Six Physical Factors That Affect Your Worship Service (Rick Warren)

The Christian Post ^ | Thu, Mar. 08 2007 10:04 AM ET | Rick Warren

[Terriergal]

Six Physical Factors That Affect Your Worship Service

By

Rick Warren

Christian Post Guest Columnist

Thu, Mar. 08 2007 10:04 AM ET

Facilities and physical environment have a lot to do with what happens in a weekend worship service. The shape of your building will shape your service. Walk into some buildings and your mood will instantly brighten. Walk into other buildings and you'll feel depressed. The shape of a room can change a mood instantly; so can the temperature of room; so can the lighting in a room. Be aware of these factors and use them. Figure out what mood you want your service to project and then create it.

One of the problems we face in maintaining the church environment is that we tend to overlook defects after about four weeks. Once you become familiar with a building, you stop noticing what's wrong with it. The defects and disorder don't bother you as much as they did when you first noticed them. You become oblivious to the faded paint, the frayed carpet, the chipped pulpit, the outdated tract rack in the vestibule, the old bulletins left inside hymnals, the stack of stuff on the piano, and the burned-out light bulbs overhead.

Unfortunately, these things stand out immediately to visitors. They notice details.

One way to combat this tendency is to do an Environmental Impact Report on your church. Get a photographer to walk around your facilities and take pictures from the eyes of a visitor. Then show those pictures to your leaders and determine what needs to be changed. In particular here are some environmental factors you need to pay close attention to:

[Terriergal]

I have yet to hear you say anything here that isn't bitter, negative and cynical,

Jeremiah 23 fits here.

The Coming Messiah: the Righteous Branch

      1 “Woe to the shepherds who are destroying and scattering the sheep of My pasture!” declares the LORD. 2 Therefore thus says the LORD God of Israel concerning the shepherds who are tending My people: “You have scattered My flock and driven them away, and have not attended to them; behold, I am about to attend to you for the evil of your deeds,” declares the LORD. 3 “Then I Myself will gather the remnant of My flock out of all the countries where I have driven them and bring them back to their pasture, and they will be fruitful and multiply. 4 “I will also raise up shepherds over them and they will tend them; and they will not be afraid any longer, nor be terrified, nor will any be missing,” declares the LORD.
5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
         “When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
         And He will reign as king and act wisely
         And do justice and righteousness in the land.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved,
         And Israel will dwell securely;
         And this is His name by which He will be called,
         ‘The LORD our righteousness.’
      7 “Therefore behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD, “when they will no longer say, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up the sons of Israel from the land of Egypt,’ 8 but, ‘As the LORD lives, who brought up and led back the descendants of the household of Israel from the north land and from all the countries where I had driven them.’ Then they will live on their own soil.”

False Prophets Denounced

9 As for the prophets:
         My heart is broken within me,
         All my bones tremble;
         I have become like a drunken man,
         Even like a man overcome with wine,
         Because of the LORD
         And because of His holy words.
10 For the land is full of adulterers;
         For the land mourns because of the curse.
         The pastures of the wilderness have dried up.
         Their course also is evil
         And their might is not right.
11 “For both prophet and priest are polluted;
         Even in My house I have found their wickedness,” declares the LORD.
12 “Therefore their way will be like slippery paths to them,
         They will be driven away into the gloom and fall down in it;
         For I will bring calamity upon them,
         The year of their punishment,” declares the LORD.
13 “Moreover, among the prophets of Samaria I saw an offensive thing:
         They prophesied by Baal and led My people Israel astray.
14 “Also among the prophets of Jerusalem I have seen a horrible thing:
         The committing of adultery and walking in falsehood;
         And they strengthen the hands of evildoers,
         So that no one has turned back from his wickedness.
         All of them have become to Me like Sodom,
         And her inhabitants like Gomorrah.
15 “Therefore thus says the LORD of hosts concerning the prophets,
         ‘Behold, I am going to feed them wormwood
         And make them drink poisonous water,
         For from the prophets of Jerusalem
         Pollution has gone forth into all the land.’”
16 Thus says the LORD of hosts,
         “Do not listen to the words of the prophets who are prophesying to you.
         They are leading you into futility;
         They speak a vision of their own imagination,
         Not from the mouth of the LORD.
17 “They keep saying to those who despise Me,
         ‘The LORD has said, “You will have peace”’;
         And as for everyone who walks in the stubbornness of his own heart,
         They say, ‘Calamity will not come upon you.’
18 “But who has stood in the council of the LORD,
         That he should see and hear His word?
         Who has given heed to His word and listened?
19 “Behold, the storm of the LORD has gone forth in wrath,
         Even a whirling tempest;
         It will swirl down on the head of the wicked.
20 “The anger of the LORD will not turn back
         Until He has performed and carried out the purposes of His heart;
         In the last days you will clearly understand it.
21 “I did not send these prophets,
         But they ran.
         I did not speak to them,
         But they prophesied.
22 “But if they had stood in My council,
         Then they would have announced My words to My people,
         And would have turned them back from their evil way
         And from the evil of their deeds.
23 “Am I a God who is near,” declares the LORD,
         “And not a God far off?
24 “Can a man hide himself in hiding places
         So I do not see him?” declares the LORD.
         “Do I not fill the heavens and the earth?” declares the LORD.
      25 “I have heard what the prophets have said who prophesy falsely in My name, saying, ‘I had a dream, I had a dream!’ 26 “How long? Is there anything in the hearts of the prophets who prophesy falsehood, even these prophets of the deception of their own heart, 27 who intend to make My people forget My name by their dreams which they relate to one another, just as their fathers forgot My name because of Baal? 28 “The prophet who has a dream may relate his dream, but let him who has My word speak My word in truth. What does straw have in common with grain?” declares the LORD. 29 “Is not My word like fire?” declares the LORD, “and like a hammer which shatters a rock? 30 “Therefore behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who steal My words from each other. 31 “Behold, I am against the prophets,” declares the LORD, “who use their tongues and declare, ‘The Lord declares.’ 32 “Behold, I am against those who have prophesied false dreams,” declares the LORD, “and related them and led My people astray by their falsehoods and reckless boasting; yet I did not send them or command them, nor do they furnish this people the slightest benefit,” declares the LORD.
      33 “Now when this people or the prophet or a priest asks you saying, ‘What is the oracle of the LORD?’ then you shall say to them, ‘What oracle?’ The LORD declares, ‘I will abandon you.’ 34 “Then as for the prophet or the priest or the people who say, ‘The oracle of the LORD,’ I will bring punishment upon that man and his household. 35 “Thus will each of you say to his neighbor and to his brother, ‘What has the LORD answered?’ or, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 36 “For you will no longer remember the oracle of the LORD, because every man’s own word will become the oracle, and you have perverted the words of the living God, the LORD of hosts, our God. 37 “Thus you will say to that prophet, ‘What has the LORD answered you?’ and, ‘What has the LORD spoken?’ 38 “For if you say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’ surely thus says the LORD, ‘Because you said this word, “The oracle of the LORD!” I have also sent to you, saying, “You shall not say, ‘The oracle of the LORD!’”’ 39 “Therefore behold, I will surely forget you and cast you away from My presence, along with the city which I gave you and your fathers. 40 “I will put an everlasting reproach on you and an everlasting humiliation which will not be forgotten.”

He was of course, thrown in a pit and left there for ages for his obedience to the Lord...and I don't think he had one single convert in 40 years. Maybe he should have turned up the lights, opened a window...

also 1 Kings 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

Jeepers! Elijah taunting! How unChristian.

Paul said people trying to lay unwarranted legalistic burdens on Christians should emasculate themselves (not just circumcise). My goodness!

Jesus called pharisees vipers and children of satan. He's so MEAN! I bet that garnered him a lot of followers.

[Terriergal]

But you haven't got the disco ball yet? For shame!

[Terriergal]

1 Kings 18:27 At noon Elijah began to taunt them. "Shout louder!" he said. "Surely he is a god! Perhaps he is deep in thought, or busy, or traveling. Maybe he is sleeping and must be awakened."

BTW some suggest that this is better translated "maybe he's on the can." or for the more delicate sensibilities, "maybe he's indisposed."

[GOPPachyderm]

LOL We were decorating our church last Christmas and someone, well let's admit it, it was me, brought in a large silver Christmas bulb and someone had the thought of suspending it from the ceiling of the church. We all looked at it critically and finally decided it looked exactly like a disco ball. After a lot of laughter we took it down.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

do an Emerging Church Environmental Impact Report on your soul.

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THERE, FIXED IT.

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If the FOOD is good, people will flock (pun intended) to a hole-in-the-wall restaurant.

If the FOOD is rubbish, the biggest plushest place will be empty--or be filled with people not there for the food.

[blue-duncan]

The problem I see is we are shutting off successful suggestions and exhortations because of the man rather than looking at his successful ideas or the ideas he has taken from others and applying them. I'm sure if John Piper had said "perform an environmental impact study 'cause visitors like to see clean freshly painted halls and by the way make sure the air conditioning is just right so we don't lose them in the long bible study since many have put in long hours of work", we would all say, "yup, Piper just came down from Sinai again", and we should do it.

It's funny, my church's profane landscaper who takes care of the lawn and field recommended we use a new weed and moss killer and apply an insecticide monthly for an attractive lawn for the neighborhood, which we did. Applying the logic of some on this thread, we should have looked at his theology or lack of it to determine if the recommendation was correct for us and t he-- with the neighbors; after all, it's what's important to us that counts.

[The Spirit Of Allegiance]

Speaking of food for the soul, that's a five-star meal.

[Gamecock]

Jesus hung out with tax collectors, whores and all manner of sinners.

The one group he was most critical of was the religious leaders.

[Gamecock]

Amen

[HairOfTheDog]

Well, you probably would feel better sitting on a board of sharp nails then.

Good day to you.

[dan1123]

"Jesus hung out with tax collectors, whores and all manner of sinners.

"The one group he was most critical of was the religious leaders."

Funny. He was most critical of the religious leaders practice of putting heavy loads on people, and acting outwardly righteous.

He was also known for having a more compassionate message than the religious leaders of the day.

[Alex Murphy]

He was most critical of the religious leaders practice of putting heavy loads on people, and acting outwardly righteous.

Exactly. Now, before any of us forget again, here's the title of Rick Warren's article...

Six Physical Factors That Affect Your Worship Service

[dan1123]

"He was most critical of the religious leaders practice of putting heavy loads on people, and acting outwardly righteous.

Exactly. Now, before any of us forget again, here's the title of Rick Warren's article...

Six Physical Factors That Affect Your Worship Service"

And then he went on to talk about expensive ways to adorn the worship leaders and special seating to set members of the church as holy and blameless with some rough rugs that the unwashed non-members could repent upon.

What? It was about cleaning up and changing lightbulbs? Nevermind.

[blue-duncan]

"The one group he was most critical of was the religious leaders."

But that was because they were putting up spiritual roadblocks that kept people from the simple message of salvation. They wanted everyone to be just like them and worship just the way they did, according to their familiar and convenient traditions. But Jesus went where the sinners were; where they worked, where they played, where they ate, just as Paul would do mimicking his savior. He spoke to them in their own language, not the language of the professionals or the religious, and he taught them in communication forms that were interesting to them and that they could readily understand.

He did not require the unbelievers to come to Him, He went to them where they were. He made it convenient for them to hear the gospel and He was sensitive to His hearers needs, for food, drink and rest.

[ican'tbelieveit]

I think this man compromises truth and changes his message to bring more wallets into his tent.

[GOPPachyderm]

Well, he certainly has big goals doesn't he? And there is nothing wrong with helping people in stress and disease--the church has always been involved in various ways of helping people. It's when that becomes the goal at the expense of the message of salvation that it becomes problematic.

I can't imagine Jesus or Paul meeting with the Jews of their day to tell them how to implement purpose-driven principles. But Pastor Warren has done that with Synagogue 2000 for at least two years.

If a pastor preached that Jesus is the only way to salvation, as the Bible does, do you suppose you would be invited to speak before the United Nations? Asked to be part of the Council on Foreign Relations? Visit Syria? Korea?

Power and influence are strong motivators.

[unspun]

Maybe set up some massage stations in the foyer?

[najida]

I don't know the answer to that.

I do know what "I" respond to and what I react to in a setting. We are human, and we do respond to our senses. Some of us more than others.

I do know that if I got an invite on Christmas eve to two churches I knew nothing about,
other than one was in a high church, cathedral like setting and the other was ultra modern, complete with a drummer,

I know where I'd go. But I've been like that since I was an itty bitty kid.

[najida]

I know, we're all supposed to be so linked to God, even us sinners, that a drab, scary, sad setting we can ignore.

Call me shallow,
but I agree with Mr. Warren. You creat the image of God in your worship setting.

If you're God is the Grinch, go for it.

[Terriergal]

But that was because they were putting up spiritual roadblocks that kept people from the simple message of salvation.

YEP you got it! That's exactly what I'm saying!