Church services not matching Biblical picture

Have you read the New Testament enough to wonder at how the church depicted there looks so much different from your own? I have. It’s not comfortable.

Decades ago, my pastor told me, “If Jesus Christ showed up in our worship service, he would vomit.”

I’ve come to believe, to borrow a phrase, that man was not far from the kingdom of God.

Read the New Testament and highlight the places that seem to show a local congregation meeting together. Note the instructions that are given to churches for their meetings.

There are questions on this front that nag me. I’d be in your debt for sharing answers.

First, where is there any justification for what we must admit is a performance-driven worship service, wherein we have a handful of supposedly gifted people, who take turns going up front (often on a literal stage) to perform with their gifts in front of what, in any other circumstance, could only be labeled an audience?

Have you noticed that our sanctuaries/auditoriums are designed so that everyone must occupy seating that ensures their attention will be focused on the stage, rather than on each other?

I see a great emphasis on fellowship and community in the Scriptures concerning the gathered church. In a modern service, I’d really like to know how we are supposed to obey all the “one another” passages. You know: love one another; encourage one another; keep one another from heading toward sin; build up one another in the faith; forgive one another; consider the other’s needs more important than your own; and a host of other “one anothers.”

How’s any of that going to happen during a time-constrained production, where all you can see of one another is the backs of their heads?

The answer you’re likely to hear is, “See, that’s why you need to get plugged into one of the church’s home fellowship meetings. All that stuff gets done there, and it’s such a blessing!”

I happen to agree that home fellowships are often much better at doing this, but doesn’t that make my point? The Sunday services are not places where you can actually obey these biblical directives.

Also, isn’t it plain that the thing we call Communion or the Lord’s Supper was an actual meal in the New Testament? When you read it, do you see people assembling for a performance, and then ritually consuming a stale cracker and a thimble full of Welch’s?

It’s really beyond doubt. The first Lord’s Supper was administered at the annual Passover — an actual supper. The Apostle Paul’s scolding of the Corinthians shows us there were people who thought they were doing the Lord’s Supper who were drinking enough wine to get drunk and eating enough food to leave some others without any. (1 Cor 11:20-25)

How does this happen if we’re talking about a ceremony where the folks in charge hand you your tiny, individual portion?

I realize this is fearful territory to explore. We’ve got so much momentum behind us, being trained to do it the way we’ve always done it. However, we haven’t been called to safety.

Gordan Runyan is the pastor of Immanuel Baptist Church in Tucumcari. Contact him at:

[email protected]