It is said, “A family that plays together stays together” but the family of God stays together by exalting God, equipping one another to evangelize the lost. Thus, the Church exists for God rather than for her members as His witness. In other words, everything she does as a church whether it is exalting Him, equipping ourselves is for the purpose of evangelizing the lost.

In exalting Him, we worship not just with our lips but with our lives as well. Living a holy life is for the purpose of combating the evil around us and to witness the power of the gospel to the unbelievers. This is why we say worship is a way of life. Worship is not spending an hour in church on Sunday morning as many have come to view it. A way of life is to have God involve in every area and aspect of our lives. The wrong view of worship has led some to think that the church is a place to go and worship God instead as a family, we gather to worship God together. It becomes an “event” instead of a way of life; and a place to go to socialize with other believers who share a common faith with us.

Jesus said we are to worship in spirit and in truth and not for an hour singing hymns and listening to God’s word for our own intellectual stimulation without the internal transformation of our hearts. The word “spirit” is not capitalized in the text because it is referring to our spirit, not the Holy Spirit. It denotes the sincerity of our hearts in worship that should our emotive response to God in sincere adoration for what He has done for us. A family under God that worships God as a way of life will be able to exalt Him and also bear witness to the unbelievers.

Secondly, in equipping ourselves, as members of this family, we are also called to spur one another to do good works. Good is the “weapon” used for combating evil around us. Jesus instructed His disciples not to repay evil with evil but good. This must begin within the family of God so that when unbelievers see how we love one another in this way, they will know that we are the disciples of Christ.

Equipping is not just being taught or trained in the classroom. In fact, the best form of equipping takes place in our fellowship with one another. The fellowship of worship of the Lord must lead to the fellowship with the saints. However, fellowship of the saints has become “cultural” revolving around spiritual and physical food, the study of God’s word and the partaking of food together.  Biblical fellowship is sharing our lives with others，that is more sharing the physical and material things. It is where “iron sharpens iron” take place so we can be mold into the image of the Lord and become better witness for Him. It is where spurring of one another to live for the Lord taking place after studying the scripture together.

However, since the Church has become a place to go to, true and meaningful relationships no longer exist; but only a superficial one. As majority of members only come on Sunday mornings, we only see each other once a week for an hour, the transformation of lives cannot take place. The transformation of the inner man is only possible when Christians are committed to each other and have a genuine trust among them. Spending an hour or more on a Sunday morning cannot produce such a trust among us and so such relationships cannot be developed.

Paul has given us many “one another” commands in the Bible to practice in the family of God to produce love and trust among us. Fellowship like worship is not an event to go to, but it is where lives are changed and built through the spurring of one another to do good (1 Thessalonians 5:11). We cannot practice how to be kind and compassionate (Ephesians 4:32); confess our sins and pray for one another (James 5:16); bear one another’s burdens (Galatians 6:2); and love one another as Jesus commands (John 13:34-35). When it is happening then it is possible to bear witness to the world as Christ’s disciples.

Thirdly, in evangelizing the lost, the primary purpose of the Church’s existence, members are not only to worship God but also to serve Him and fulfill His call to evangelize the lost. Paul in 1 Corinthians 12:14-27 uses the human body to illustrate that everyone must be involved. God has given everyone something that he or she can contribute to this purpose. Therefore, we must not underrate or overrate the contributions each can bring into this body.

“The foot cannot say, ‘Because I am not a hand, I do not belong to the body.’” (Corinthians 12:15); or over-rate ourselves, “The eye cannot say to the hand, ‘I don’t need you!’” (Corinthians 12:21) The different gifts given to the church is not to serve her members alone but it is to evangelize the lost. Paul said so that, “God’s people will be equipped to do better work for Him, building up the church, the body of Christ, to a position of strength and maturity.” (Ephesians 4:12, the Living Bible)

We must get out of the pews and do our part! Someone said that passivity is the enemy of the believers. There are many members in the church who are not passionate at all in anything. Christ demands that we be passionate in our worship, passionate in our service particularly in evangelizing the lost as His family! He warns in Revelation chapter 3 that He will spit her out if she does not get out of her passive state of being lukewarm as a church.