My seminary colleague and friend Brian Patrick posted an article on his blog Pursuing Yahweh discussing worship as a tool for church growth. His conclusions are similar to those I offer in this article.

When we use worship as a tool to expand our reach in the community or to grow our churches, it ceases to be worship. It simply becomes another tool in our bag we pull out from time to time so that we can feel good about what we’re doing. Worship isn’t a “tool.” It isn’t a program we use to accomplish a goal we set for ourselves or for our church. In fact, worship is the only thing we do as Christians that is its own end. Everything else we do (e.g., mission trips, visitation programs, outreach programs, etc.) ultimately has a higher purpose. Because worship is ascribing to God the glory of which only He is worthy, it is its own end. It has no higher purpose. And when we attach other ends to it, we demote worship to just another program, just another activity, just another tool.

Impacting the Kingdom Through Worship,