Worship Service Theory 101

I think a big question people have about the way church is done that almost never gets answered is this: Is there something in the Bible that says we have to meet for an hour, do three songs, maybe a handshake, two more songs, maybe a video, a time of teaching, and an offering? Why is it done this way?

For Next Level Church, the answer lies with our core values: living life together, giving ourselves away, and connecting disconnected people.

We meet together in a community because the Bible tells life is best when we live it with other people. In Philippians 2, God’s word says-

“If you've gotten anything at all out of following Christ, if his love has made any difference in your life, if being in a community of the Spirit means anything to you, if you have a heart, if you care— then do me a favor: Agree with each other, love each other, be deep-spirited friends. Don't push your way to the front; don't sweet-talk your way to the top. Put yourself aside, and help others get ahead. Don't be obsessed with getting your own advantage. Forget yourselves long enough to lend a helping hand.”

Now, from a more technical standpoint, we do music first and last and teaching in the middle because we think it is just a cool idea to recognize that we are not in control and that our church is really Jesus’ church. We sing to worship God in a real and passionate (and often loud) way.

We have a time of teaching because God sets up spiritual leaders in the church that have to authority to speak the truth into our lives. In a passage about spiritual leadership, 1 Timothy 4 says-

“You've been raised on the Message of the faith and have followed sound teaching. Now pass on this counsel to the followers of Jesus there, and you'll be a good servant of Jesus.”

Finally, an offering takes place in every worship service, not because we are trying to take your money and buy jet-skis, but because we believe in giving ourselves away. Jesus was really big on not being attached to our earthly stuff. He even went as far as to tell a rich young guy to sell all his stuff because he loved his stuff more than he loved Jesus.

I hope that lets you into our minds a little bit...