us in our daily relationship with Christ.