Worship – our goal at North London

Last Sabbath many of you received the green inventory sheets – some 90+ questions, probing deep into our lives, spirituality, relationships, volunteering, willingness to serve. We do this so often to check our corporate health.

For the past year we had been tweaking our worship services in response to the need of improving our corporate worship. A lot was done – seminars, evaluations, committees, preparation, praise team practices, equipment updates. More we wok at it more we are coming to understand that the adjective “inspiring” before word “worship” means more than technical adjustments to worship.

Recent sermon by Dr. Errol Lawrence led us to acknowledge that service begins when a personal revelation and vision of God on the Throne is seen. Last Sabbath I made a statement “Mission exists because Worship doesn’t” implying that the Ultimate Worship takes place in heaven and here we work to restore humanity to the place and stance of worship. Are we there yet? Far from it. The final war described in the Bible is all about worship. Revelation 12-14, the climax of the book deals with contrasting worship: draconian demands for false worship and God’s call to righteous worship.

“Inspiring” in worship stands opposite to “formality.” Personal spirituality matters here. The corporate worship flows from and within each individual experience with God. The only natural step for all of us is to move from “tweaking” styles, forms and formats of worship to develop a personal spirituality and a corporate environment of being in the Presence of God constantly and continuously.

For the past year we had been focusing on this one specific aspect often forgetting the rest of eight necessary values of church life. Seems that everything else was put on the “backburner” – evangelism, leadership development, groups, ministries, loving relationships… The natural principle of interdependence suggest that these elements also have a direct effect on our worship. Our strategic quest for the coming year will be about how do we bring worship into every aspects of our life, and how do we bring essential elements of healthy church (2^nd Peter 1:5-9) into worship, meaning – evangelism in worship, group life – in worship, ministries participation – in worship.

As you return your surveys for processing and as we wait for results and directions – spend time in prayer, and spiritual disciplines.