Why Plant Churches Part 2: Worship
What Does a Church Do?
There are many ideas prevalent today on what a church should do. Some will say that the church exists for social action, while others say it exists to proclaim the gospel or to worship. All of those are true. However, the church is, by her nature, a worshipping body before anything else. We who “have been raised with Christ, seek the things that are above, where Christ is.” (Col. 3:1)
Indeed, the Lord Jesus tells us that the Father is seeking worshippers. (John 4:23) The church is not merely formed so that you and I can worship. No, worship is in the church’s bones, her very character. The church is the body of Christ. Therefore, being so, she participates in the very life of the Trinity as she gives herself to that divine life, her vocation as a divine humanity.
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The Russian theologian Sergei Bulgakov writes:
The idea that the church is the body of Christ – who in turn is the God-Man, true God and true Man – evokes the thought that the body of the incarnate Christ is the church, and that in the church humanity is deified, since members of the church truly participate in His divine life.
How the Church Participates
Yes, the church participates in the divine life of God by grace, and this is worship itself. In planting new congregations—outposts of the church’s life—we establish a means through which the divine life manifests in all creation. This continues what was set in place from the very moment of the incarnation. Thus, the glory of the Lord fills the whole earth, just as Habakkuk foretold,
For the earth will be filled with the knowledge of the glory of the LORD, as the waters cover the sea.
Habakkuk 2:14
The church is the inevitable fate, indeed the telos (to use a philosophical word, meaning perfection) of the whole creation. Thus, there can be no such thing as having “enough” churches in a town or city. We cannot be satisfied, we cannot rest, until we accomplish it. As Bishop Stuart Ruch has said, “Mother Church is inevitable.”
Very often, we do not live in this expectation, or this understanding, of the inevitability of the church. We do not take to heart the words of Jesus,
…on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
Matthew 16:18
Gates are defensive positions, made to withstand attack. All too often, we think of the church as having a defensive mission, but this is not at all the case. The church in this case is on offense, constantly gaining more ground.
Gaining Ground for the Gospel
Man’s end is God’s glory, and so it is with the church. We plant that His glory may reach into all creation.I know of church planters who have started congregations in dozens of schools, several bars, and many former car dealerships and auto shops. People plant churches in homes and offices, art galleries, and movie theaters. In so doing, the church undertakes a prophetic work, pointing to the day when the knowledge of the Lord will fill the earth. This is when all of creation serves as the church’s temple.
This work is highly liturgical. In recent years, liturgical scholars have brought us to understand that liturgy is not merely the work of the people. It also works “for” the people. For example, the Eucharist is given from the life of the world, and we who receive it take the very presence of the Lord with us. We pray, not only for ourselves, but for our friends, neighbors, coworkers, and those in authority over us. Church plants, in a unique way, fulfill this particularly Anglican ideal of lex orandi, lex credendi, lex vivendi. These are the laws of prayer, of belief, and of living. These three merge gloriously, ensuring that the work of the church does not abstract from Sunday worship. The liturgy also ensures that it does not abstract from the people’s praying life or their work in daily life.
Worship Well
We must also state encouragement to Anglican church planters who are reading this. That is to worship well! Do so in the beauty of our liturgical heritage, in the glory of our tradition. Worship should not be a performance but rather a wonderful offering, a sacrifice to God. One planting friend of mine made the wise decision that the very first big purchase of their plant would be a gloriously beautiful chalice. Not a hand-me-down, nor a “this will do.” No, a piece of art, adorned with the images of the twelve apostles and ensconced in the absolute center of this new church’s worshipping life. This was a wise move, a not-so-subtle statement about where this new congregation’s values are. We plant to increase the worship of the Lord!
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