In Lieu of Planting a Church... Form over Function? NO!

"Sunday's Coming" Movie Trailer from North Point Media on Vimeo.

In case you haven't heard, yes, I am planting a church with an all-star team of people.  We are planting a Harvest Bible Chapel in Spring Lake MI.  That is my home town and I'm pumped to be going out from the main campuses of Harvest Bible Chapel Chicagoland to bring this amazing ministry to an area near and dear to my heart.
The video above makes me think.  First glance, this thing is FUNNY!! I was laughing most of the way through.  Unfortunately, it is sad as well. Sometimes the best humor is in irony.  A Church structured around Form over Function, like this video describes, is seeking man's approval, not God's. That's a strong statement, but true to the core.  I hope never to be a church that elevates the Form of our ultimate Function.

Chris, what is this "Function over Form" thing that your driving the nail to? This is a Harvest Bible Chapel Biblical Philosophy of worship that I have learned and now stand for.  There are many different forms of worship: open mic scripture reading, singing, painting, dancing, special video, special music, soloist, string section, choir, baptism, greetings, lighting effects, etc.  FUNCTION is the middle of a 3 part rubric of service planning. There are five biblical functions of worship: Testimony (Ps 71:15), Prayer (Phil 4:6), Meditation (Psalm 119:27), Scripture (2 Tim 3:16), and Prophecy (Forth-tell, not foretell)(1Cor 14:26). All of these functions are under a 3 part Foundation.  The Foundation of worship is this: God talks/communicates to us (Matt 17:5), We talk/communicate to God (Jer 33:3), and We talk/communicate God to others (Eph 5:19).

We start at the foundation of Worship in service planning and work our way through the Functions that stand on the foundation to THEN the forms which exercise the functions. If we work this model backwards, we will be a church that will end up like the above video.
If we laughed at the above, we need to be mindful of the ultimate issue of why we laughed.  In planting this church with my all-star team, we could totally miss the mark and purpose if we don't work off our foundation! So it is my personal and God-given mission in this church plant to assure that we are Function over Form because our Function is based on the foundation of God's grace in communicating to us, allowing us to communicate with him, and sharing with others about God.

It may have been worded confusingly? I hope you are able to understand the simplicity of this truth. God is good, and when we submit to His authority and biblical foundation of how to worship, we can't go to far astray from giving Him Glory.
The only "problem" with this biblical model is the fact that we are human, and we will make mistakes. I'm so thankful that I serve a Forgiving God through Jesus Christ!

Enjoy!