Question of the Month: Worship?

What should be done then, my friends? When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation. Let all things be done for building up.  – 1 Corinthians 14:26 (NRSV)

Should my son or daughter forget community worship and just attend a Junior High program (Genesis, iWORD and Thrive)?

The answer is simple.  Regular worship is prefered, a priority, and a priviledge. The practice of having your 6-8th grader participate in worship is often more difficult.  Family schedules, sleep-overs, sleepiness, Jr. High Sunday programming and much more encourage and entice us to give into NOT going to worship.

Worship on Sundays or Saturdays is filled with ways to worship that nothing else compares.  Even Genesis and iWORD don’t allow for a full experience in worshipping God.  Where else can voices join together in many different ways (singing and spoken word)?  Where else can you join together in the sacraments?  Where else can you be with your larger church family?  Where else can you gather together weekly as a family?  Where else but worship whether it’s on Saturday Evenings, Traditional services or Community of Joy.  Each week we come together to invite God to hear how much we love Him (Because he first loved us!).

So, to really answer the question we hope your family will put worship services first… THEN consider iWORD and Genesis (or helping in the nursery, teaching Joy Zone, etc.).  This goes the same for Wednesday evenings.  Attending Thrive only is not our desire either.  Thrive is worshipful but it is not community worship.  Everything other than worship is merely a poor substitute for worship.  They are all good opportunites and you learn, you love, you grow deeper in faith but programming is not the same as congregational worship.  Our faith-filled hope is that families grow to consider Saturdays/Sundays not as a one-hour a week opportunity but a time of many opportunities with worship in the center. 

Of course your family has to make decisions that are best for you.  If you’ve tried worship and programming and it just doesn’t work (right now) consider all the alternatives.  We thank God for the over 30 youth and adults attending Genesis and iWORD and encourage everyone to make sure you put worshipping the Father, Son and Holy Spirit - with the whole church as a blessing and priority.