After a short trip through Africa, our truck stopped at a chapel to provide ecclesiastical services in Choma, Zambia. He was delighted to love brothers and sisters from all over the world and was eager to see what it would be like. Would the liturgy be what I’m used to, could you worship with them?
At the beginning of the service, the pulpit men began to play bongos and the whole room danced where they were. Around me burst pleasant cries of praise as the pace progressed. Then I heard the most beautiful congregational song I’ve ever known. The voices echoed in unonuming and the sweet words pointed my eyes at the cross. After singing, someone took us to prayer and we heard the Word of God preached. It was a commendable experience.
- In many ways.
- It’s different from what I was used to.
- But it was also quite similar.
- And I suspect it also resembles the liturgy of your church.
- The fact that churches in different parts of the world are so similar and yet so different is what we should expect when the gospel is proclaimed in different places.
- There is a diverse and glorious resemblance.
- And we shouldn’t settle for less.
The regulatory principle is the belief that everything we do in collective worship must be based on the scriptures, either in direct order or in participation. As the above examples show us, when we anchor ourselves in God’s revealed truth, will there be any similarity to our ecclesiastical encounters, even when the church is on the other side of the world.
Each Christian church, regardless of location or affiliation, has received the same New Testament. There are some areas of collective worship where the scriptures have not given us any instruction, but there are many other important areas where the scriptures have spoken clearly and we must take note of them.
First, the substance or content of our church meetings must be the same. The good news that Christ is dead, buried, and risen is the message we must proclaim. This must be our confidence when we pray, it must be celebrated when we sing, it must be clear when we preach and administer the sacraments. While there should be great diversity in our styles of worship, there should be no diversity in our message.
Second, the elements or different components of our church meetings must be the same. These elements are preaching, praise, prayer, scripture reading, tithing, and offerings and sacraments. Our God not only cares that we worship Him, but also cares about how to worship Him.
Of course, we must offer our whole lives as worship of the Lord, but when we meet, as we are commanded to do, we must anchor ourselves in the elements god has given us in His Word. It’s not a burden that restricts us, but a relief that frees us. We are free to worship according to God’s means rather than human pleasure. This resemblance unies us to churches around the world. But how should we all be?
One of the criticisms of the principle of regulation is that it does not allow a great diversity between the churches. Some argue that the principle of regulation produces only one type of church and that if we adhere to it, our churches will look exactly the same. Disagree.
When I loved the church in Zambia, I was surprised by all the similarities and differences I noticed, but I was also able to talk about the time I spent in Grand Cayman, where I sang with a diverse congregation as they sang family songs to the rhythm of Then, their pastor delivered a heartbreaking exhibition that exalted Christ as the Lord of everything.
Or how about we talked about my old church in New Philadelphia, where all aspects of the service were saturated with gospel and the atmosphere was celebration and expression. With their arm in the air, a group of six talented musicians played and members responded verbally to the word preached.
These two atmospheres are quite different from my current church, where the music is much simpler and quieter, the prayers are longer and there is little vocal interaction during the service. Instead, the congregation sits silently as the almighty Word of God is read. aloud and proclaimed.
The church worship meetings I mentioned are quite similar, but very different. They faithfully obey God’s clear commandments in the scriptures to sing the word, pray the word, and preach the word. But how can you argue about my identical descriptions?And I don’t think they should be. We must praise God for this and pray for more.
While our churches should not innovate in the content or components of our services, how we handle these things, on some level, it’s up to us. Do the scriptures give us substance? And “elements,” but within the secure biblical perimeter, the shapes are flexible.
Then we can sing ancient hymns or contemporary repetitive songs. You can pray for an hour or five minutes. You can preach quietly and as a conference or you can preach aloud, with a melodic climax at the end. Can church members scream every week or every month?Hallelujah? During the sermon or simply in a quiet form of “um-hum”. And, of course, there are unimportant circumstances like newsletters and accents. You can sit on chairs or benches and read the lyrics in a brochure or put on screen.
You got it. We should not think that the normative principle calls our churches to be uniform in all aspects, we can be faithful to the Word of God without exactly the same appearance.
My heart would break if I visited a church in China and the worship meeting was exactly like my church in Washington, DC One of the glories of the gospel is that it penetrates all nations, tribes, languages, and cultures.
Sometimes we may be tempted to force others to choose our form. No church exists outside the context, so we should not assume that our form is form. This cultural snobism assumes that our cultural norms attract God more than others. do what works for people in our context. Yes, loving contextualization compromises us, but being indifferent to personal needs is a danger in itself. Our God has created several people and any attempt to erase this diversity is at odds with his wise project.
This diverse resemblance we must experience now is more valuable than we sometimes recognize; Reminds us that God’s saving grace is not accepted; it is the shadow of this encounter of eternal worship that we desire; and it is proof that God takes his Promise to gather for Himself a people of every tribe, nation, and tongue. Amen.
Translation: Matheus Fernandes Review: William Teixeira © 2016 Faithful Ministério All rights reserved. Website: MinistryFiel. com. br. Original: The regulatory principle of worship?The church cult?
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