Church Service

Ligonier Ministries asked Americans a practical question about worship. “Must churches provide entertaining worship services if they want to be effective?”

Frequent attendees of evangelical churches (monthly or more):

Strongly agree: 9%

Somewhat agree: 25%

Somewhat disagree: 25%

Strongly disagree: 39%

Infrequent attendees of evangelical churches (holidays only/rarely/never):

Strongly agree: 8%

Somewhat agree: 32%

Somewhat disagree: 27%

Strongly disagree: 29%

Millennial attendees of evangelical churches (ages 18 to 34)

Strongly agree: 11%

Somewhat agree: 29%

Somewhat disagree: 22%

Strongly disagree: 37%

Boomer attendees of evangelical churches (ages 50 to 64)

Strongly agree: 7%

Somewhat agree: 31%

Somewhat disagree: 22%

Strongly disagree: 37%

Remember when there were 144 time zones in the United States? Probably not, because Sandford Fleming, an engineer and railroad planner, proposed a global grid of time zones that was adopted as a standard by the railroads beginning in the 1880s. Or how about when there was only enough penicillin in the world to treat a few people at a time? That was solved by Margaret Hutchinson, a resourceful chemical engineer who in the 1940s developed a fermentation method to mass-produce the drug. In the mid-1700s an unknown captain in the French military noticed that his army's cannons, while useful for fortress defenses, were too heavy to transport easily. An army on the offensive, he reasoned, needed agility above all else. So during the Seven Years War he developed a model for a smaller, more agile cannon. Eventually France could boast that it had "the most effective artillery in Europe."

A book titled Applied Minds: How Engineers Think, argues that now much our lives depend on the often hidden, unappreciated work of engineers. There are engineers for microprocessors, computer code, pharmaceuticals, rockets, electrical systems—even engineers who focus on big systems made out of smaller systems, such as air-traffic control. Yet most engineers share a few common roles—they create structures so that we can understand a problem and its solution, and then they formulate the most effective application for a given situation.

Unfortunately, in today's world, innovators and "creatives" get most of the praise for their efforts. For instance, Alexander Fleming, the discoverer of penicillin, "received a statesman's funeral at St. Paul's Cathedral in London." He was hailed as a national hero. Margaret Hutchinson, who made the drug available to millions of people, died fairly anonymously on a winter's day in Massachusetts. But both of their roles were essential.

In “Embracing Obscurity” an anonymous author wrote:

One evening, while watering the garden, the sheer sacrifice of true service overwhelmed me. There amongst the tomatoes and parsley, I realized that most of my previous attempts at service were very much like the garden hose in my hand: I was in control, dictating how, when, and to whom I would serve. With my nifty sprayer, I could even stop the water altogether when I felt like it. The "flow" of Christ's love that I gave to others depended on my mood, the health of my career, and even how much sleep I got the night before. Mine was (and still often is) a self-righteous, self-gratifying service.

In contrast, I noticed a soaker hose in the planter across from me. It watered the ground completely indiscriminately. Dozens of holes let the water loose and had no shut-off switch. Life-giving water oozed out all over the place, like it or not! To serve like a soaker hose means to pour out Christ's love from every pore of our beings, not concerning ourselves with the timing, the effect it might have on our productivity, or the worthiness of the recipients. If God has "turned on the water" in our lives, filling us with his life-giving springs, why would we hold them back from anyone? For fear of running out? Doesn't he have an infinite supply of living water?

In Pixar's movie The Incredibles, superheroes have been forced into everyday life because of numerous lawsuits. This scene appears toward the end of the film, when a villain has unleashed an indestructible robot against the big city.

Frozone, a superhero capable of using the air around him to produce jets of snow and ice, is washing his face in front of a mirror when the giant robot rampages past his apartment window. After digging through a drawer, he pulls out a special remote and activates the hiding place of his superhero costume. But the costume is missing.

"Honey!" he cries, looking down the hall. "Where is my super suit?"

"What?" his wife answers, sounding somewhat guilty.

"Where is my super suit?" Frozone repeats as a helicopter crashes down behind him.

"I…uh…put it away," his wife calls back. "Why do you need to know?"

"I need it!" Frozone answers, beginning to search frantically around the room.

"Uh uh," his wife chides, "Don't you think about runnin' off to do no derring-do. We've been planning this dinner for two months."

"But the public is in danger!"

"My evening is in danger," his wife responds.

Unable to stand it any longer, Frozone bursts out: "You tell me where my suit is, woman! We are talking about the greater good."

"Greater good?" she replies. "I am your wife. I'm the greatest good you are ever gonna get!"

Sighing, Frozone slumps against a wall and shakes his head.

Elapsed time: DVD scene 26, 01:32:44 – 01:33:29

Content: Rated PG for action violence

My dentist is a member of my church. One of his employees has been considering coming to our church. She has no relationship with the Lord. She and her husband haven't been to church since they got married, and they're quite skeptical of Christianity. Last month they came to our Christmas Eve service bringing, for the first time in their lives, their six-year-old and two-year-old daughters.

Later as they were watching the evening news, they saw a feature on our church's Christmas Eve service. As soon as she saw it, the six-year-old daughter said, "Look, Mommy, there's our church." The impact you can have on kids, and the impact they in turn can have on their parents, is immeasurable.

A while ago it was announced that a church in [the Anglican bishop of London's] diocese, St. Mark's in Mayfair, was being declared "redundant," and that a secular use--probably a restaurant--was contemplated. The local well-heeled and highly articulate residents were appalled at this sacrilege, and they appealed to the bishop to stop it. His reply was suave and devastating: had they been in the habit of attending the church in question, the issue would never have arisen.