PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

Several Southern Baptist pastors in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, were getting pressure from
denominational officials about their worship style. They told me they had a praise band, lifted
their hands in worship, and had done away with the choir, the traditional pulpit and the
traditional organ. Because they were in the area where Jimmy Swaggart, a charismatic was
located, they were accused of becoming charismatic. But these Southern Baptist pastors had not
changed their theology only their worship methodology. As a result of this confusion, I no longer
called this worship style Charismatic Renewal, because many churches that are not charismatic in
theological expression were in fact Renewal in worship style.
I also had to change the name from Evangelical Bible Church to Bible Expositional
Church. When the phrase Evangelical is used, it identifies a certain theology that is usually
associated with the National Association of Evangelicals, Wheaton, Illinois. But I found certain
churches that were not theological aligned with Evangelicals, yet they were Bible Expositional
churches. So the name was changed to the descriptive title, the Bible Expositional Church which
reflected their form of pulpit communication.
The title Southern Baptist was changed to the Congregational Church. I found not all
Southern Baptist churches followed a congregational worship format, some are liturgical while
others like Charles Stanley have a Bible Expositional ministry. Also, many churches not
belonging to the Southern Baptist denomination in fact reflect their type of governments and
worship. Therefore, the name was changed to Congregational Churches to reflect their
methodology.
The title mainline churches was changed to Liturgical Churches. Whereas, many of the
mainline churches are liturgical in worship, also called the high church in government and
worship. But this title identified denominational lines, not worship methodology. The title was
changed to Liturgical Churches, which reflects a God-centered type of worship.
Today, when I teach the six expressions of worship to my students at Liberty Baptist
Theological Seminary (or other seminaries where I teach), I always ask the students three
questions: First, what was the type of worship in the church where you were converted? Then I
explain to the students that they will have certain assumptions about worship that they have
assimilated non-verbally. As a result, people who have been converted in an informal setting,
usually have a difficult time gravitating to a formal liturgical worship service. Sometimes,
people are critical of formal worship services, for no other reason than the way they were
nurtured spiritually. They don't like it because they do not understand it.
The second question I ask, "What is the type of worship in the church where you now
attend?" I want them to understand some of the reasons for the tensions they may have with their
present church. Because attitudes are picked up non-verbally, a person may have an allegiance
to a certain church worship type because they were converted in that type of church worship.
When people understand the reasons for their feelings, they can better deal with them.