Is Your Church Apologizing for Acts of Worship?

As Christians we are called to worship. We have a God that has given us so much, the greatest of which is allowing his only son to be sacrificed for our sins. How can we do anything but worship him? I think that almost anyone who calls them self a Christian  would agree that worship is important.
While there are those that say they don't have to go to church for corporate worship (that's a whole different topic I won't dive into now) they still claim to worship our great God. What I have found, though, is that when it really comes down to it most people really don't have a grasp of what worship entails.
When most people hear the word worship almost all immediately think of the song service at church. How many times have you said, or heard someone else say, " The worship at church was great today. The sermon was a little long though. " People think that church consists of worship (the song service) then the rest of the service. As time has gone on many churches have recognized that this conception of worship is common and are more and more taking time to stress to people that worship is more than music.
At our church we take communion each week and each week it is made clear that this is a part of worship. A special time we set aside to remember the sacrifice Christ made for us and join together in worship and thanks.
Of course another part of almost every worship service is the message. This part of worship is a time of learning more about God's Word, the Bible. Through learning more about God and his eternal plan we are brought closer to Him and want to worship him even more.
The one area of a worship service, that even non-church goers know is included is offering. Offering is often over looked as worship but rather just a time for the church to get into your wallet. The sad part about this assumption is that those that think this way seem to be those who are leading the church. I'm not saying that they actually believe this in theory but they seem to think that those who are new to church think this.
From my experiences within the church, those that are rarely in church or maybe have never stepped foot in a church, understand that offering is a time of our worship. They expect it yet church leaders seem to try and move through offering as quick as possible and at times almost apologize for our worship in giving. We are given EVERYTHING by God and we worship and thank him through our offerings.
I thank God that I go to a church that takes time during each part of our service to explain why what we are doing is worship, including our offering time.  If something is not worship it shouldn't be a part of our service. Through this those that are regular church members and those new to the church understand and reminded why we do what we do - everything in gratitude to our God.
I once ministered at a church that started me thinking about churches lack of stressing that tithes and offerings are worship. The Bible commands that the tithe be brought into the house of the Lord.  Micah 3:10 (NLT) states "Bring all the tithe into the storehouse so there will be enough food in my temple. If you do says the Lord of Heavens armies, " I will open the windows of heaven for you. I will pour out a blessing so great you won't have enough room to take it in!  Try it!  Put me to the test!" Yet the minister of this church actually mentioned several times that we needed to have attendance cards and visitor cards for people to fill out and turn in. The reason for this?  So people would have something to put in the offering plate and not be embarrassed! 
I began to see that this part of worship was being apologized for through this attitude and it carried over into the water downed messages that were being presented so "seekers" wouldn't be offended. The Bible is the Word of God and the only Truth. We should not apologize for ANY part of the Word or ANY part of our worship.
If we are worried about offending people by the Truth we have no right calling ourselves followers of Christ. We are commanded to worship and worship includes tithes and offerings. When we see a church start apologizing for this part of our worship it will, and does, affect the rest of our worship and the ministry of the Church.

Modeling Affects Generations

Tab: Tab 1 Page 1: I love sitting in church next to my husband Jayson. I am thankful I have a husband who values worshipping together as much as I do. I know that many couples enjoy being in church together. However, for me, being in church with my husband and children is a fulfillment of my childhood dreams. I remember sitting in church when I was about 10 years old. I sat in that old pew and daydreamed about sitting next to my husband. (This probably was not a good thing because I was daydreaming during the sermon!).

I never thought, then or now, that this was weird or unusual for a 10 year old little girl to think about. To me, this was exactly where I knew I wanted and should be when I grew up. I was fortunate to be raised in a Christian family. It was important to my parents that we all worshipped together.  This was the model my parents showed us.   Because of their example, I knew that when I was grown and had my own family, we too should worship together. Their model was going to be our model. I am so thankful for the parents I was blessed with. Through their example of worship being a priority I realized that it needed to be a priority for my family as well. I am also thankful for Jayson's family because the same was modeled for him.

Jayson and I met in June of 1992 and from that time until now, we have been in church together. We both had this godly model set for us and we knew that we wanted the same for our children. We knew that this was God's plan for raising children and we wanted to raise godly children.  Proverbs 22:6 NKJV says "Train up a child in the way he should go, and when he is old he will not depart from it."  We believe this promise and modeled a marriage and family that puts worship in the center of our lives. Because our children were taught to worship through the example they saw, when they grew they too knew to have worship center in their marriage and family.

Our oldest Brooklyn, has married and has children of her own. Generations of marriages have set the foundation for how my grandchildren will be raised. Our grandparents modeled to our parents, our parents modeled to us, and we modeled to our children how children should be raised to love God and worship him. We have now been blessed by watching our grandchildren being shown how to love and worship God through the model their parents are showing them.

I was a children's minister and believe that the children's ministry is the most important ministry in the church. This ministry gives children a place to be taught about God in ways they can understand and in a fun way they can enjoy. I am pleased that so many churches have finally realized that a children's ministry is a must. While children's ministries are growing, something is missing - a big something.

We have finally admitted the importance of children's ministry but in doing so we have inadvertently divided the family. Families come to church together but once they hit the doors they are immediately divided. By this divide children are missing the blessing of seeing their parents worship and enjoying worship together with their family.

In Deuteronomy 31:12 Moses gathered the men, women, and children together so they all could hear and understand the law God had set before them. The families were called together for this special event. Normally the men would go to the temple for teaching and debate. But in this instance Moses knew that this law needed to be heard by all. Children were able to join their family in learning about God and worshipping him together.

Our churches have gone from adult worship with kids invited (or just tolerated) to then having children's worship with adults invited (on very rare occasions).  It is time we find a middle ground. A time when families can worship together, where all are welcome and can learn together.

Family worship cannot just be adult worship and adult topics with kids just in the room and a few songs sung that the kids know. Family worship needs to be a worship experience where the topic is relevant to everyone in the family and the music is pleasing to both young and old. I have seen many churches say they have family worship but for the most part the service does not include children in the worship and does not put special focus on bring families together in worship. I do love children's ministry and it would be a step backward if this ministry were stopped altogether. However, I believe we are not teaching children completely, or adults for that matter,  until all are brought together as one at least a few times during the year.

I have thought all of this for years but have been nudged to write because I am so pleased that my church , Christ's Church Camden, has dedicated one of our four Easter services to the family. This is a perfect example of a time when family worship could and should be done. The resurrection is a celebrated by all ages. This makes it a great subject to bring all ages together. I don't know what is planned for this Easter's family service but I know Christ's Church and I know all ages will  walk away with a great time of worship that speaks to all and allows all to worship together.

I pray this will be the start of bringing families together throughout the year. I also pray that churches everywhere will begin to see the value of family worship. It is through families worshipping together that all ages are brought together worshipping in church and then carrying that worship into home.