Reforming Worship

It is my heart's desire to see reformation within the church in general, and the predominantly African-American church in particular. I know that I am not alone in these sentiments and this is encouraging to know. However, I also know that if true reformation is going to take place it will be because we have recovered Biblical Worship. What is biblical worship? Well to put it simply, biblical worship is worship where we Read the Bible, Pray the Bible, Sing the Bible, See the Bible, and Preach the Bible. Unfortunately, in the majority of churches in America, particularly predominantly African-American churches, the Bible is nothing more than a prop or an institutional icon. It is present, but we rarely read it, we hardly pray it , we sparingly sing it, we relunctantly see it, and we sporatically preach it. This five-fold approach to worship has been expressed by the church from the beginning. Yet we have lost this simple and yet God-exalting experience in worship. If reformation in our churches is to be a reality, we must ask ourselves if we really have the Bible in its God-ordained prominent place in our services. For a fuller explanation of this biblical worship you can read Ligon Duncan's article From Worship Wars to Biblical Consensus. Without a doubt, it will challenge you to examine your worship so see if your church's worship is a helper or a hinderance to reformation. We will visit this subject again in the very near future.