Unchurched
"Unchurched" as an adjective is defined as "not belonging to or connected with a church". When concerning religious participation, it refers specifically to people who do not attend worship services. A worship services or "church service" or sometimes called a "service of worship" is a formal group or communal gathering to perform a wide variety of what is often called "worship" in some ceremonial or ritualistic Christian tradition generally involving some form of clergy.
According to one christian polling group if someone does not attend a church for 6 months they can be counted as unchurched. That makes for wide range of people who would be classified as unchurched. The reason for not attending Church can be very broad and unrelated.
But there are people who claim to be "unchurched" who are seeking to deconstruct the modern "organized church" model which they find unsatisfactory while at the same time are seeking ways of establishing genuine church community centered around a faith in Christ and His Way.
An important question might be what is "worship" or what is "religious worship" or what is "religion" since the definitions of these words have changed over the years. Today "worship" has been defined as "reverent honor and homage paid to God" while "worship service" has been defined as "to show profound religious devotion and respect to; adore or venerate (God or any person or thing considered divine)". But if we examine the Bible we see in Luke 6:46 Jesus saying "And why call ye me, Lord, Lord, and do not the things which I say?"[1] and in Exodus 20:5 we see "Thou shalt not bow down thyself to them, nor serve them: for I the LORD thy God [am] a jealous God, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children unto the third and fourth [generation] of them that hate me;"
This reference to bowing down is a form o worship in the sense of homage or adoration but it also includes actual serving.
This reference to actual service to God in the form of services performed by people serving others seemse to be at the core of Christ and His purposes as we see in Luke 22:27 "For whether is greater, he that sitteth at meat, or he that serveth? is not he that sitteth at meat? but I am among you as he that serveth." and in John 12:26 "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour."
In John 12:26 we see another reference to actual service beyond mere ritual or ceremony of the Modern Church, "If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will [my] Father honour." And again in Luke 12:37 "Blessed [are] those servants, whom the lord when he cometh shall find watching: verily I say unto you, that he shall gird himself, and make them to sit down to meat, and will come forth and serve them."
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Footnotes
- ↑ The following a given as cross refferences:
- Luke 13:25 When once the master of the house is risen up, and hath shut to the door, and ye begin to stand without, and to knock at the door, saying, Lord, Lord, open unto us; and he shall answer and say unto you, I know you not whence ye are:
- Luke 13:26 Then shall ye begin to say, We have eaten and drunk in thy presence, and thou hast taught in our streets.
- Luke 13:27 But he shall say, I tell you, I know you not whence ye are; depart from me, all ye workers of iniquity.
- Malachi 1:6 ¶ A son honoureth his father, and a servant his master: if then I be a father, where is mine honour? and if I be a master, where is my fear? saith the LORD of hosts unto you, O priests, that despise my name. And ye say, Wherein have we despised thy name?
- Matthew 7:21 ¶ Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven.
- Matthew 7:22 Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works?
- Matthew 7:23 And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me, ye that work iniquity.
- Matthew 25:11 Afterward came also the other virgins, saying, Lord, Lord, open to us.
- Matthew 25:24 Then he which had received the one talent came and said, Lord, I knew thee that thou art an hard man, reaping where thou hast not sown, and gathering where thou hast not strawed:
- Matthew 25:44 Then shall they also answer him, saying, Lord, when saw we thee an hungred, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?
- John 13:13 Ye call me Master and Lord: and ye say well; for so I am.
- John 13:14 If I then, your Lord and Master, have washed your feet; ye also ought to wash one another’s feet.
- John 13:15 For I have given you an example, that ye should do as I have done to you.
- John 13:16 Verily, verily, I say unto you, The servant is not greater than his lord; neither he that is sent greater than he that sent him.
- John 13:17 If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them.
- Galatians 6:7 Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap.