PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

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workers, providing adequate facilities for growth, taking neighborhood census to find and enlist prospects, provide good Bible teaching and preaching, visiting prospects and absentees, and attempting to involve everyone in the total program of the church. Adherence to these principles has resulted in the significant growth of the Southern Baptist Convention in the Twentieth Century. Flake was so convince his program would work he claimed, Development in Sunday School growth is not confined to any particular locality or section of the country not to any special types of Sunday schools. Rural churches, town churches, and city churches, both in "downtown" and residential sections, can experience a material increase in enrolment and in attendance when right methods of Sunday School building are employed. 1 TAPPING IN<strong>TO</strong> THE STRENGTH OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH If the strength of the Congregational Church is people participation in ministry, all churches can tap into the strength of the Congregational Church by returning ministry to the people. In the pursuit of excellence in ministry, there has been a gradual shift in American churches from lay involvement to professional expertise in the conducting of ministry. This is widely perceived as necessary in some circles if the church is indeed going to achieve its goal of serving God with excellence. There is a way to achieve greater lay participation in ministry and still maintain a high level of excellence in the quality of church ministry. This involves using a gift-based strategy for enlisting workers for ministry. When people use their spiritual gifts in ministry, they are usually highly motivated and strive to do a much better job than might otherwise be expected. Indeed, excellence in ministry can be enhanced by enlisting gifted lay persons to serve in their area of expertise. In the past, enlisting workers tended to follow a certain pattern. First there was the list of jobs to be filled. Then there was the list of willing workers, or those who could be talked into being willing under the right circumstances. A young couple became the youth sponsor because they could relate to the youth. Mothers with young children were perceived to be the best nursery workers. The oldest deacon taught the adult Bible class. A gift-based enlistment strategy begins with the worker and then moves to ministry opportunities. Those who are gifted in evangelism are challenged to consider involvement in those ministries which tend to be evangelistic in ministry. Gifted shepherds are asked to consider leading Sunday School classes or small groups. Mercy showers are scattered throughout ministries to young children and seniors as well as shut-in and hospital visitation. Each person is given the opportunity to serve God in the areas in which God has uniquely gifted them. Under the old approach to enlistment, workers tended to serve out of a sense of duty and were often motivated by guilt. They worked hard to insure the job was done, but their heart was not always in ministry and some did not find personal fulfilment in its accomplishment. With the new approach to ministry, people serve God with the realization they are using the unique gifts
He has given them to accomplish what He wants them doing. As they see God accomplish things through their efforts, they sense personal fulfilment which continues to motivate them in ministry. Pastors using a gift-based approach to ministry tend to find people remain involved in ministry longer than under the previous system. There is of course a danger involved in gift-based ministry. What happens if church jobs remain unfilled? When that happens, it may mean one of two things. First, perhaps the job is really not necessary. When a church filled to find committee members for a church committee for two consecutive years, church leaders realized the committee had outlived its function. The second possibility is that a gifted member is hiding out in the church. As church members begin to understand the role of spiritual gifts in ministry, they will become more interested in discovering, developing and using their spiritual gift in ministry. A spiritual gift seminar or series of messages on different gifts by the pastor is often effective in helping Christians discover their spiritual gift and begin moving into significant ministries where they can serve God. SUMMARY As long as there have been people of God, there has been a Congregational Church. Sometimes it is called the low church in contrast to the Liturgical Church that we called the high church. At other times it was caled the informal church in contrast to the Liturgical Church that was called the formal church. The Congregational Church has been made up of Pilgrims, Puritans, Brethren and Mennonites. It has been called the Free Church in Scandinavia, the Anabaptist in the Netherlands, the Descenters in England, and the Huguenots in France, and the Brethren of the Common Life in Germany. The Congregational Church is simply the church of the people, by the people, and for the people. It is the people's church where they love God, serve God and worship God. And since God indwells the people, a Congregational Church is God's church.
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PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS By E
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INTRODUCTION Since this is a book a
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True worship involves change and it
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under Martin Luther was a reformati
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these names represented a sect, an
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A similar variety of consumer optio
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SIX WORSHIP STYLES 1. The Evangelis
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The pastors told me they had not ch
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The Liturgical Church eagerly carri
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The average Christian knows about a
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So, let's learn what we need to kno
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young people from my church were co
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Dallas taught me to preach differen
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would not preach boring Pentecostal
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The third question I ask my student
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CHAPTER THREE RESEARCH TO DETERMINE
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that no man could count, from every
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outwardly committed to the process
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2. Church Planting. At the beginnin
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METHODOLOGY APPLIED TO WORSHIP How
Page 41 and 42: CHAPTER FOUR WORSHIP WARS The churc
Page 43 and 44: The pastor liked the Bible Expositi
Page 45 and 46: Whether people disagree because of
Page 47 and 48: that help them cope with their prob
Page 49 and 50: society is apparently retreating fr
Page 51 and 52: 4. New worship forms have robbed th
Page 53 and 54: The ultimate question that some wou
Page 55 and 56: elationship with God we've been tal
Page 57 and 58: in evangelism are effective in maki
Page 59 and 60: soul-winning and reaching every ava
Page 61 and 62: have not been trained. Others fail
Page 63 and 64: While some expository preachers ten
Page 65 and 66: CHAPTER SEVEN THE RENEWAL CHURCH Ev
Page 67 and 68: demonstrated in that miracles are o
Page 69 and 70: most human needs can be met in a va
Page 71 and 72: musical instruments including piano
Page 73 and 74: ut the time is getting late. I thin
Page 75 and 76: pastor to emerge as a leader. Also,
Page 77 and 78: Church. This includes ministries su
Page 79 and 80: CHAPTER NINE THE LITURGICAL CHURCH
Page 81 and 82: the sanctuary and challenged the pe
Page 83 and 84: individuals. Those gifted in this m
Page 85 and 86: strengths of this worship style int
Page 87 and 88: CHAPTER TEN THE CONGREGATIONAL CHUR
Page 89 and 90: This view of the church and ministr
Page 91: THE STRENGTHS AND CONTRIBUTIONS OF
Page 95 and 96: The critical group usually attacks
Page 97 and 98: Therefore, the question becomes one
Page 99 and 100: However, this does not mean that ex
Page 101 and 102: experience. Those attending The Bib
Page 103 and 104: What are some changes in worship me
Page 105 and 106: 3. Recognize the strengths of the c
Page 107 and 108: THE FUTURE OF WORSHIP 1. A thirst f
Page 109 and 110: This involves kneeling at the altar
Page 111 and 112: Churches will use more video filmed
Page 113 and 114: The New Testament is different unli
Page 115 and 116: ADMINISTRATION, GIFT OF APPENDIX ON
Page 117 and 118: areas. 4. Bridging - growth of the
Page 119 and 120: fellowship of a local church. Those
Page 121 and 122: RENEWAL CHURCH A unique worship sty
Page 123 and 124: of the relationship between worship
Page 125 and 126: The Use of Proskuneo in the New Tes
Page 127 and 128: APPENDIX THREE CHRISTIAN LEADERS ON
Page 129 and 130: Worship is the exercise of the mind
Page 131 and 132: Dawn, Marva. Reaching Out Without D
Page 133 and 134: Morgenthaller, Sally. Worship Evang
Page 135: Sermons on worship from various 19t
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PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

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