Old time worship

[Xan]

I have a question, Slim. What do you think when you see a person walk into church wearing designer clothes, designer shoes, and perfectly coiffed hair?

[Guest HIS girl]

My happiest "Church" memories are from the very Church I mentioned before..actually it was before the Church building was erected and the congregation (which would have been around 35 max) would meet at the Pator's house on his verandah...some folks sat on the spare bed that was along the wall as he preached..but you know what? The service was held in reverence for Who we were worshipping even though the surroundings were modest and we had the odd dog and cat in attendance..

[Xan]

I was a part of a church for several years that stressed "excellence", in terms of the worship service, the music, the people who served/volunteered in various groups/ministries, etc...it became a buzzword--"we must do things with excellence", "God is a God of excellence", so on and so forth. Maybe it was just the setting I was in, but it became almost a snobbish, exclusive attitude--our ministry/church was known for it's "excellence", and those that didn't measure up to the supposed standard of excellence were basically shut out of doing anything within the church.

Yes, I believe in doing things with excellence--to me, doing and being the best you can be with the gifts and talents God has given you--but at the same time, realizing that although man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart--and although we may not measure up by man's standards, God is pleased with our sincere efforts to serve Him.

As far as modernized church buildings--yes, I think we all can say we prefer to have a nice, comfortable building with padded pews, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, and with the latest in technology to help present the Gospel...but what if all that were taken away for some reason? what if we lost all those "comforts"? Would we say to God, I can't worship You because I don't have the "modern accoutrements" to effectively worship You in Spirit and in truth?

The "excellence" justification for spectacular facilities and always having to have "the best" is really just an excuse for materialism.

The excellence with which we are to serve the Lord is in the area of our character.

The world has historically NEVER been impressed with how modern and technologically advanced our facilities are. In fact, if anything unbelievers have been turned off by the way many ministries have decked themselves out in their affluence. I have never seen anyone who was ever very impressed with preachers flying themselves around in private jets and driving a Rolls.

Most people are looking for something real to believe in, something that meets the need of their heart, not that which pets their flesh. They already have money and affluence. They drive the best cars, and have very well paying jobs and own more than one piece of property, but so far, none of that has brought any fulfillment, it has not filled the void in their heart that longs for something more.

When you love someone, when you are truly caught up in your love for another person, does it matter what they drive? Does it matter if they make a lot of money or live in the nicest home in the best part of town? Do you care if their clothes are the best? Love has a tendency to focus on what will matter in the long run. Those who are truly in love with Jesus can worship Him under any condition.

On CBN News, I was watching a segment about Christians in China. Many of them worship in packed, undisclosed facilities for 8-12 hours at a strech standing up the entire time, and without the benefit of air conditioning in the summer. A 3-hour sermon is considered "short." None of them had on a tie or a dress. They are growing and they do this under the threat of imprisonment and other forms of persecution.

Think of what we could do with the money we spend on simply building bigger barns for ourselves. How much money is spent on new sound systems or other nonessentials that could be spent on medicine, food, bibles, and other resources that would actually meet real needs of real people?

I was listening to a missionary talk about a special soup that they were giving to people in places like Kenya, Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa that was curing them of physical ailments that were the product of nothing but vitamin deficiencies. It was high protein, vitamin packed soup that could be bought in bulk quanities and stored indefiniately in dry form. It was actually pretty cheap to get, and was worth more in the long run than new carpet for our sanctuary.

And while I am thinking about it, the Church ought to be funding and subsidising the publishing and printing of Bibles. If we were truly honest with ourselves, Bibles should not even be for sale. Over in China, many congregations only have a few chapters of the Bible, and even those have to be passed around. I was in at a Christian bookstore a while back and this one guy was up in arms because he could not get the type of leather cover he wanted for a particular version. No one should ever have to buy a Bible.

We have become fat, materialistic and selfish over here in the west. We have all the best "stuff" but we lack true spiritual power. In Acts chapter two, 120 disciples saw 3,000 people saved in a day. Today, 3,000 Christians can't reach 120 people in a year.

Wellsaid, Shiloh.

[alycia]

There is a movie/documentary that's been out for a few years called "The Finger of God", which mainly deals with the supernatural--things like gold dust, gemstones and manna manifesting (Ok, I haven't been here at Worthy all that long to know what the prevailing attitude about all that is, so don't stone me if this has been poo-pooed already ) there is a part in the movie where they show (they used hidden cameras and the actual location was not revealed) an undergorund church somewhere in China, and how the people there were just hungry and thirsty for the Word...the missionary that preached there and told of this church in the movie, said that the people didn't want him to stop preaching...and those people didn't care that they were in a hidden, cramped location...they were just taking in all they could, and worshipping with all their hearts...it was precious to see.

[traveller]

I was a part of a church for several years that stressed "excellence", in terms of the worship service, the music, the people who served/volunteered in various groups/ministries, etc...it became a buzzword--"we must do things with excellence", "God is a God of excellence", so on and so forth. Maybe it was just the setting I was in, but it became almost a snobbish, exclusive attitude--our ministry/church was known for it's "excellence", and those that didn't measure up to the supposed standard of excellence were basically shut out of doing anything within the church.

Yes, I believe in doing things with excellence--to me, doing and being the best you can be with the gifts and talents God has given you--but at the same time, realizing that although man looks at the outward appearance, God looks at the heart--and although we may not measure up by man's standards, God is pleased with our sincere efforts to serve Him.

As far as modernized church buildings--yes, I think we all can say we prefer to have a nice, comfortable building with padded pews, air conditioning in the summer, heat in the winter, and with the latest in technology to help present the Gospel...but what if all that were taken away for some reason? what if we lost all those "comforts"? Would we say to God, I can't worship You because I don't have the "modern accoutrements" to effectively worship You in Spirit and in truth?

The "excellence" justification for spectacular facilities and always having to have "the best" is really just an excuse for materialism.

The excellence with which we are to serve the Lord is in the area of our character.

The world has historically NEVER been impressed with how modern and technologically advanced our facilities are. In fact, if anything unbelievers have been turned off by the way many ministries have decked themselves out in their affluence. I have never seen anyone who was ever very impressed with preachers flying themselves around in private jets and driving a Rolls.

Most people are looking for something real to believe in, something that meets the need of their heart, not that which pets their flesh. They already have money and affluence. They drive the best cars, and have very well paying jobs and own more than one piece of property, but so far, none of that has brought any fulfillment, it has not filled the void in their heart that longs for something more.

When you love someone, when you are truly caught up in your love for another person, does it matter what they drive? Does it matter if they make a lot of money or live in the nicest home in the best part of town? Do you care if their clothes are the best? Love has a tendency to focus on what will matter in the long run. Those who are truly in love with Jesus can worship Him under any condition.

On CBN News, I was watching a segment about Christians in China. Many of them worship in packed, undisclosed facilities for 8-12 hours at a strech standing up the entire time, and without the benefit of air conditioning in the summer. A 3-hour sermon is considered "short." None of them had on a tie or a dress. They are growing and they do this under the threat of imprisonment and other forms of persecution.

Think of what we could do with the money we spend on simply building bigger barns for ourselves. How much money is spent on new sound systems or other nonessentials that could be spent on medicine, food, bibles, and other resources that would actually meet real needs of real people?

I was listening to a missionary talk about a special soup that they were giving to people in places like Kenya, Zimbabwe and other countries in Africa that was curing them of physical ailments that were the product of nothing but vitamin deficiencies. It was high protein, vitamin packed soup that could be bought in bulk quanities and stored indefiniately in dry form. It was actually pretty cheap to get, and was worth more in the long run than new carpet for our sanctuary.

And while I am thinking about it, the Church ought to be funding and subsidising the publishing and printing of Bibles. If we were truly honest with ourselves, Bibles should not even be for sale. Over in China, many congregations only have a few chapters of the Bible, and even those have to be passed around. I was in at a Christian bookstore a while back and this one guy was up in arms because he could not get the type of leather cover he wanted for a particular version. No one should ever have to buy a Bible.

We have become fat, materialistic and selfish over here in the west. We have all the best "stuff" but we lack true spiritual power. In Acts chapter two, 120 disciples saw 3,000 people saved in a day. Today, 3,000 Christians can't reach 120 people in a year.

Amen Brother. Excellent post.

[stormy612]

I've never been in an 'old time church', but I know my grandmother grew up in one (she was the middle of 9 kids, raised in rural Tennessee on a real 'hands on' farm). She never 'preached' at me, and I don't recall her ever quoting the bible (except when we said "As I lay me down to sleep..." prayer every night we stayed with her), but I always felt loved, as in embraced, welcomed, wanted. Her whole family was like that (they didn't go around hugging on you or saying I love you, stuff like that). When I brought my daughter up to meet 2 of Grannie's sisters, I wanted to see if it was just me or if she felt it too. Sure enough, she said she just 'felt loved' from the minute she met them. And all they did was say 'well, come on in,' then turned to my dad and started talking to him. In fact, I don't think they said another word to her the whole time except to say goodbye. They made a real lasting impression on me AND my daughter. There is definately a special side of God in those small country churches; something that doesn't have to speak. I'd like to be a part that; I'd like to be around that. If I could, I could be warm even on the coldest of days.