Is there such a thing as “wrong” worship?

Yesterday at church, when the service the commenced, the youth leader showed a video showing a worship team giving a parody of what a “wrong” worship is like. In that video, the casts of musicians were playing Christian contemporary songs, but with a change of lyrics with the intent to show what is the “wrong” attitude towards worship. For example, instead of “How great is our God”, the lyric was changed to “How great is this song!”

 

The youth leader attempted to prod some self-reflection from the congregants with his remarks “Do you come to church to serve God, or do you come to church to serve yourself?” I find those remarks quite patronizing actually. Are there actually anyone that I can think of who comes to church to serve themselves? It is quite insinuating a remark to make in my opinion.

 

Later in the service, during the sermon, the pastor mentioned something about how coming to church is God’s way of ministering to the congregants. I suppose it is quite a contrast to the perspective towards church worship that is adopted by the youth leader.

 

I think church service is both about people worshipping God, as well as God ministering to the people, and many other different things to different people as well, and I think people should not be accused of having a “wrong” attitude in service. So what if they came for the friends as church? It is just as well that they are ministered to then if they stayed at home, or go to other places on Sundays instead of church to hang out with their friends. And so what if people pay attention to the quality of the song, and think of it as either great or poor? That does not necessarily derogate from their desire to worship God in service. It is an individual’s way of wanting to express his own style and ideas in worshipping God, and moreover, I believe that that worship service is also to tailor to the preferences of different people as well.