Rev Rob Frost: Never on a Sunday...

I've become increasingly dissatisfied with the dry institutional deadness of much of what I see on offer in my local church each Sunday.

|PIC1|But I've also become more and more intolerant of the noisy unstructured mayhem which passes for worship in many 'renewed' churches.

I've been wondering if it's some kind of mid-life Christian crisis, or if it's something to do with my own development as a Christian.

Strangely enough, however, the more I've mentioned it to my Christian friends the more concerned I've become. It seems that a lot of Christians are feeling just the same as me.

Many twentieth century Christians look back to the hymns of Wesley, the gospel songs of Sankey, the brass bands of Booth, or the praise music of Kendrick as their 'definitive' experience of worship. But none of these niche worship cultures seem to meet my need.

Some say that true worship is only to be found at Spring Harvest, Stoneleigh or Easter People. I believe, however, that the church of the new millennium needs to draw from a much wider spectrum of worship resources. I've come to the conclusion that it would be all the richer if it could tap into a much more diverse range of traditions.

Post modernism is all about a re-discovery of roots, and I believe that the church needs to come to appreciate the richness of its heritage and to connect with the mystery of its ancient worship culture. I'm anticipating that the coming years will see a growth of interest in traditional liturgy, ancient prayers, the beauty of silence and the flickering aura of candlelight.

Dr. Eddie Gibbs formerly a lecturer in church planting at the Fuller School of World Mission, has returned to pastoral ministry as a curate in the parish with the world's most salubrious post-code, Beverley Hills 902101. He points out that his parishioners, who are the stars of the movie industry and the culture shapers of America, are looking for spiritual roots and for time to reflect and be still.

|TOP|Gibbs questions whether much of our busy contemporary worship is relevant to the newly emerging post-modern culture. The church of the new millennium will recognise that its worship must be closely connected to the rich and diverse heritage of its ancient past.

A church without a sense of the past has no roots. Though I acknowledge that it can't live on tradition and it won't survive if it lets the past dominate. The church's rich heritage of liturgy needs to be re-discovered with its oft-repeated words full of meaning.

Those who believe that the worship band and the five-line chorus are the definitive form of contemporary worship should beware. Our world is changing fast, and the day is not far distant when the worship group will seem as culturally peculiar as the brass band.

As I look to the future of worship in the U.K. I'm convinced that we need to re-discover the lost art of 'practising the presence of God'. We must find a new awareness of the Holy and come to prayer with a new hunger for the Living God. We must learn how to pray with mind and spirit and echo Paul's experience when he wrote:

|AD|"What should I do, then? I will pray with my spirit, but I will also pray with my mind."(1 Cor.14v15). Worship must both renew and transform.

The bottom line is that true worship must spring from our innermost being, not hindered by personal circumstances, mood swings or spiritual lows. It can't be stimulated by 'mood enhancing' tapes.

We must learn how to worship through tears of sadness and from the anguish of suffering... so that nothing will prevent us from giving our 'sacrifice of praise'. It certainly shouldn't depend on the lyrics of the latest worship guru!

The church of the new millennium must begin to teach that the whole of life is worship, not just an hour on Sundays. There can be no great divide between sacred and secular, Sunday and Monday. All that God's people are, all that they do, and all that they have must become their daily offering of worship.

Worship is all about shopping in the supermarket and driving on congested roads. It flows from good family relationships and from caring for awkward colleagues. It comes out of the frustration of difficult work and the joy of a job well done. It celebrates the presence of God in the nitty-gritty of everyday routine. True worship is true life itself.

"Everything you do or say, then" wrote Paul "should be done in the name of the Lord Jesus, as you give thanks through him to God the Father." (Col 3v17).

The quality of our worship must flow from the quality of our lives. Worship must be what we take to church, not what we go to receive. It must become a lifestyle of sacrifice not an opportunity to get blessed.



[Rev Dr Rob Frost is the Director of Share Jesus international, a mission agency serving seven Christian denominations. He is the leader of Easter People and presents the Sunday Breakfast show on Premier Radio from 8-10am. More on his work can be found at www.sharejesusinternational.com]