Take a look at the ministry flow chart below. It puts the role of celebration– the worship service– in context. That’s one hour out of the week… the rest of the week is 167 hours. Consider where you are putting your time and energy. How much is being invested into that one hour a week of celebration? What are you investing in the other 167 hours a week? What does that communicate about what it means to be incarnational and missional? I certainly don’t want to undervalue the importance of the celebration. It matters. Yet we are more likely to overvalue that one hour at the expense of the others. The celebration needs to be connected with the whole:  it’s the overflow of rejoicing in what God is doing in the whole process of redemption and restoration.

167 hours