PUTTING AN END TO WORSHIP WARS - Elmer Towns

Therefore, the question becomes one of personal perspective. I should not measure the
worship of others to determine how close they are to God, or how close they are to me, or even if
I think they are doing it right. I should be concerned with my own spiritual growth. Is Christ real
to me? Am I magnifying God in my worship? How can I get closer to Him?
4. The strength that characterizes each worship expression are also found in the other
expressions. Those who worship God in The Evangelistic Church, tend to think they are the
most effective soul-winners because they may have an evangelistic outreach visitation program
every week, or they may have soul-winning training for their lay people, and the sermons end
with the gospel invitation where people may be invited to come forward to pray to receive Christ.
Some in The Evangelistic Church tend to think that other churches are not as spiritual as they,
because they do not focus on soul-winning. The problem with this attitude, is that they elevate
themselves by minimizing the contribution of others or even negate the contribution of others.
The answer is that a quality of worship can be found in the other churches, i.e. all six
worship paradigms. Just as no man is an island to himself, no worship expression has an
exclusive handle on its strength. As an illustration, if a church sings the content of the gospel,
preaches the Word of God and honestly prays, they will have some evangelistic outreach. While
evangelistic outreach may not be the primary factor in a specific church, it does not mean that
there is no evangelism in that church. Wherever the Word of God is communicated to the hearts
of unsaved people; whether in a Bible Expositional message, a renewal message of motivation,
or in the devotional sermon of The Liturgical Church; the unsaved person can see his sin,
understand that Jesus died for his sin, and accept God's forgiveness in His Son Jesus Christ.
Each of the six worship styles has a dominant contribution to make to its worshippers,
and to some degree or another, the qualities of that contribution are found in the other churches.
(1) The Evangelistic Church, getting people saved, (2) The Bible Expositional Church, getting
people taught the Word of God, (3) The Renewal Church, motivating people to holiness and
obedience, (4) The Body Life Church, finding meaning through significant relationships, (5) The
Liturgical Church, magnifying God in atmospheric worship, and (6) The Congregational Church,
involving members in the local body of Christ.
As we view the above six contributions of the different worship styles, obviously the
main contribution of each is also found in the other five worship forms. Probably, all New
Testament churches have some manifestation of these strengths somewhere in its life and
ministry.
So the question is not what church is right, or which church is better; the question is
which church better meets your need, and which church can help you best expresses your
worship to God?
5. No one worship experience has a corner on the market to the exclusion of the
other worship expressions. The problem with this view is that people worship God differently in
scripture. Isaiah saw the Lord, high and lifted up and was broken; "woe is me" (Isaiah 6:5). God
met Jeremiah and had to build up the timid prophet's self-esteem (Jeremiah 1:4-10). Paul was