When God Comes to Church

I've just finished reading Steve Gaines' new book, When God Comes to Church. Gaines, the pastor of Bellevue Baptist in Memphis, writes that what churches need is not a reformation of theology, but a reformation of worship. I agree.

The book primarily deals with worship but is also greatly concerned about revival. Some of the salient quotes are:

• You haven't had a great Sunday until God shows up!
• Definition of revival: the glory of God filling the house of God.
• One of the reasons so many people are turned off from the idea of church these days is that it is all so explainable.
• The motto of some churches is "Come as you are; leave as you came."
• Some Christians talk urgently about getting God back into government. Others talk about the need to get God back into the public schools. What I'm most concerned about is getting God back into our churches.
• Worship services should not be designed primarily to attract people. Rather, worship services should be designed to attract the manifest presence of God, and He in turn will attract the people.
• Before any talk about doing, let's talk about being.

These are just some of the nuggets you'll find in this book. My favorite chapter is "What Attracts the Presence of God." Gaines deals with what essentials must be found in a church for God's presence to be real and powerful. Those essentials are: sincere and passionate prayer, tithing, fasting, repentance, corporate worship, and unity.

He writes a great chapter on music. Of course everyone knows this is the silly subject that is getting so many church folks upset today. Every music minister knows the tension of trying to please everyone. Gaines advocates a 50/50 split between the old and new [something we try to do at Fairview with varying degrees of success I might add].

A great quote from the chapter: "Can we all please understand that church was never meant to be your personal jukebox? Everybody has 165 other hours in the week to pick out just the songs you personally like. God to your nearest Christian music supplier and load up on whatever you want. Play it nonstop from Monday to Saturday. The new technology of the iPod makes this even easier. You can select, download, and then replay your handpicked favorites as often as you want. But in the house of God, we have a different agenda. We're offering up praise and adoration for the pleasure of someone else."

Well said--if we want God's blessings we must understand that worship is not about us; it is about Him. I'm tired of people telling me what they like or don't like. It makes no difference what I like or dislike. The question about worship is what does God like and dislike?

This is an important read for those grappling with the idea of what true worship is all about. Gaines seems to be saying that real worship brings Holy Spirit revival. Amen! Let it be so.

I may blog on this more later.