John Ortberg is the Senior Pastor of the 4,000 member Menlo Park Presbyterian Church (PCUSA) and the author of multiple books on spiritual formation. In the Spring 2011 edition of Leadership Journal, he wrote an article entitled “What Does God Think of Entertainment,” in which he set forth his view on what a successful worship service looks like:
The primary criteria for the effectiveness of a church service is not “holding people’s attention.” It’s not compliments after the service or growth in attendance, or satisfying our staunchest critics, or even satisfying our own internal assessment. It is this: Is Christ being formed in those who hear and participate (p.28)?
So What?
For most churchgoers, worship is the primary way they experience the local community of faith. In my experiences as a lay staff member and pastor in multiple mainline Protestant denominations, only a minority of those who attend worship participate on a regular basis in other aspects of congregational life. Regardless of how the patterns of involvement play out in your parish, how do you define success in worship? What group(s) are responsible for evaluating its effectiveness and at what interval?