Personal Philosophy of Worship
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Personal Philosophy of Worship
Everyone has their own way of conversing with God in worship. Some through singing
others through dancing while others play instrumental music in church. Worship as known is
also a communal practice that is directed towards God. Some people regard worship as a way of
surrendering or adoring their creator. It is intelligible by culture and includes worshippers of all
ages and gender. Worship happens daily in a person’s life and according to Christians it should
be done constantly and expressions should come from a person’s inner self and it could be
reflected by one’s actions
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. There is no specific time set aside for worship and one can worship at
any time and any place. Personal philosophy of worship is what one perceives as the guiding
principle of their intervention with God.
There are so many perspectives that surround Christian worship. Several historical
models for worship inform us about what guiding principles people use in worship. Some of
these models perceive worship as personal while others perceive it to be communal. However
communal worship could be though everyone as their way of doing it even when it is being done
communally. In the early church Christian worship was mainly communal and was put stamp by
a collection of practices that were adopted from Judaism.
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The personal philosophy of worship in
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Pinson, J. Matthew, ed. Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views. Nashville: B&H
Publishers, 2009.
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Towns, Elmer L. and Whaley, Vernon M. Worship Through the Ages: How the Great
Awakenings Shaped Evangelical Worship. Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2012.
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those times was that people were supposed to worship as a community. People of a certain
community met to worship in shrines and others met under trees that were perceived as sacred.
Larger homes were converted into worship spaces to fit the large masses of people that usually
met for worship over the first three centuries though this evidence is scanty. This limit of space
meant that people were so devoted to worship.
Some personal philosophies of worship could also be influenced by the church that one
goes to although it should be a personal choice or perception. This is because some places of
worship have ways that they would like their worshippers to be dressed or what and how they
should eat. In other places, we find out that people have to be of a certain race or a certain gender
to worship in a specific way. For example, some countries despise certain ways of worship, and
when one is found they could be punished badly even through execution. as the world grows
more polarized the ways of worship are slowly by slowly appealing to the generation antsy and
there’s so much influence on people such that what is perceived to be personal philosophy is
being done because someone else is doing it. for example, some people could perceive as a
personal philosophy is what has been adopted from someone else. For example, someone could
perceive it as singing because someone else is singing. The historical models of worship that
perceived it as communal have today been almost totally done away with because most people
do not do communal worship and most people do not even convene at any one specific point to
worship. People have adopted their own ways of worshipping such that even doing offerings are
done through till numbers while others prefer visiting a children’s home or the streets and
providing the less fortunate as a way of what they perceive as worship. The church today has
also become a place where most people are nowadays using like a job or a business venture
through what other people offer. to avoid these people have stopped with the general perception
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that on certain specific days they must commune at certain places for services. People prefer to
see the value of their offering personally and want the accountability of their money so that they
are sure of their blessings.
Gender and sexuality have also brought about the current changes in personal perception
of worship. This area that also encompasses homosexuality, divorce, complementarian gender
roles has brought about a major difference in how people perceive worship. Some of these
groups could avoid certain ways of worship because they are discriminated against for their
identity in certain religions. For example, some religions highly condemn homosexuality. This
will lead to a homosexual not going to that certain place of worship[p and not identifying oneself
with that particular religion because they feel left out.
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This discrimination of some groups is one
of the problems that are bringing fragmentation and cultural alienation In many places of
worship in the 21st century. For example with some laws such as the recent Massachusetts state
law that forces the churches to allow the transgender group to use the bathroom of their choice.
In the 21st century, personal philosophy is seen in ways such as how people go for
evangelistic ministries. Through these ministries, a person sends themselves to go door to door
letting people know about worship and generally about god. It is a personal mission since one
isn't necessarily forced to go for evangelism or to become an evangelist. churches now have a
specific ministry that's set aside for the evangelists. Some people are also evangelists without
necessarily being members of any certain religion but just as a way to worship that they believe
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Towns, Elmer L. and Whaley, Vernon M. Worship Through the Ages: How the Great
Awakenings Shaped Evangelical Worship. Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2012.
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pleases their god. With the current challenge of presence where most people are nowadays
busied by their job’s evangelism serves great importance by ensuring that people get to worship
at the convenience of not leaving their jobs. This is a great personal philosophy of worship to
conveniently ensure that people worship wherever they are without necessarily having to worry
about going to the places of worship such as churches or mosques.
The challenges that face the 21st-century church have been known to positively influence
personal philosophy. The biblical illiteracy has made worshippers choose to teach the bible to
other people so that people are bible literate. People may also choose to worship through their
phones because the world today has disembodied tendencies whereby they increasingly live their
lives through technology that is through their screens and phones among other electronic
gadgets. This means that one could worship with the rest through their phones such as by
watching music from YouTube or a preacher streaming a church service live for the audience.
Personal philosophy of worship can also be influenced by the distrust that people have on the
authority in their places of worship and legally. For example, the millennials today have a real
distrust of authority
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. This makes worshipping in the church quite challenging because they also
have a hard time submitting fully to the authority of the scripture. This leaves most of them
worshipping through the formation of dance crews and worshipping through dancing and singing
among other talents in the streets instead of in the church.
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Towns, Elmer L. and Whaley, Vernon M. Worship Through the Ages: How the Great
Awakenings Shaped Evangelical Worship. Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2012.
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People also have different perceptions of worship because of today's entanglements of
allegiances whereby people are stuck between choosing their loyalty to Christ or their loyalty to
the church. It is a messy political' entanglement for Christians today whereby people chose what
is not biblically acceptable because of their political allegiance. This has become a major
problem in worship today and this is one has to choose their own right way to worship instead of
following the leaders is a major choice to make. Worship should come from one’s heart and
should agree with what their god wants and not what is said by the church leader or the political
leader. in all forms of worship that people use they should know that their god is the object of
worship and they should what the purpose of their worshipping is. Worship only exists to glorify
God through the major ways that people chose such as the singing of hymns.
In conclusion, the conflict of worship historically still offers a great impact on the 21st-
century church. people should be allowed to live with what they perceive as their philosophy of
worship without having to be compelled to worship in a certain way by legal laws or laws of the
church. The freedom of one’s way of worship should come along with the fact that it's their
belief because everyone has how they feel that they have communicated with their God.
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Bibliography
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Pinson, J. Matthew, ed. Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views. Nashville: B&H
Publishers, 2009.
Towns, Elmer L. and Whaley, Vernon M. Worship Through the Ages: How the Great
Awakenings Shaped Evangelical Worship. Nashville: B&H Publishers, 2012.
Webber, R. E., & Webber, R. Worship old and new. Harper Collins, 1994.
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Pinson, J. Matthew, ed. Perspectives on Christian Worship: Five Views. Nashville: B&H
Publishers, 2009.
