“A recent visit to what I suppose to be an ordinary, middle-of-the-road, mid-sized Southern Baptist church stunned me, though it shouldn’t have—I should have known better. What I encountered (they used the word “encounter” a lot) was arguably not a Christian worship service. So what was it?…
The bottom line: I believe the service had less bible truth, less prayer, less reverence, lower musical quality, and less congregational participation than evangelical-SBC services of earlier generations. Commendably, the service avoided Second Commandment violations and did not use video clips, skits, or props.
We in the P&R world talk a lot about the ordinary means of grace, which prioritize the biblical truth-saturated Lord’s Day worship services of the local church. It’s worth remembering (and this is nothing new) that evangelical and SBC churches often consider small groups, Sunday School classes, midweek activities, or personal devotional times as being of equal or near-equal importance with the Sunday worship service(s) of the church.”
Brad Isbell, Contemporary question: Is it worship?
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