Focus on Worship

I am responding to the March 2, 2006, article written by Donna J. Wright, “Assimilation vital to growth of new members, church.” 

The strategies for churches to use in assimilation, by Nelson Searcy, pastor of The Journey Church in New York, included everything but the main reason why we attend church. If visitors or members attend church because they like the way the parking lot is paved, … traffic signs to find clean and well-stocked rest rooms, plush carpet and padded pews, a sound system second to none, a 75-member orchestra, a 200-member choir, then please stay at home. In the Sunday School lesson (published in the March 2 issue of The Alabama Baptist), God’s charge to Israel was about empty worship. Israel kept regular worship times, but God was not impressed with their attendance record. God said I want righteousness not rituals. I desire your worship, not your first impressions of a church building.

Gene E. Whisenhunt
Jackson, Ala.