Kevin J.Navarro.The Complete Worship Service. BakerBooks. 2005.

Four divisions make up this book. The first, Longing for a Taste of Heaven reminds us that the worship service foreshadows the wedding banquet to take place in heaven when Jesus is united with his bride, the church. This will be a time of joyful worshipping and celebration. According to Navarro, every worship service should be a foretaste of that experience. That great banquet will be the ultimate celebration – nothing solemn about it – we’ll be praising and maybe even SHOUTING about our joy.

Preparing for a Taste of Heaven, part 2, talks about getting ready for the worship service. The author discusses everything from emphasizing quality in all matters to taking proper care of the church’s guests. He believes our parking lots can determine if a visitor even returns – it is suggested that guest parking spots be identified with signs so that first time guests won’t get discouraged by not finding a spot or having to traspe clear across a parking lot to even get to the church’s doors. This is a detail most of us would consider minor but it helps to advertise or market our church to non-members.

Part 3, Experiencing a Taste of Heaven discusses in detail each part of the service. First he talks about the appearance of our worship center (sanctuary or whatever your church calls the main room you worship in). It should be tasteful and contribute to the overall atmosphere of the worship service. All music and other arts should focus the worshipper’s attention on the main reason for worship: Jesus Christ. Obviously, the Word of God must be clearly proclaimed so that everyone leaves knowing that they have truly met with God himself—not just having heard a talk about life. They should also leave with hope.

Navarro compairs the worship service to having a complete meal at a fine restaurant. It should include a main course as well as dessert. He calls communion the dessert of the worship service. I am particularly pleased, coming from the Church of Christ movement, that the author urges churchs to make communion a weekly rather than monthly or yearly event. It’s purpose is to remember Christ until he returns—shouldn’t we do this every week?

Talking About a Taste of Heaven is the topic for part 4 of this book. The author believes that people who truly experience our worship services as a “taste of heaven” will naturally gossip about it – thus bringing people into the church. He views this as the ultimate in church marketing. Of course, if those people are unchurched to begin with, they will also hear the GOSPEL clearly presented.

The application to the complete worship service is obvious. If what you do in your worship services brings great delight to those who come to your church, they will talk to others about the experience. Remember when I said that churches grow like restaurants grow? Because it is natural for human beings to complete their joy through spontaneous praise, the best marketing you can do for your church is to do all things well. Give the body of Christ a fantastic experience of worshipping the Lord, and they will be back. Furthermore, they will be back with others. This is the way church growth works on a practical level. [page 160.]

Recommendation

Are you satisfied with your church’s worship service? Do you leave feeling you have experienced “a taste of heaven”? If not, I would like to challenge each of you to purchase The Complete Worship Service as a gift to your church board, pastor, worship leader, worship committee, or whoever else may be in charge of choreographing your weekly worship service. This book could change your church from the inside out.

Copyrighted by Diana Pederson, 2005-2009