United In Worship Series

Introduction

Video Ill.: Consumer Worship by Dan Stevers

* https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2022/03/22/more-houses-of-worship-are-returning-to-normal-operations-but-in-person-attendance-is-unchanged-since-fall/

** (https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2023/06/02/online-religious-services-appeal-to-many-americans-but-going-in-person-remains-more-popular/).

According to Pew Research Center, church attendance across America is at an all time low, but has remained flat — only about 32% of American adults attend some kind of religious service at least once a month. This includes watching online services. Only 27% of Americans are attending church services in person these days. *

That’s 3/4 of American adults who do not attend any kind of service.

The importance of attending church is dropping.

Those counting themselves as religious, but do not attend church, claim to have a more meaningful experience when they are out in nature, by themselves, or other situations. There are as many different reasons why not to attend church as there are people not attending church.

Because of that, this morning, we are beginning a study that I hope will encourage us to discover why we gather together on Sundays, and why it is important to gather together — a study that maybe we can share with those who are not with us this morning.

Since the COVID pandemic, online church services began to gain more attention.

The majority of those who attend virtual or online services or watch online services say, though, they miss the connection they have when they do attend in person.

According to the Pew Research Center, 63% of people who prefer attending religious services in person do so because they value the sense of community and connection it offers. They find that in-person attendance enhances their worship experience by providing opportunities for personal interactions, communal activities, and a stronger sense of belonging to their faith community. **

It is important to gather together in God’s house, as a family of believers. Over the next few weeks, we are going to look at some reasons why gathering together is so important to our faith.

Throughout our study, we will be focused on what the early church did — as found in Acts, chapter 2:

42 They devoted themselves to the apostles’ teaching and to the fellowship, to the breaking of bread and to prayer. (Acts 2, NIV1984)

When we studied our identities, we learned that one of the things God gave us that is one of His qualities is the ability and the desire for relationships.

We need relationships. We need interaction with people. We need an interaction with God!

That interaction begins with corporate worship.

Fundamentally, gathering together for church is really all about worship — giving honor and praise to God!

So let’s look this morning, at worship, and different aspects as it relates to why we come together for church.

As we begin, let’s examine the essence of worship.

In John chapter 4, John tells the story of the encounter Jesus had with the Samaritan woman at Jacob’s well.

The story is full of scandal as Jesus, a Jew, asked a Samaritan, and a woman at that, for a drink of water from the well. Samaritans were not looked on with favor by the Jews. The Samaritans had inner-married with foreigners, and had in the minds of the Jews, defiled themselves. They were no longer worthy of the blessings of God. They were outcasts. They were second rate citizens.

But Jesus, scripture says, had to go through Samaria. And, I believe that Jesus had to have this conversation with this Samaritan woman on that day. It was all part of God’s plan.

It was in this conversation with this nameless woman that Jesus first gives a glimpse into how the Kingdom of God would really look. There would be others in God’s kingdom, in God’s family, that didn’t fit the mold, that were outsiders, that were not Jews. When that would come to pass, things would change. The Kingdom of God is not about how we do things here on earth — it is about Heavenly things.

One change would be worship.

The Jews felt that worship could only be done in Jerusalem. The Samaritans were worshipping God where Jacob’s well was — on Mount Gerizim. But even that would change when God’s kingdom came.

And so in John4 we read:

21 Jesus declared, “Believe me, woman, a time is coming when you will worship the father neither on this mountain nor in Jerusalem. 22 You Samaritans worship what you do not know; we worship what we do know, for salvation is from the Jews. 23 Yet a time is coming and has now || come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. 24 God is spirit, and His worshipers must worship in spirit and in truth.” (John 4, NIV1984)