Image via WikipediaI have come (not very originally) to envisage the two poles of Christian living in terms of worship and mission. The two flow into each other: worship without mission becomes self-indulgence (and might imply worship of a god other than the one revealed in Jesus); mission without worship degenerates into various kinds of do-goodery, following agendas that may be deeply felt but are by no means necessarily connected with Jesus.
Its interesting that I've seen this on both sides. Yet it is mainly my Charismatic/Evangelical heritage especially in the Vineyard denomination which I saw an extreme of 'worshipping' the god of worship. I suspect it would have been this way if I went to Hillsong.
There is no doubt that good music/worship is an attractive influence on going to Church. I miss the "minors" of the Jesus is my boyfriend of worship music of the modern era. The new church which we attend the music is back a couple of decades in worship music style. But what I appreciate is the whole service is a call to worship. The lyrics are majestic in nature, aimed at God and his creation. Yet even though there is a different emphasis I think the balance of mission is lacking. So its probably up to myself to balance the tension with mission....
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