Worship is about God and for believers.

Another, from a church that ranks Adoration and Outreach/Evangelism as highest priorities:

Worship is about ushering people in to the presence of God.?Ç

Two that emphasize Community and Outreach:

We desire to be a caring family of multiplying disciples influencing our community and world for Jesus Christ.?Ç

Our philosophy of worship at our church is that we are God’s people sharing the love of Christ.

Which of these four approaches describes your church? Of these four philosophies of worship, rank them in order of importance for your service:

1. Adoration
2. Community
3. Discipleship
4. Outreach

A greater self-awareness of a congregation’s philosophy of worship allows it to be more strategic in its direction. For example, a church whose worship identity is strongly tied to community and discipleship can cease fighting against this reality and design worship that fits strategically with building up a body of believers through community and discipleship. Similarly, a large church seeking to create an alternative service may consider creating an identity that is opposite to the main service, in order to connect with those in the body marginalized by the main service’s “feel.” For example, the church above might consider an alternative service whose identity is strongly tied to adoration and outreach.

Discover your own philosophy of worship

Individuals on the worship team may each have their own unique approach to worship. That is fine. Each of our local congregations is all a part of the larger universal Church. The key is to decide what you want worship to be. In our time as consultants and observers, we have seen more than one worship service erupt because of an unwillingness to address the foundational question of worship philosophy.

2. A statement of worship methodology and style

We have discussed worship methodology through other articles such as Temporary “Contemporary” Worship and Being Cultural and Counter-Cultural at the Same Time.

The point we frequently must reassert is that every worship service has a particular methodology. It is impossible to remove cultural and historical context. There is no answer to the question, Why can’t we just forget all of that stuff and worship God? Every church must decide on its own where to position itself on the cultural continuum, from “traditional” congregations that continue to practice eighteenth and nineteenth-century methodologies, to “contemporary” congregations discovering innovative, fringe methodologies, to “emerging” congregations who are looking to the ancient past for what are once again fresh methodologies, and everything in between.

Further, methodology is an extension of philosophy. A service with an emphasis on outreach will be eager to embrace the latest methodological models, such as the use of media in worship, in order to be culturally relevant. A discipleship-oriented service may have less concern about such trends.

Style stems from methodology and refers to music and the arts, to visuals and creativity, to preaching, to use of participation and interactivity.

Three examples of a statement about methodology:

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