The experience of participating with a group of Jesus-followers in worship on a weekly basis is one of great importance, and its impact is especially felt by those who have never had such an experience before or at least not for a long time. Phrases I've recently heard that describe it at Cornerstone are:
"I'm so glad I found this church!"
"These messages hit home every week."
"I'm so moved by the authentic spirit of the worship here."
And yesterday at lunch I heard, "I just really connect with what I see going on at Cornerstone."
Yet there can be a bit of a dilemma one finds after "discovering" a church like Cornerstone. It usually comes with the realization that Sunday morning worship attendance alone is not enough to grow spiritually and sustain a pattern of spiritual growth. Once an individual becomes passionate about worshipping God with other Jesus-followers, this very worship drives them to yearn for a relationship with the God of worship that goes beyond the doors of the place of worship. This is good. This is what worship does. As I look more and more intently at God in corporate worship, the more I realize that I need to look more like him at all other times in my week. Passionate worshippers of Christ will eventually desire to become passionate imitators of Christ.
I expect that very soon we will witness the baptism of a young man that illustrates and personifies this process. He came with his family (grudgingly because he didn't need or believe in God) to worship for several months. He found that there was something in the worship that was different than simply quality music, something in the messages that wasn't completely irrelevant to his life, and something in the relationships he was forming that was different than any others he had seen or personally experienced. These are my descriptions of this process from talking to him and his family, not his (but I hope you'll hear his soon.) One day he realized that he was not just attending a church gathering as an observer, but he was participating because he believed it.
It may have already hit this young man as it has many of us before him that as awesome as our Sunday worship time is, it's not enough. My Christianity is not equal to passionate Sunday worship participation. I'm not saying my Sunday worship participation is irrelevant to it, but if I attempt to make the two the same thing, then I will likely stop attending altogether at some point. The reason is that my enthusiasm for Sunday worship will fade if it tries to stand on its own. Passionate Sunday worship leads to a desire for passionate following of Christ 24/7. Guess what passionate following of Christ leads to… a desire for passionate worship with other believers… which leads to… (you get the idea.)
If you have recently "found a church home" at Cornerstone or even if it's been your church home for several months or years I want you to know that everything we do outside of our Sunday morning worship is designed to facilitate and encourage your growth into a passionate follower of Christ 24/7. This blog series will hopefully encourage your ongoing journey into just such a follower through practical ideas and follow-up suggestions from our recent sermon series "Don't just stand there, MOVE!" found here.
Passionate followers of Christ are people who are biblically grounded, spiritually directed, relationally connected, ministry focused, culturally engaged, and kingdom invested!
Are you?
