Ministry Monday: Back to the Basics

Well, it is Monday again, and I must say that for once, I am refreshed and ready for the week ahead! I credit this amazing victory to the blessing of being renewed and refreshed in God's presence last night. I don't know if we have mentioned it before, but Mr. The King and I lead a Sunday night worship service at our church for our Soul Tribe Student Ministry. It started out as a service for the young people, but we have opened it up to any age, and we feel that it may grow into more of a church-wide Sunday night worship service.

This Sunday night service is a very informal and intimate gathering that we look forward to more and more every week. It feels very different from Sunday morning worship because it is so basic and so FREE. There is a wonderful spirit of liberty and an ability just to let down your guard and open up to the Lord and your fellow believers.

Last night was a particularly liberating and uplifting service. We had a great turn out, powerful worship, and a time of meaningful reflection and meditation on the Word. We read Psalm 92 & Psalm 50. We talked about the offering of thanksgiving to God. We shared what we are grateful for, and we talked about how to live a life of gratitude, giving continual praise and glory to God in circumstances. It was so good to have true communion with one another and with the Lord! 

I believe that we have hit on something very important in our small group of worshipers. We have taken worship back to the basics. On Sunday nights, we have moved closer to the way things were in the early church of Acts. There is a unity and a hunger for communion, and there is an openness and transparency that you rarely find in worship services now days. It's real; it's refreshing; and it's renewing!!

I can't wait to see what God does in this Sunday night gathering and in our local church body as a whole. We our truly moving towards the heart of worship, and getting back to the basics of ministry and our Christian walk. May we not forget to seek Him continually and allow Him to peel back the facade of "church" and religion to reveal a group of true worshipers whose hearts are becoming more and more like His!