How can we discern if a church is healthy? Do we measure a church’s health by the attendance, the state of the finances, the number of conversions, or how big the youth group is? Each of those metrics tells a story and together they may give some indication of a church’s health. However, numbers don’t tell the whole story and growth is not the same thing as health. Weeds grow in the garden and tumors grow in the body; neither of those are healthy growth. There are large and wealthy churches that are not necessarily healthy and there are churches that are relatively small and have a minimal budget that are quite healthy. If the size and budget of a church don’t convey the whole story, then how does one gauge the health of any particular congregation?
This is where the seven pairs of distinctives, or distinguishing marks, of the GRN come in handy. We believe that an unwavering commitment to these distinctives will help “cultivate healthy Reformed churches in the PCA.” In this article we will briefly discuss the sixth pair of distinctives: Reformed Worship & Vibrant Community.
What Is Worship?
To worship something is to give our devotion and love to that object. When I lived in the mountains of Western North Carolina I would often go trail running. I loved to be outside and enjoyed the solitude of the trails. I appreciated the goodness of God’s beautiful creation and often stopped during my runs to admire the beauty and give thanks to God. There were other people out on the trails as well, but they were not interested in giving their devotion to God. They worshipped the creation itself. This was epitomized in a bumper sticker I saw in the parking lot that read, “I worship the dirt.” We were made to worship God but because of sin many people worship and serve “the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever!” (Rom. 1:25)
As Christians we direct our worship to the Triune God of grace and glory. When we worship him we ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name (Ps. 29:2) and we praise him for such a great salvation (Heb. 2:3). Worship is acknowledging that “there is a God, who has lordship and sovereignty over all, is good, and does good unto all, and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart, and with all the soul, and with all the might” (WCF 21.1). There are many verbs in Scripture that describe what worship looks like. When we worship God we bless, praise, magnify, exalt, thank, glorify, serve, sing, bow down, declare, rejoice, draw near, and delight.
But what do we mean by “Reformed” worship? It is worship that is reformed according to Scripture. The leaders of the Protestant Reformation recognized that the worship of God prescribed by the Roman Catholic Church was at odds with the plain teaching of Scripture and therefore sought to reform worship according to the express commands of God. John Calvin addressed this very issue in his work The Necessity of Reforming the Church. Calvin writes, “God disapproves of all modes of worship not expressly sanctioned by his Word…God not only regards as fruitless, but also plainly abominates, whatever we undertake from zeal to his worship, if at variance with his command.” So when we say that we are committed to Reformed worship we mean that worship must be regulated by the express commands of God contained in his Word.
Some may object and claim that this definition of Reformed worship is too restrictive. On the contrary, Scripture regulated worship is actually the most liberating, for when we worship according to God’s prescriptions we are freed from the tyranny of those who would seek to bind our consciences with extra-biblical requirements.
What Does Reformed Worship Look Like?
Well, on the one hand our attitude in worship must be one of reverence and awe (Heb. 12:28). When we gather for worship we come into the presence of the King of Glory and we must remember our place before him. We dare not come with a flippant or overly familiar posture lest we lose sight of the transcendence of God. At the same time, we worship with joy in our hearts for Jesus Christ has broken sin’s chains and set our hearts at liberty. This means that it is okay to smile when we come to church! Reverence, awe, and joy go together.
What about the elements of Reformed worship (i.e. what a worship service is composed of)? I remember hearing Ligon Duncan summarize it like this: Read the Bible, Preach the Bible, Sing the Bible, Pray the Bible, See the Bible. The common thread here is the Bible. Reformed worship is Bible-saturated worship. When we gather for public worship we must read God’s Word for the reading of God’s Word is a means of grace. “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture” (1 Tim. 4:13). The Westminster Larger Catechism reminds us that the “Spirit of God maketh the reading…an effectual means of enlightening, convincing, and humbling sinners.”
Alongside the reading of the Word is the preaching of the Word. “Preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort, with complete patience and teaching.” Reformed worship values the faithful exposition of Scripture that “informs the mind, transforms the heart, and stirs the affections” (taken from Distinctive #3). When the minister stands before the gathered congregation it is his primary objective to open up what is in the text, explaining and applying the text for the spiritual edification of the hearers.
God’s people must also sing the Bible when we assemble for worship. Singing is a vital element of worship and the Bible gives us many commands to sing the praise of our great God as well as examples of song. When we say “sing the Bible” we mean at least two things: first, we need to sing Scripture songs, especially the Psalms. When we neglect to sing the Psalms in corporate worship we deprive ourselves of God’s inspired songbook. Second, singing the Bible means that the hymns we sing must be rich with biblical truth.
Praying the Bible is another necessary element of Reformed worship. Too many prayers offered in worship are anemic because they repeat the same worn-out phrases and lack the robust language of Scripture. Pastors and elders who lead in public prayer need to take the promises of God’s Word and turn them into prayers.
Finally, Reformed worship is committed to seeing the Bible through the right administration of the sacraments. Baptism and the Lord’s Supper are signs and seals of the covenant of grace and act as “visible words” (to use Augustine’s language). As signs the sacraments point us to Christ crucified and risen. As seals they confirm our interest in him and engage us to be the Lord’s.
What Is A Vibrant Community?
The second aspect of this sixth pair of distinctives is Vibrant Community. The word vibrant means “full of energy and enthusiasm.” So when we think about the church as a vibrant community it is one that is full of life and service. A vibrant community of believers is committed to serving one another in love and reaching out to others with the love of Christ. I wonder, does that describe your church?
Why are these two, “Reformed Worship and Vibrant Community” coupled together? There are at least two reasons. First, Reformed worship takes place in the context of the gathered church. There are no “Lone Ranger” Christians; we must each be a part of a community of believers. We are called to assemble ourselves together for the purpose of worship. Second, Reformed worship fosters a vibrant community of believers that serve and love one another. As we hear the Word preached together we are being transformed together and we grow together. This gives the “one another” commands in the NT epistles their significance. It’s hard to “love one another” and “encourage one another” if we are not part of a community of “others.”
Reformed worship and vibrant community come together most clearly on the Lord’s Day. Perhaps the clearest way to gauge a church’s health is to discover its theology of the Lord’s Day. Do we treat Sunday as the equivalent of Saturday but with church in the morning? Or is the whole day set apart for worship, holy rest (the adjective is important), and fellowship with God’s people? The Lord’s Day is God’s gift to his people for our spiritual refreshment and renewal.
Thomas Watson described the Lord’s Day like this: “When the falling dust of this world has clogged the wheels of our affections, that they can scarce move towards God, the Sabbath comes, and oils the wheels of our affections, and they move swiftly on…The heart, which all the week was frozen, on the Sabbath melts with the word.” Are you taking advantage of this marvelous gift? If you desire to see healthy Reformed churches in the PCA then let me encourage you to make good use of the Lord’s Day as you gather for Reformed worship and participate in a vibrant community of believers.
