Steak on a Paper Plate - A Response

Yesterday I linked to this article from Trevin Wax about issues of formal vs informal in our church gatherings.   If you didn't read it I would check it out.  Here is my response to his post that Trevin also cross-posted on his blog.

Formal or Informal is Not the Main Issue

Being formal or not is more a function of the person who is leading and less about the structure that he imposes upon himself for leading the worship service. You can make a “contemporary” service feel very formal and you can make a strict PCA liturgy feel very informal. It depends on who is leading.

I grew up in a church that followed a very strict ELCA Lutheran liturgy, but the senior pastor had a way of making it feel personal and not simply a robotic recitation of words. On the flip side, I have been to services that are “contemporary” and “informal” that felt very stiff and awkward because those leading did not have the skill set to lead in a way that felt relaxed and more free.

So my question for those leading church services has less to do with the forms and much more to do with the right men leading those forms. Telling constant jokes and being silly can just as easily be placing into a “contemporary” form as it can be in a more strictly liturgical form. It is the man leading who will determines these things.

I do agree that if we never get a sense of the enormity, holiness, and majesty of God, we will produce shallow Christians who will fail to understand our deep need for repentance and forgiveness in Christ. But you don’t have to be wearing a suit and tie to get a healthy sense of the grandeur of God’s beauty, sovereignty, and holiness. Again, this has more to do with the men leading the service and less about what structure they choose to use for the service. The question is more who and then the how will follow.

It seems that the New Testament demonstrates this as well. We don’t see much detail in terms of how are services are to be held, but we see quite a bit of detail concerning the type of man who should be leading that service.

Formal or informal is not the main issue. In the end, shouldn’t there be a healthy sense of both in all our services if we are truly being human?

I believe that the more important question is “Who is leading and does that man have Biblical priorities in mind for the kind of service that he leads?” If the answer is “yes”, then in most cases the issue of formal vs. informal will take care of itself.