Dear Theophilus Archive: Sept. 2001

A Glimpse into the Worship Committee

By Ed Lee

The worship committee is simply a group of brothers and sisters at Emmanuel who seek a greater understanding of what worship is and what our attitude of worship should be. More simply stated, we desire to be examples of worshipful, God-centered servants who inspire others to be likewise. Because of our human sinfulness, this goal is a difficult one.

What do we do when we meet? Most people think of the worship committee as the people who, every Sunday, hand out bulletins, collect offering, "cram" people into pews, and do everything with a smile. On the outside, those are some of the duties for which we are responsible, in addition to making sure lighting and room temperature are adequate, that small children are not disturbing the message, etc. More importantly, however, our group's primary purpose is to glorify God. Whether that means making a room less noisy, or offering the speaker a cup of water, we seek to eliminate any distractions that would hinder one's personal time of worship. The worship committee meets every Sunday at 9 AM to share and pray so that even before we step into the sanctuary, we are focused on God. While we serve doing these various things, we hope for an attitude that is "less of ourselves and more of Him". We also meet for large church events (e.g. LIFE conference) because we know that those are important times of worship.

For me personally, I have been involved in the committee since my college days (not sure how many years that is). The greatest benefit has been in seeing how small I am in light of God. How every moment of my life, whether during Sunday service or Monday morning at work, I need to be mindful of how great and good our God is. It has also been good to meet with other members of our church and to see the body of Christ at work. He deserves more worship and glory from our lives because He is worthy.