Are Church Services for Christians or Non-Christians?
Aim Your Church Services at Christians What is the main evangelistic value of your church service? Is it directly explaining the gospel to non-Christians? No. Church is for explaining the gospel to Christians, to fuel the supernatural witness of their community together. In 1 Corinthians 14, Paul makes it clear that the church assembles mainly to edify believers. Everything we do should aim at glorifying God by edifying each other. As a church leader you are probably told frequently that if you would just make church less about Christians and more about non- Christians, you’d see more people saved. If you would just shorten your services, simplify your sermons, open up service opportunities to nonmembers, have classes that non-Christians enjoy, and so forth . . . you’d reach the lost for Christ. But if that were true, why does the New Testament devote so much of its content to how the local church can worship God by building up believers? When we begin to think about church gatherings
