PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

potentially dangerous and motivating others in the Christian life and ministry. Those gifted in
exhortation usually develop simple strategies to accomplish goals and effectively encourage and
motivate others to remain faithful in their service for God.
In many respects, the Renewal Church is the church that meets the special empirical
needs of the Baby Boomer. This generation has had a strong tendency toward experience and
relationship. The Renewal Church invites Boomers and others to experience God in worship and
deepen their relationship with God and others. As Boomers have begun returning to church,
many renewal churches have experienced significant growth. As a result, many Renewal Church
pastors and worship leaders have become leading spokesmen for this movement and are
becoming better known in Christian circles. Some of the current leaders within the Renewal
Church movement include Jack Hayford, John Wimber, Graham Kendrick, and John Arnett.
Although these men differ slightly in theology and approach to ministry, they are all involved in
Renewal Church type ministries which emphasize experiencing God through corporate worship.
Others in this movement are known more for the songs they have written than the sermons they
preach. These include a growing number of singer/songwriters associated with various recording
labels including Hosanna/Integrity Music and Maranatha! Music.
THE STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF THE RENEWAL
CHURCH
The strength of the Renewal Church is its emphasis on worship in song and the use of
new music for a new generation of worshippers. Much which has been written on worship
historically has been written from a liturgical perspective. Real worship was generally
considered "high church" and what evangelicals did was generally considered a poor substitute.
The Renewal Church movement has given high profile to an alternative approach to liturgical
worship which is apparently effective in bringing people into a deep reverence for God. In doing
so, this movement has encouraged other non-liturgical worship styles to renew their focus on the
worship of God in the Sunday worship service.
Christianity is concerned not only with the end (worship experience and transformed life)
but also with the means to an end (method of worship). There are Scriptural patterns for both the
manner and instruments of worship. Some organizations claim they worship God, but apart from
the New Testament means of worship. Among the most common method by which believers
worship God corporately is the Sunday morning worship service.
One leader in the Renewal Church movement claims, "A worship service is convened (1)
to serve God with our praise and (2) to serve people's need with His sufficiency." 1 In the worship
service, we first serve God through our worship and praise of Him. This involves assembling
together (Heb. 10:25), singing unto the Lord (Ps. 96:1) and continuing in prayer, sharing and the
apostle's doctrine (Acts 2:42). This was the essence of the worship service of the early church.
Worship not only serves God, it also meets the needs of those who worship. This is due
to the nature of worship in that it invites the very presence of God in the midst of the
worshipping body. "You are holy, who inhabit the praises of Israel" (Ps. 22:3 NKJV). Although