Presbyterian Church (USA)

Presbyterians are convinced that worship, work, and witness are inseparable within the one life of the church. Through worship and the proclamation of the Word, faith matures into a commitment that touches other lives with the Good News of Christ.

Presbyterians believe that every person called into the community of faith is gifted by the Holy Spirit for worship and for work. However, they often find it a challenge to live up to their theology about equal privilege and responsibility. In the decades since the churches which now make up the Presbyterian Church (USA) opened ordination to women, the denomination has made noticeable progress toward realizing the priesthood of believers in public worship. For example, people gathered for a recent ordination service were called to worship by a poised six-year-old reciting the Psalm for the day, while the charge to the congregation was given by an eighty-six-year old. An African-American woman pastor gave the invocation; a Korean elder led the recitation of the creed; and an unemployed young man read the Gospel lesson. The entire celebration was a glad microcosm of the church universal, reflecting the denomination's creative and visible inclusion of those who join in worship. In principle, every believer—each child, each woman, each man—participates in worship as an act of service and in work as an act of worship. Worship pervades and unifies all facets of Presbyterian life. The constitutional Directory for Worship supports this understanding by devoting two full chapters to the relationship between worship and service. One chapter deals with the Christian's mutual ministries to one another within the church: Christian nurture and pastoral care. The other chapter addresses the church's ministries in the world: evangelism, compassion, reconciliation, and stewardship. I will explore here how these ministries interact in the common life of the Presbyterian Church (USA). Worship and Christian Nurture Christian nurture begins in baptism, the act of worship in which the entire congregation makes a commitment to the spiritual formation of the child or the new believer. The Lord's Day service is the primary center for Christian nurture. There, faith is brought to maturity through the regular hearing of the proclamation of the Word, through coming to the Lord's Table with an age-appropriate understanding, and through sharing in the worship life of God's people in the community. Most Presbyterian congregations have been creative in designing services to involve children and the unique gifts they bring to worship. From offering an alternative informal family-oriented service each Lord's Day to providing special bulletins for children, local churches employ a broad spectrum of incentives for children who participate in public worship. Some congregations use church school classes to help children to learn hymns, prayers, and creeds; others incorporate contemporary music into the service; still others encourage adult friends to extend special invitations to a child ("?Come sit with me during worship today?"). When children's sermons are a regular feature of public worship, most congregations request the children to remain for the entire service, just as they do when the children's choir sings. The concerns about children in worship include: "?If we dismiss them, aren't we sending them the message that the '?real?' worship service isn't for them? Won't they feel we don't want them unless they're performing??" Worship and Pastoral Care Pastoral care in times of crisis and transition has always drawn upon worship resources. Prayer, shared Scriptures, or a beloved hymn come alive to comfort and support people. And offering Communion to those who are hospitalized, imprisoned, or confined to the home celebrates the presence of Christ beyond the sanctuary. One suburban congregation has discovered that when two or three lay persons visit a local nursing home, singing the doxology or reciting the Lord's Prayer not only touches chords of personal spirituality, but also makes people feel more a part of their home congregation again. Similarly, people in the worshiping community experience a sense of oneness with absent loved ones when the concerns of the people or prayers of intercession bring those names into corporate worship. Worship and Evangelism Evangelism also happens most naturally and most effectively in the context of weekly worship. Where else will people hear the gospel faithfully and consistently proclaimed? Where else are they likely to see and experience the loving interactions of people being transformed by God's love? Where else will they hear a clear call to commitment and discover the promises of God? It is natural and effective for Christians to invite those they meet in their daily lives to come to worship with them. Renewed interest in challenging people to discipleship has prompted an increasing number of congregations to incorporate a call to commitment into the Lord's Day service. "?Worship should always offer opportunities to respond to Christ's call,?" affirms the Directory for Worship. Frequently, the call to discipleship also provides an opportunity for people to renew commitment or to offer themselves in service and in mission. Worship and Social Ministry Works of compassion, reconciliation, social concern, and stewardship, when done as acts of Christian service, most often arise out of worship which calls Christians to these acts and equips and strengthens Christians for these acts. Hearing God speak through Scripture, being touched by the reality of intercessory prayer, recognizing the spiritual connection between all believers, all these experiences in worship move people into the world in service to Christ. Following the perceptive example of African Americans, Presbyterians bracket their actions for social justice or for peace with prayer. They have learned the need for confession and empowering if their social witness is to be heard. In seeking to intercede as if they were fellow suffers with those for whom they pray, Christians find themselves drawn to new worship disciplines. Some Presbyterian congregations now use the daily news as a prayer resource along with The Mission Yearbook. Others encourage members to develop simpler lifestyles for the sake of both economic justice and the exercise of the discipline of stewardship of the earth and earth's goods. Members of one congregation are challenged to retire early in order to offer years of freely given ministries of compassion or encouragement. How do Presbyterians pull all these diverse ministries together? One elder used this image: "Worship is the glue that holds our life together. When we are all going our separate ways in the weekday world, what we do isn't fragmented, because we will all come back to this same place at the same time and bow our heads together in the same motion before the same Almighty God."