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I am not sure how the hour from 11:00-12:00 on Sunday morning (or whenever you “go to church”) became known as “The Church Service.”

Probably, the term is too ingrained in our church culture to change it.

Nevertheless, “the church service” is one of the most tragic misnomers of Christianity.

No Service in the Church Service

First of all, little actual service takes place in the church service. If we define service as “using your spiritual gifts to edify and meet the needs of others, then on Sunday morning during the church service, only the Sunday school teachers, the ushers, the music team, the pastor, and a few others are “serving.”

I suppose one could make an argument that putting money in the offering plate is “serving” and in some sense, simply showing up is an encouragement to the pastor, but is this really what is meant by “Christian service”?

Limited “Service Times”

Second, it is tragic that we have segmented off an hour or two of our week and called it the “Service Time.” Check most church websites and bulletins, and they have their “Services Times” listed. The implication is that if you show up at one of these times, you are involved in Christian service. And if you ask most Christians what they do in their “Service time” they will talk about praying, singing, and listening t0 someone teach them from the Bible. Is this really service?

Somehow, we need a radical shift in how we schedule our church functions and programs. We need to have actual “Service times” where we get together and go help someone in our church or in our community. Mow lawns, feed the hungry, help single mothers with their kids. Then, we can come together as Christians for times of celebration, prayer, and teaching, but we probably shouldn’t call such times “service.”

You probably aren’t going to get your church to change any of this, but how about you personally? How can you put the service back in “church service“?

2013 Note: This post was from 2007. Since then, I came out with a book titled, Put Service Back into the Church Service, which fleshes out in more detail some of what I wrote about in this post, and suggests some concrete ideas for how to put actual service back into the church service.

Tag, You’re It!

By Jeremy Myers

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Daniel over at Messy Pastor tagged me to reveal seven things about myself that not many people know. That’s a creative idea, so here we go:

1. I am a cat lover, and can’t stand dogs unless they act like cats (small, sit on your lap, don’t bark…). Sadly, I don’t have a cat right now…we had to leave him in Montana when we moved to Texas three years ago.

2. I am addicted to books. Not reading them…just buying them. I love to read too, but I buy three times as many books as I read. It’s out of control.

3. I deleted this one, because I don’t want people to know this fact about me. And besides, it’s not true any more.

4. I am a lifelong Oakland Raiders fan, but don’t admit it much recently.

5. I have watched “The Matrix” about 60 times since it came out. I could write a book about “The Gospel in the Matrix.” One day I probably will lead lead a “movie Bible study” and begin with “The Matrix.”

6. I’m going to ditto Daniel on #6: I can’t stand self-righteous or legalistic Christians.

7. I grew up in a family of ten kids. Yep. I am second oldest. You can see how crazy my family is over at tenarrows.blogspot.com.

My Wife Knows Jesus

By Jeremy Myers

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From time to time, all Christians struggle with how to know God more intimately. Depending on where you go and who you listen to, there are many different ideas on how to get to know Jesus better. Some say you need to study your Bible more, attend church more, have daily devotions more, pray more, or other such things.

One popular recommendation of getting to know Jesus is through speaking in tongues. Here is something that happened to my wife recently on this topic and what she learned about getting to know Jesus.

Will Speaking in Tongues help you Know Jesus?

There is a wide segment of Christianity which says that if you really want to know Jesus and experience Him, you need to speak in tongues, dream dreams, and have visions. The chills and the thrills prove that God really cares about you.

My wife has some friends who have been telling her this very thing. They are some of the most Godly women we have ever known, and I do not doubt their sincerity, or their genuine love for God and desire to be used by Him. But Wendy started to get confused because some of them were implying that Wendy was missing out on all that God had for her, and that if she really wanted to know Jesus, experience God, and have the close, intimate relationship with God that they did, she would have to pray for God to give to her all that He had for her (i.e., tongues).

She and I talked some about this.

Following Jesus Daily

Finally, I told her to keep praying and seeking God’s face in Scripture, and see what He reveals.

A few days later, she called me at work. She was so excited. She realized that knowing Christ intimately is not found only in “knowing Scripture” but in going along with Jesus in what He is doing in your day. As you read the Gospels, the disciples just followed Him around, listening to His teaching, observing what He was doing, and then helping out where they could. So Wendy set out to do the same thing.

Buying Bears with Jesus

Three days later, she was in our local supermarket. As she pushed her cart around, she noticed a little girl asking an older man, probably her grandfather, for a stuffed bear. The grandfather responded a little gruffly, “I told you No! Put it back.” The little girl obeyed and little reluctantly, and as they walked away, kept glancing back over her shoulder at the bear.

Wendy thought, “I wonder if I should buy that bear for that girl.” She walked over to the bear and looked at the price. It was only $4.99. But she thought, “She probably has many toys at home, and all little girls like stuffed animals. What does she need one more for?” So Wendy walked away.

But she couldn’t shake the idea, and just as she was about to check out, she saw the grandfather and little girl headed toward the check out line as well. So Wendy grabbed the bear, and bought it with her other groceries. Then she went over to the grandfather and introduced herself and explained that she had saw the girl ask for the bear, and had overheard him tell her no. “God has been so generous with us, and I really felt God wanted me to buy this bear for her. I hope that is okay.”

Wendy said that the man’s face, which seemed to be somewhat angry and worried, melted into joy and disbelief. He said, “This is my granddaughter. She wanted the bear for her mother, my daughter, who is in the hospital. When we got here, I told her she could either buy flowers or a stuffed animal for her mother. She chose flowers first, but then wanted the bear as well, so that her mother would have a friend tomorrow after the surgery. You have made her very happy. Thank you.”

Indeed, the little girl was beaming and hugging the bear.

This is my wife…the close friend of Jesus.

The Love of Jesus

Tonight, with Thanksgiving coming up, she is taking a Pumpkin Pie over to our neighbors. We have been trying to develop a relationship with them, which has been difficult since they don’t speak English very well and we don’t speak Spanish. Wendy had been giving free English tutoring to their girls on Thursday nights. Anyway, they have never had a pumpkin pie before, so she made one for them. It is just another way she is showing love to our neighbors.

Now seriously… who needs to speak in tongues or have dreams and visions when you see Jesus loving others through your life in such tangible ways?

The Kingdom of Heaven is not about speaking in tongues, dreaming dreams, or seeing visions. It is about loving others like Jesus. If you want to know Jesus, all you really need to do is look for opportunities to love others. In so doing, you will reveal Jesus to others, and Jesus will reveal Himself to you.

Are you one of the brightest and best? Plant a church!

By Jeremy Myers

2 Comments

Church planting is just starting to pick up steam.

Here is an article about modern church planting from The Leadership Network:

Church planting in the United States appears to be undergoing an extreme makeover.

According to the findings of a new research study, interest in church planting is on the rise, some of America’s best and brightest ministry leaders choose planting as their career path and church planting efforts are much more successful and promising than anticipated.

Read the rest of this article on church planting here.

How can we do church? Make Disciples!

By Jeremy Myers

Make Disciples

And there are few “church guidelines” on how to do this. We have several examples of what various believers did in the first century do make disciples. They met together, prayed, ate meals, learned the teaching of the apostles, and served one another. Also, it seems that a big part of their disciple-making process was telling others about Jesus.

In history, we have many more examples of what other believers did to make disciples. Some of them worked for a time, but then became alarmingly ineffective. our modern day “church service” is a great example of this. At one point in history, it was a great way to reach the community for Jesus and teach and train these new believers about Jesus. It was where people came to serve and be served, hence the name “church service.” But this method doesn’t seem to work any more for most people. So why hang on to it?

What is the church supposed to do? Make disciples. So let us stop trying to figure out how to do church and instead figure out how to make disciples.

In our day, we need to reexamine the ways we try to make disciples and if they are not working, ask ourselves:

What will work?
How can we best make disciples?
Are meetings necessary?
If so, when/where should we meet, and what should we do when we meet?
How can we get believers to know what God wants them to know and do what God wants them to do so we can be the church in our community?
How can we best tell people about Jesus?”

The answers to these questions will be different for different groups of believers living in different cities. But they are questions that every group of believers must ask if they are going to effectively make disciples.

What is church?

By Jeremy Myers

4 Comments

Most of the problems regarding how to “do church” and what goes on “at church” could nearly be solved by simply answering the question “What is church?”

What is Church?

It seems that most of us believe that church is something we do on Sunday morning. It is where we meet God, and therefore, we have to dress up to “go to church,” and act a different way “at church.”

Though there are new types of buildings that hold “churches” they are typically built with red bricks, stained glass, and a white steeple. It is “at church” that we sing songs about God, read the Bible, and listen to a pastor teach. Church is where we get spiritual instruction. Church is where we go when we need a spiritual “pick-me-up.” Church is an American tradition.

But is that what “church” is? No. Absolutely not!

What is Church?

Biblically, the church is made up of all who have believed in Jesus for eternal life worldwide and throughout time. That is the church.

Therefore, church is not something you can attend. It is not a place you can go.

“Church” just is, and you are either a part of the church or you are not.

When this truth is grasped, it revolutionizes the way we go about being the church. We realize that since we can’t go to church, what is this “thing” we are doing on Sunday morning? If that’s not church, what is? If we can’t “go to church,” what are we supposed to do about church? How are we supposed to “do church”?

Share your view and ideas on these subjects in the comments below.

Note: Since this post was written, I have written a couple books on this very topic:

To answer the “What is the church?” question, I wrote Skeleton Church.

To answer the “What is the church service?” question, I wrote Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Who is the Church Service for?

By Jeremy Myers

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I recently asked the question, “Who is the Church service for?” The two basic answers are that the church service is for believers, or that it is for unbelievers. Some churches focus on teaching and training Christians, while others focus on reaching out to unbelieving seekers. Both approaches have strengths and weaknesses.

The Church Service in Teaching Churches

Teaching churches focus on training Christians, but do a relatively poor job of reaching the lost. They will often say that outreach and evangelism is the job of the individual Christian, and you will hear them say things like “Healthy sheep naturally reproduce.” But in reality, little evangelism actually takes place.

And as it turns out, though many of the believers in these churches know their Bibles well, few of them actually live out what they know in their day-to-day lives, nor are they reaching out with the gospel, which challenges the idea that these sorts of churches are actually doing a good job making disciples.

So teaching churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Church Service in Seeker-Sensitive Churches

Seeker sensitive churches try to correct the weakness of teaching churches by making their church programs and services more welcoming to unbelievers. They seem to do a great job at this.

They often offer Saturday or weeknight services for the Christians to help them mature, or will encourage believers to get involved in home groups for discipleship.

But in reality, seeker sensitive churches often fail to bring new disciples to maturity.

Furthermore, it has become increasingly evident that although seeker sensitive churches do grow numerically, most of their growth is transfer growth from other churches, rather than actual evangelism growth. So in reality, unbelievers are really not being reached by seeker sensitive churches either. Seeker sensitive churches often fail at reaching out, and ultimately, fail at making disciples.

The Problem with Both Types of Church Services

The problem with both church models is the same: the church cannot focus primarily on training believers or primarily on reaching unbelievers. Both are needed. But even churches that try to do both are generally quite weak in one or the other. So who is the church service for – believers or unbelievers? The answer is: “Wrong question.”

The correct questions are “What is the church?” and “What is the church service?” We will look at these questions in future posts.

If you want to read more now, try two books I have written on these topics:

To answer the “What is the church?” question, I wrote Skeleton Church. There is now a free online course that goes along with the book. Join the discipleship area so you can take the course today.

To answer the “What is the church service?” question, I wrote Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Is the church service for believers or unbelievers?

By Jeremy Myers

11 Comments

One question I have been mulling over recently is “Who is the church service for — believers or unbelievers?”

There are some who believe the church service is primarily for believers, while others believe the church service is primarily for unbelievers. This belief reveals itself in different ways depending on how it is answered.

The Church Service is for Believers

Those who say that the church service is for believers will often have church services that cater to the needs and desires of Christians. There will be an emphasis on programs and teaching that meet the needs of Christians. The sermons will often center on teaching Christians what they need to know to be better Christians. The songs will often use terms and ideas that Christians are familiar with. The programming will center around issues that Christians are dealing with.

In the churches I have pastored, this is the approach I used. But we always did a poor job of reaching unbelievers, as do most churches who follow this model.

Unbelievers who visit a church that is focused on “making disciples of Christians” will often be confused and weirded out by what goes on. They will ask questions like:

What’s with all the teaching from Romans?
What does “justification” mean?
You say Jesus is coming back? That sounds a bit like the legends that say King Arthur is returning.
Why do I want to learn “Christian business principles”?
If I want to become a Christian, do I really have to be “washed in the blood of the lamb” and become “the bride of Jesus”? Both ideas give me the willies.

The Church Service is for Unbelievers

Then there are church leaders who say that the church service is primarily for unbelievers. In these church, the leadership understands that much of what the church does and says is a little strange to unbelievers, so they try to look at things from the perspective of an unbeliever, and make the church more “seeker sensitive.”

They gear the church service not toward the Christian, but toward the non-Christian who knows next to nothing about the Bible or church traditions. This tends to attract lots of crowds, and even generates lots of new believers, which is great, but ends up allowing most of these new believers to remain in relative immaturity. Bill Hybels and Willow Creek have recently announced this fact for their own church. The “seeker sensitive” model, while it attracts large crowds, does a poor job of bringing those crowds to spiritual maturity.

Is there a balance or middle ground between the two? I think there is, which we look at in the next post: “Who is the Church Service For?.”

Also, for more on this subject, check out my book, Put Service Back into the Church Service.

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting – Part 2

By Jeremy Myers

3 Comments

The previous post talked about how there are lots of church planting networks, but many of them are opposed to Free Grace Theology.

The question could be asked why we even need new churches.

Why we Need New Churches

Many believe that there are already too many churches and it is better to revitalize and support existing churches rather than plant new ones.

Here are one way of explaining it (I pulled this from ThinkChristian.net):

1. There are 195 million non-churched people in America, making America one of the top four largest “unchurched” nations in the world.
2. In spite of the rise of mega-churches, no county in America has a greater church population than it did ten years ago.
3. During the last ten years, combined communicant membership of all Protestant denominations declined by 9.5 percent (4,498,242), while the national population increased by 11.4 percent (24,153,000).
4. Each year 3,500 to 4,000 churches close their doors forever; yet only as many as 1,500 new churches are started.
5. There are now nearly 60 percent fewer churches per 10,000 persons than in 1920.

In 1920 27 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 1950 17 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

In 1996 11 churches existed for every 10,000 Americans.

6. Today, of the approximately 350,000 churches in America, four out of five are either plateaued or declining.
7. American denomination recently found that 80% of its converts came to Christ in churches less than two years old.
8. Hence the claim of many leaders: “The single most effective evangelistic methodology under heaven is planting new churches” (Peter Wagner).

Just for fun, I found a quick map that gives a generalized picture of religious adherents in the US from 2000:

The map is from a page on Valparaiso University’s web site called American Ethnic Geography.

Population Growth is Outpacing Church Growth

There may be lots of churches today, but there are LOTS more people, and the number of churches per person is decreasing. Some might argue that this is because small churches are closing and the people are going to mega-churches, which is true. But it is becoming increasingly obvious that many mega-churches are not doing a better job than smaller churches of making disciples of the people who attend.

Most importantly, is that new church plants tend to be much more effective and efficient at reaching out to unbelievers. For this reason alone, we need to get involved in and excited about church planting.

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting

By Jeremy Myers

12 Comments

I have a heart that beats for church planting…I’m just not sure I’m cut out to be a church planter! I mentioned it before, but I have become increasingly convinced that if Free Grace theology is going to move forward, we have to involved in church planting.

There are numerous organizations and networks which are planting hundreds of churches worldwide, and most of them are strongly Lordship/Calvinistic. We need one for Free Grace Theology! It’s not enough to just write and speak and debate. We need to get out there and share the gospel, make disciples, and plant churches.

Below are 10 of the top church planting organizations. Though for many of them I could not find a doctrinal statement, the ones that did have doctrinal statements leaned toward Calvinistic/Lordship theology.

1. Acts 29 – Calvinstic
2. New Thing Network – Lordship
3. Global Church Advancement – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
4. Leadership Network – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
5. Orchard Group – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
6. Stadia: New Church Strategies – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
7. Grace Church Planting Ministries – Lordship
8. house2house – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
9. Kairos – I can’t find a doctrinal statement
10. Association of Related Churches – I can’t find a doctrinal statement

If you are interested in church planting, or just doing things better at your church to reach out more effectively, many of these sites have excellent free tools and ideas. Make use of them.

What is the Church Service?

No Service in the Church Service

Limited “Service Times”

Tag, You’re It!

My Wife Knows Jesus

Will Speaking in Tongues help you Know Jesus?

Following Jesus Daily

Buying Bears with Jesus

The Love of Jesus

Are you one of the brightest and best? Plant a church!

How can we do church? Make Disciples!

Make Disciples

What is church?

What is Church?

What is Church?

Who is the Church Service for?

The Church Service in Teaching Churches

The Church Service in Seeker-Sensitive Churches

The Problem with Both Types of Church Services

Is the church service for believers or unbelievers?

The Church Service is for Believers

The Church Service is for Unbelievers

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting – Part 2

Why we Need New Churches

Population Growth is Outpacing Church Growth

Wanted: Free Grace Church Planting

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