Worship is about individuals experiencing God while gathered as a group. Most people have been trained and conditioned to experience God through a group of sacred rituals that have become community traditions that are directly related to their culture. When rituals, culture, and traditions become more important to the community rather than experiencing the presence, power and protection of the Lord we find churches that are unresponsive to the ever changing needs of the community around them.
Corporate worship has four basic elements. Prayer, group singing, scripture reading and the sermon are the essentials of worship. I believe every sermon demands a response but other than it does not matter where the flowers are placed, the style of music, whether the pastor has on a robe or not or if the worship leaders do everything just right.
God is looking for true worshippers not true traditionalist.
Advocate for True Worship (ATW)
Rev William T Chaney Jr
Senior Servant Leader
West Baltimore UMC
Monday, July 24, 2006
Thursday, July 20, 2006
Is there Hope
Is there Hope!
How is the church to be an oasis of hope in a world of such hopelessness? There is war in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Israel, Genocide in Rwanda, Dakar and in the Sudan. Worldwide hunger, poverty and HIV/Aids are rising rather than declining. The abuse of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and global warming seem to be overwhelming to the people who congregate weekly and believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Churches seem to caught up in the latest worship and the hot new slogans but rarely in engaging the real world. People all around us are trying to cope with the lack of adequate healthcare, rising old prices, violence in our streets and the church seems to be hiding their heads like turtles in their shell. What can the church do to turn this travesty around?
Churches must begin to equip their people to live lives of significance. When the people of the church begin to realize that they are important to the ecology of hope vs hopelessness then the balance will change.
sig·nif·i·cance n. – The quality of being important
If every church adopted on social issue to tackle that was important to their community most communities would improve the quality of life for their community with a mighty impact. Drug dealers would be scared out of business, domestic violence would cease, obesity would get a run for its money.
As long as churches are content to worship and are not willing to engage the community we will continue to experience the decline in mainline churches and the pimping of men and women intoxicated with the prosperity gospel.
There is hope – Search for your personal significance.
Creating an Oasis of Hope
Pastor William T Chaney Jr
Senior Servant Leader
West Baltimore UMC
How is the church to be an oasis of hope in a world of such hopelessness? There is war in Iraq, Lebanon, Afghanistan and Israel, Genocide in Rwanda, Dakar and in the Sudan. Worldwide hunger, poverty and HIV/Aids are rising rather than declining. The abuse of women’s rights in Saudi Arabia and global warming seem to be overwhelming to the people who congregate weekly and believe that Jesus Christ is the Savior.
Churches seem to caught up in the latest worship and the hot new slogans but rarely in engaging the real world. People all around us are trying to cope with the lack of adequate healthcare, rising old prices, violence in our streets and the church seems to be hiding their heads like turtles in their shell. What can the church do to turn this travesty around?
Churches must begin to equip their people to live lives of significance. When the people of the church begin to realize that they are important to the ecology of hope vs hopelessness then the balance will change.
sig·nif·i·cance n. – The quality of being important
If every church adopted on social issue to tackle that was important to their community most communities would improve the quality of life for their community with a mighty impact. Drug dealers would be scared out of business, domestic violence would cease, obesity would get a run for its money.
As long as churches are content to worship and are not willing to engage the community we will continue to experience the decline in mainline churches and the pimping of men and women intoxicated with the prosperity gospel.
There is hope – Search for your personal significance.
Creating an Oasis of Hope
Pastor William T Chaney Jr
Senior Servant Leader
West Baltimore UMC
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