In today’s blogpost, I hope to define and describe the importance of the Call To Worship and why your Pastors view it as a key moment when we gather on Sundays.

First, it’s a call. Meaning we are summoned by God to do something.

In the big picture, God called us to worship Him when He graciously saved us. The weekly call to worship (CTW) is first and foremost a reminder that God, in Christ, called us out of this world by saving us through the blood of Christ and to a life of worship!

It’s also a weekly reminder that coming together isn’t our initiative. We love God because he first loved us. (1 John 4:19) God initiated in all of our lives. We wouldn’t be meeting with the people in our local Church apart from God’s initiative. Our gathering on any given Sunday would not happen apart from the substitutionary work of Jesus Christ being applied in our lives.

Let’s not forget the practical reasons. The CTW begins our Sunday meeting. We stand for this, we close the Church doors and don’t allow any traffic in and out for a few minutes. Why? We’ve come together for a glorious purpose. A time we intentionally gather to worship Him.

As exiles in this world (1 Peter 2:11), we need the CTW to wake us up to eternal realities that God is worthy of our attention and we are called together to exalt Him. The CTW not only is wake up call but a time to re-focus attention away from earthly pursuits – comfort, ease, the pursuit of money, the idolatry of relationships and the endless pursuit of self, etc.

Second, it’s a call to something. To worship as the people of God. To be a part of what’s happening in heaven. (Hebrews 12:18-24)

CTW is a response to God’s call on our lives so we always begin with God’s Word. We want to be clear in our Sunday time of gathering that it’s about God and not us. Nothing speaks louder to this reality than beginning with His Word. Nothing awakens us to worship the sovereign God like reading from His Word.

The object of our worship is Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh and the One who dwelt among us and gave His life for the Church. He is the target, the focus of our worship. The CTW is that key moment in our Sunday gathering where we transition from a focus on all other things to what matters most.

Think of it like this – the CTW is that moment each Sunday where we look into the mirror and are freshly awakened to the reality that my life, my story had been folded into the greatest story ever, the story that a Holy God making it possible for people like me to boldly come to Him and worship. God has called me out of this world and into His sovereign plan along with others who have been folded into his story too. Together we aren’t doing something man made but simply joining the heavenly throng already worshipping the King.

Why a “Call To Worship?”