Global Methodist Church Catechism: Why worship is essential to the life of the church
Each week we will explore a question and answer summary of our faith from the Global Methodist Church called the Catechism.
Question: Why is worship essential to the life of the church?
Answer: The assembling of the Gods people for worship is necessary to Christian fellowship and spiritual growth (Romans 1:11-12)
Prayer: Blessed are you, Lord our God, King of the Universe. Who in your mercy has made a way for us to be encouraged and stable for the glory of your Kingdom.
“Pastor, God can be worshipped anywhere.” I remember hearing these words very early in my teaching career in a discussion about worship during a passing period. “I can worship God in my house, hunting, etc. A Christian doesn’t need to be in a church, no more than a car needs to be in a garage to be a car. I thought about what he said, because it did have some merit. I responded with “No, a car doesn’t need a garage to be a car, but if you never get the engine checked once in a while, the car will never go anywhere.”
The Global Methodist Church makes the bold claim that group worship on Sundays is necessary to Christian fellowship and development. Why is this the case? Once again, the Bible gives a clue.
Worship is Stability: Paul writes that he longed to see the Roman church “to impart a spiritual gift, to strengthen them”(cf Romans 1:11). This is remarkable insight! Paul really believed that presence gave believers strength more than anything he said or did. Remember, Paul writes that “Fruit of the Spirit” is not material but mental such as patience, gentleness, self control (cf Galatians 5:22-23). Therefore, Paul is telling the Roman church that being around a teacher in the faith is what helps them get better mentally as believers. In my own life, I tend to gravitate towards teachers in the faith that strengthen my faith for the long term. In using the above analogy about cars in the garage: Christians will never get better as believers if they stay away from worship, because the Bible supports being around other believers to have the strength to be a better one. Hebrews 10:23-25 supports this, saying that in meeting together Christians are “provoked to good deeds” before even one note of worship is played! We need people to keep our faith stable when the waves of life crash on our choices and disrupt our routine.
Worship is encouragement: Paul writes that he wants to come to the Roman church so he might be encouraged also by the mutual faith in Christ shared between the Roman church and Paul. I hear this as a Pastor all the time. At our combined service yesterday for All Saints Day, all I heard afterwards was “look at all these people who have the same faith in Christ as I do!” Like the Roman church, they know they can’t always stay together, but they know that now that they have seen other Christians, they know they aren’t alone. I got the same feeling at the Eastern Texas Global Methodist Church Annual Conference in College Station last July. At one point, I wasn’t aware of the why we met, all that mattered was the what. We were worshipping the Lord together (with a very loud 1,000 plus people singing along the bridge “Great are you Lord”). Whats more, a generous cameraman for the Conference got a picture of my own family worshipping together. Hear me clearly, it wasn’t the style of the music that encouraged my faith. It was the realization that when we go back to First Methodist-Mineola, we can continue to know as a family and I as a Pastor, that we are not alone! There are others with faith in Christ, just like mine!
Let me encourage you today. If you do not have a church home, you need to join one. Because a stable, encouraging group of believers did wonders for Paul and the Roman church. Such believers have done wondrous things for Christ because of worship for centuries. May Christ provide stability and encouragement again in His church today. In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Amen.
