A billboard read: “[Blank] Church – not like your Aunt Gertrude’s church.” When I saw it, I thought, “Yes, your church is probably not like Aunt Gertrude’s. I wonder if your church is as spiritual as hers” A newspaper ad read: “Come to [Blank] Church, because church doesn’t have to be boring.”
Isaiah saw “the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up.” We don’t know if the service was traditional or contemporary, or if there was a high-tech media presentation or a dynamic preacher hooked to a lavalier microphone. But Isaiah saw the Lord, experienced godly sorrow over his sin and sincerely submitted to the will of God. That’s worship!
Some may not be edified by Aunt Gertrude’s church or may find church boring because there are only a few people present or the music has the sound of the 1940s.
Maybe they are looking for an emotional experience rather than true worship. Just as some may find Aunt Gertrude’s church boring, there are those who find some churches to be fast-moving, loud media circuses with empty emotionalism.
I have experienced true worship in both traditional and contemporary churches, in very small and very large congregations. I have seen both orchestra pits and pul-pits that were “as sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal.”
Let’s judge churches by substance, not style or statistics. Acts 2:47 says that “the Lord added to the church daily such as should be saved.” Today, it’s “adding to the church weekly such as will transfer their membership.”
Visit Valley Falls First Baptist, where I have the privilege of serving as interim pastor. We’re few in number and have no orchestra. But you will see “the Lord – lifted up” and be encouraged to respond, as did Isaiah.
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