On Certain Forms of Contemporary Worship…

There is a familiarity, an ease, almost a glibness toward God in this worship that communicates to no one that he is a consuming fire, or that he is angry with the wicked every day, or that his eyes are too pure to behold iniquity, or that he will by no means clear the guilty, or that he dwells in unapproachable light, surrounded by a glory that no man has seen or can see. In this man-centered worship, in this worship that partakes of the atmosphere of a sales convention, the divine grace and love inevitably become mere niceness, almost politeness, not the astonishing stoop down to the unworthy and hell-deserving sinners that the Bible reveals us to be. And in that worship the cross absolutely must become considerably less than the torture and terror and the humiliation and the disgrace and the abasement of the Son of God that was absolutely required to pay the price of our sin and guilt and so satisfy the demands of God’s holiness in order that we might be saved. The cross must be lightened up. You can’t have anything that grim in a meeting whose spirit and atmosphere are so blithe and cheerful, in many ways so secular.–

Dr. Robert S. Rayburn ~ Faith Presbyterian Church

(HT ~ Pastor Uri Brito)

Children in the Worship Service

In many evangelical churches youth ministries are a big-budget item...with so little to show for it. Maybe, just maybe, Pastor Garrett Craw is on to something here....

Here are some thoughts on children in the worship service. At the church I pastor, we have a whole bunch of kids. Kids are kids. Sometimes they do silly things and sometimes they need to be corrected. But as we treat them like believers (little believers, of course) a funny thing happens; they love coming to church and they worship vigorously. They also feel they are part of The Church with all of its responsibilities and privileges (we don’t have “children’s church” and the kids are full participants). It has also been my pleasure to serve a congregation where the kids are much more respectful to adults, officers of the church, and to

the church as a cultus.

Sadly, most of my Christian experience has been in congregations where the kids are a confusing appendage that everyone wished would somehow transform into ideal adult Christians via photosynthesis. Unfortunately, most of these kids leave the church when they reach adulthood.

So, let’s stop putting stumbling blocks in their way and as King Jesus says, "Let the little children come to me and do not hinder them, for to such belongs the kingdom of heaven." (Matthew 19:14)