The word worship is never used in that boxed in kind of way in the NT. To say we have a "worship service" would imply worship has a start time, and a stop time, or that worship is restricted to certain places or certain size gatherings. All of which is very errant theology.
Worship was seen as all of life lived out in Jesus. What people do on Sunday, in a gathering, is no more "worship" than what is done on tuesday.
Worship is not merely singing songs, praying, gathering together on Sunday. Certainly worship occurs there too, but only there. Worship never has a start or ending time - It's "all of our lifes" activities lived for the glory of God. This is how the word "Worship" is used in the NT. Go have a look.
See, singing, praying, scripture reading, or assembling at "Church", has a start & end time. Worship does not! The only time worship & Service are ever used in the same sentence is in Romans 12:1-2, where it tells us that worship is giving our bodies as a living sacrifice, this is our "Spiritual" or "Reasonable", ...... worship. Anything less is not spiritual nor reasonable.
I have heard so many very poor sermons on this passage.
Church gatherings are for, and about raising up, living breathing missionaries. People living for the glory of God "all night long, all night" .....and all day too!
This, and nothing less, is worship! Don't make Sunday into something it is not in the NT! Gathering together as the church, around things like Acts 2:42, is not optional. However, it's not "for" worship, it's an extension of our worship.
"The second thing that might be a switch is that when people are bent on mission first, the gathering takes on different purposes. We have found that when the primary values are outward mission and incarnational life, the gathering becomes more about connecting people, corporate storytelling, vision casting, and celebration. In settings where the church service is the main thing, Bible teaching, singing, prayer, and ministry to people becomes the priority. We prefer that Bible teaching, prayer, study, and ministry to people happen primarily in our communities during the week.............
We’re not anti-gathering; we just don’t care how many people gather, or when, or for how long. We don’t think smaller gatherings are better than larger gatherings. Our main focus is on why we gather and the meaning that is brought into our gathering due to our common story away from the gathering. This is why we encourage church planters not to start the church by launching a church service.
Instead, we advocate that they launch people and add the gatherings as needed.
For an existing congregation, the challenge is to sensitively “not provide” things at the gathering that you want people to experience out in the world and slowly reestablish the meaning behind the weekly church service. Maybe, it shouldn't even be called a “service.” That communicates, “You come here to get what you need.”
Please hear what we’re saying. We believe there is something very important about bringing people together........The key is to not let your gathering be more than it is supposed to be, nor to let people depend on the gathering for things it wasn't supposed to provide in the first place."
(Tangible Kingdom. Hugh Halter, pg 169. 2008, Jossey-Bass)
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