The purpose of our worship service

We are working on some documents to clarify our team work on the worship service. I'm open to your thoughts on the following draft:

The purpose of worship at Connections:

“To create an environment where God is Glorified through the proclamation of the gospel, primarily in the message, music and media, in such a manner that every possible road-block to the gospel is removed.”

(The gospel means “good news” and is biblically defined as the life saving message that Jesus is the Christ and that in Him we have eternal life.)

Worship at Connections is to be conducted in such a way that people who have never been in a worship service, or who are skeptical about the church, will clearly hear the gospel. Practically speaking, this means evaluating our service through the eyes of the first time visitor and persons who have yet to believe in Jesus. It means removing all obstacles to the gospel while presenting the gospel ever more clearly.

The person who comes to worship for the first time most likely:

• Is worried that they won’t understand what unfolds.
• Doesn’t want to be singled out, but longs to be welcomed.
• Has no idea what worship music is, but knows a lot about popular culture.
• Knows that churches collect money, but has no intention to give.
• Doesn’t want to be yelled at by the preacher.

When we look out at the people who come to worship let’s remind ourselves of the following:

• Everybody needs to be loved.
• Everybody needs purpose.
• Everybody needs forgiveness.
• Everybody wonders about death.
• Many people are filled with guilt.
• Many are consumed with bitterness.
• EVERYBODY NEEDS JESUS!