I’ve been wondering this recently. Is worship something that comes natural, or is it something that needs to be learned? I don’t think many people have put much thought into this. First, let me give the background as to why this question came up. Are church members just expected to know how and why to worship during a praise & worship service? Churches offer all sorts of “how to” classes these days. One of the most popular classes now are the “How to evangelize” classes. There are tons of processes, kits, 4-step plans, etc. that teach people how to evangelize. I’ve been to a few, and read a few. Some are helpful, and some are just a bunch of legalistic wastes of time. There is also a lot of training for teaching people how to pray. They tell you what to say (what not to say), when to pray, and how often to pray. Some have little acronyms to help you remember what to pray for, like ACTS (adoration, confession, thanksgiving, supplication). Churches will spend months on a class teaching people how to pray. There are also similar classes on managing your money. Many churches offer Crown ministry classes which teach you how to manage your money, and how and why you should give back to God. Because we all know that this stuff does not come natural, so it needs to be learned. You can’t expect church members to naturally know how to evangelize, pray, and manage their money. So why do churches expect people to naturally know how to worship?

Have you ever heard of a worship class? One that teaches people why and how to worship God? I never have. Well, I take that back. I’ve heard of one. It was the one that I helped put together a few years back when I was coordinating the Junior High ministry, and we put together a weekend retreat where we taught the JH’ers why and how to worship God. I did most of the administrative stuff, and the youth minister did the teaching. I have to say I think it was a great success. Those JH’ers that attended that retreat went on to be the leaders of the youth for years to come, and they led the others in how to worship God. Those kids are graduating this year. Hopefully they have passed down that practice to the younger ones over the years, so that passionate worship will continue long after they have left.

But back to the original question. Does worship come natural? I recently read A.W. Tozer’s book “Whatever Happened to Worship?”, and he said that worshiping God is the most natural thing to do. I don’t often disagree with Tozer, but I’m going to have to disagree with him here. Let’s for just a second, assume that he is correct and it does come naturally. If it does, then droves of churches are killing that natural inclination, because the majority of evangelical churches today are just dead when it comes to praise & worship. People just stand there with the look on their face like they are thinking of countless other places they would rather be. Some people will mouth the words because they know that’s the appropriate thing to do. But more and more don’t even do that. They just sit that and watch whoever’s on stage, and wait to be told when they can sit down.

One thing I wholly agree with A.W. Tozer on is when he wrote in the same book as mentioned above, “Worship acceptable to God is the missing crown jewel in evangelical Christianity”. Why is this? After working with youth for the past 8 years, I can confidently say that the kids get it. They know why they are worshiping and they are passionate about it. But most adults today just don’t have a clue. But is it really their fault? I don’t think it is. If you get a puppy and it makes a mess on your expensive rug, who’s fault is it? It’s not he puppy’s fault. He just needed to use the restroom, and didn’t know any better. He doesn’t know he’s supposed to do that outside. The blame lies with whoever is responsible for the puppy. They have to potty train the puppy.

The first thing church leaders need to do is communicate to people why God is worthy of our worship. Nothing else matters if we don’t first realize that God is worthy of our worship. There are lots of examples of worship in the bible, but for some reason, evangelical adults seem to avoid those scriptures like the plague. I don’t get it. Finally, to answer my title question. I think the answer is yes & no. It depends on who you are talking about. Does it come natural to worship God? No. If it did, we wouldn’t have this many dead congregations, and churches wouldn’t need to hire talented worship leaders. But if you are asking, Does it come natural to worship ourselves, then the answer is absolutely YES. I am very good at that, and I didn’t take any classes to get my LPMW - Licensed Professional Me Worshiper.

Update: 12 pounds - almost half way.