The father of the Christian and Missionary Alliance, Albert Barnes Simpson, possessed a deep love for God and undying concern for lost people that issued in a movement that has, since its origins in 1887, prioritized the personal nature of faith in Jesus Christ. For people of the Alliance, true belief is more than adherence to correct doctrine. Christian faith involves a personal relationship with the resurrected Christ. This intimate encounter begins at new birth and deepens with the subsequent and ongoing work of the Holy Spirit.
Rapid Growth
For one hundred years the C&MA has sent men and women around the globe with the message of salvation. As a result, overseas membership has grown to more than 2 million. The Alliance is also one of the fastest growing denominations in North America. Through evangelism and church planting, its membership has doubled in a decade.
Yet along with the impressive growth, the C&MA has problems similar to those of other evangelical denominations. In its zeal for world missions, the Alliance has at times fallen into task orientation. This has given some the impression that people are saved to participate in a cause, rather than to have a personal relationship with the living Lord. Second, many of the thousands of new believers rapidly ushered into the denomination’s fellowship do not understand nor have as yet embraced the “deeper life” experience of the Holy Spirit. Finally, numerous local churches are experiencing a lifelessness in worship that creates a funereal atmosphere rather than a sense of celebration. This has contributed to the rapid decline and death of some congregations. It is within this context that worship renewal in the C&MA has taken root.
A More Participatory Style
The most significant change in worship has been a shift away from the sermon-dominated service. Rooted in the nineteenth-century evangelistic model, most local churches of the Alliance have been pulpit-focused and corporately passive. In recent years, numerous congregations have moved to a more inclusive and participatory style. The sermon, while still held in high esteem, is not the primary focus of worship. Instead it is one of many forms used to usher worshipers into the presence of God.
Music has played a significant role in Alliance worship, and until recently, the dominant expression was the hymn. While biblically based, Alliance hymnology does not represent the style of music that appeals to most contemporary worshipers. More recently, many congregations have begun to include Scripture songs and choruses in the worship service. Along with the new songs have come more instruments, such as guitars, drums, and synthesizers. In some settings, worship teams with singers and instrumentalists have replaced the traditional choir and organ. Some congregations have started to use banners and drama, introducing the arts into the worship experience.
Another significant shift has occurred in regard to body language and worship. For several decades, hand raising and clapping were seen by many people as signs of imbalance, reflecting unwelcome influence from the charismatic movement. But more and more people of the Alliance are engaging the whole person in the act of worship. Numerous pastors have recaptured the biblical postures of worship and sensitively introduced them to people in their congregations.
Another major change centers on the celebration of the Lord’s Supper. Many congregations seemed to focus so much on the death of Christ that Communion seemed almost dull and lifeless. A shift has occurred in some churches, in which the focus is instead on the presence of the living Christ in the midst of the sacrament. Worshipers are encouraged to bring their needs to the Lord. In several churches, ministry teams pray for people as they return from the Table. The emphasis is upon the present Christ, ready and able to meet worshipers in the midst of the sacrament.
Sources of Renewal
The impetus for these changes has come, first of all, from the Alliance Theological Seminary, which experienced worship renewal over a five-year period that influenced more than four hundred students. Many of these men and women would later serve as pastors and missionaries within the denomination.
Second, the denomination’s publication of Exalt Him: Designing Dynamic Worship Services was well received and initiated numerous seminars on worship renewal across the U.S. Third, personnel at the denomination’s National Office of Church Growth saw a critical need for worship renewal. Through their publications, special conferences, and seminars, denominational leaders were encouraged to embrace a new understanding of worship.
Fourth, Dr. Robert Webber’s lectures at ATS had a positive impact on some people’s understanding of the Lord’s Supper. Fifth, on the West Coast particularly, the Vineyard movement and Fuller Theological Seminary have had a limited affect on worship practices.
Sixth, like most denominations, the C&MA has indeed experienced a degree of influence from the charismatic movement. Finally, expressions of worship used within the many ethnic congregations of the denomination have opened the North American church to forms of worship previously disregarded.
What has been the response to renewal within the Christian and Missionary Alliance? One segment of the denomination has opposed change in worship. Both nontraditional and liturgical expressions of worship are seen as a threat to the movement. Others have naively embraced worship renewal as the answer to all of their problems. In an effort to bring in change, everything traditional has been cast aside and that which is popular and contemporary embraced. Unfortunately, deeper hindrances to growth are ignored.
A third posture toward worship renewal focuses on the desire to please God and lead worshipers into his glorious presence. Only those forms of worship renewal that glorify God, are Christ-centered, edify believers, and appeal to visitors are embraced. This approach appears to predominate, which bodes well for the future of the Christian and Missionary Alliance.