I’m spending a few weeks reflecting on some of the unique aspects of our ministry at Blue Valley Baptist; those things we do that make us, us.  Last week I shared why we approach the task of preaching like we do.  Today, I want to talk about our approach to worship.

Our bulletin offers this statement about our approach to worship:

We refuse to become a church that corners itself into one worship style.  In making this commitment, we believe we provide worshippers with an opportunity to encounter a God who transcends style.  So, over a period of several weeks of worshipping at BVBC, you’ll participate in services that incorporate contemporary, traditional, and classical expressions of worship.

For many, the term that describes this style of worship is “blended.”  But that doesn’t adequately describe our style.  Our style of worship is essentially to have no style.  Some services are completely contemporary.  Some services are completely traditional.  Some services have a classical feel.  And some have a little bit of everything.  So blended isn’t a good word for us.  Thinking of it as more like “worship in a blender” is better.  We take a wide variety of worship ingredients, place them in a blender, hit “puree” and never turn it off. 

We readily admit two things in taking this approach.  First, worshipping in this way won’t be appealing to everyone by a long shot.  Second, this approach flies in the face of conventional wisdom about what it takes to grow a church.  Our response to these “criticisms,” however, is simple:  we don’t worship to grow a church.  Instead, we worship to grow followers of Jesus. Thus, there are some deeply held theological convictions that serve as the foundation of our approach to worship.

Do you remember the story of Goldilocks and the Three Bears?  A family of three bears; a mother, a father, and a cub, live in a house in the woods. One day, waiting for their porridge to cool, they leave the house unlocked as they go for a walk in the forest. While they are out, a girl comes to the house. Curious, she enters and meddles with the bears' belongings, sampling their porridge, sitting in their chairs, and trying out their beds. Every member of the bear family has their own unique chair, porridge, and bed; all of which have unique characteristics. Generally the father and mother's beds and chairs are "too hard" and "too soft" and their porridges are "too hot" and "too cold.”  On the other hand, the baby bear's porridge, chair, and bed are always "just right".  The little girl is still asleep in the baby's bed when the bears return home and they scare her away. 

Now, what on earth does worship have to do with that universally known children’s story?  It says a lot, and none of it too flattering to any of us.

The 21^st century worshipper is a modern day Goldilocks.  We barge into someone else’s house; God’s house, and proceed to carelessly run about arranging things like the house belongs to us.  That music’s too old.  That music’s too new.  That music’s just right.  That preacher’s too deep.  That preacher’s too shallow.  That preacher’s just right.  We have forgotten, and frankly no longer care, that the house is God’s house.

I believe that we have become consumers of worship and, in the process, have ceased to become what we were intended to be: offer-ers of worship.  And the truly deadly danger of this mentality is that many are blind to how we have turned into worshipping Goldilocks’.  We need to be broken from our porridge sampling worship and at BVBC we are attempting to do that by jettisoning any concerns about style.  Our belief is that by doing so, we place the focus less on the preferences of the worshipper and, instead, place the focus firmly on the God who is the object of worship.

This approach allows us to start the construction of every worship service with the scripture for the message that day as our guide.  We are able to look at the scripture text for the message and ask, “What does God want to say to us?”  And then, whatever song God leads us to that reflects that message for the day is fair game.  It is a very freeing and liberating way to prepare a service because the focus isn’t on pleasing worshippers, but on pleasing God.

So what has been the effect?  One has been that our church family realizes that God has always been and always will be speaking to His people via the medium of music.  For centuries, men and women have been inspired by what God revealed of Himself in His Word and placed their thoughts to music.  We sing those ancient songs and appreciate what they say.  At the same time, we see that He continues to do the same thing today as modern worship composers place what God has shown them about Himself to music.  As with the older hymns, we sing these new songs and appreciate what they say.

But there has been a greater effect than this.  Over and over again, people comment how our services have a flow and consistency to them.  We don’t sing about things we don’t hear about in the message.  Our services are typically one, long experience of God speaking a word to us; first from the music and then from the message.  And as such our ears aren’t turned toward our tastes, but toward His voice. 

It’s not our call from God to be like other churches that God is certainly blessing.  It’s our call to be who He created us to be as a church.  We recognize that this may not “grow” our church as rapidly as other churches grow; though we have certainly been in a season of tremendous growth.  But we do believe that removing the focus from the worshipper and placing it on God through an intentional lack of concern about style will allow us to grow followers of Jesus.  And at the end of the day, that’s the only thing that any of us are called to do.