Cornerstone Curriculum, Official Certification Edition

LESSON 1 | THEOLOGY OF THE CHURCH: THE CHURCH AT WORSHIP / 285

Now is the time for you to discuss with your fellow students your questions about the Church at worship. To comprehend the strategic role of grace in establishing a relationship between God and the worshiping community, as well as the freedom and responsibility the Church has to exalt God is foundational to being a leader for God today. It may arguably be said that until a person understands and can articulate these truths with one’s words and deeds, one cannot exercise effective leadership in the Church. Go over these questions to see if you fully grasp both the facts and implications of the material, and how it relates to you and your relationships in ministry. What particular questions do you have in light of the material you have just studied about your own understanding of these truths? Maybe some of the questions below might help you form your own, more specific and critical questions. • Although most people have never heard of the “Pelagian heresy,” there are many people who commit it. How would a person who misunderstood salvation in this way talk about what it means to become a Christian? • Does your church (or denomination) understand the Lord’s Supper and baptism to be sacraments or ordinances? Why? • How often should a church take the Lord’s Supper together? Why? • To what extent does your worship team at your church fully grasp the facts and implications associated with worship as the Church’s vocation? • How free is the expression of your church’s worship in terms of the physical and psychological expressions exhorted in the Bible? How much are these injunctions to shout, clap, and dance “cultural expressions” versus biblical mandates for worship? Explain your answer. • What is the nature of your church’s “liturgy,” in other words, how your church organize its services and celebrations in order to “retell the story” in its worship services? What prevents this from being more effective in your church? • How does one shift the cultural climate of a congregation from stiff, familiar worship to dynamic and life-giving praise? What are the steps to such a situation?

Student Application and Implications page 146 & 21

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