What does it mean to be a worshiper?  Our conviction is that it means to be continually in His presence, in spirit and in truth.  It means to walk with Him in a way that brings our lives in line with His word.  It means to delight in His presence more than anything else.  It means to place Him as Lord of our lives.  It means to not just serve Him merely out of duty, but to love Him with all our heart, soul, mind and strength.

In Mark 7:6-7, Jesus rebuked the Pharisees who served God dutifully rather than out of delight... "these people honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.  They worship me in vain; their teachings are but rules taught by men."  Acts of worship that are pleasing to the Father are ones that overflow from a lifestyle of worship.

We believe that the goal of the Church is not to make converts, but to make disciples.  We feel that the best way to draw others into a deeper relationship with God is to do our best, as a church, to run toward Him pointing the way for others to follow.  Because the nature of people is to seek after the things that we love the most, our conviction is that true worshipers will always pursue God to the fullest extent they are able, while continually asking Him for greater capacity and grace to know Him more.

It's also clear throughout scripture that we cannot divorce true worship from willful obedience to Him and love for others.  Jesus said that if we love Him, we will obey what He commands (John 14:15).  We also know from the second great commandment the importance God places on loving our neighbors as ourselves (Matthew 22:39).  A disciple, or worshiper, of Christ must allow Him the place of Lordship over their lives that translates not just in word, but in deed also.

This word to deed translation requires the surrendering of our wills to Him.  Revelation 4:10-11 gives us a picture of how God wants to be worshiped when it says the 24 elders are constantly casting their crowns before His throne.  The crowns are symbolic of anything of value that would threaten His place in our hearts.  True worship of God demands a new birth, and our walk with Him as worshipers begins, is sustained, and ends with Him not just as Savior, but also as Lord.

The foundational desire of the worship ministry at Mad City Church is for our body to be full of voluntary lovers worshiping God in spirit and in truth.  We aim for every public worship experience, small or large, to be an intense corporate expression of our individual lifestyles of worship.  We long for the Holy Spirit to move and have His way in our midst, so in these corporate expressions we will always do our best to purposefully make room for Him.