The Ministry of Proximity

Lord’s Day worship is such a special thing. When I get home on Sunday evenings, I can’t wait until next week when we can gather again. When planning our services, there are a couple of principles that always guide me.

First, I want them to be Apostolically familiar. If, let’s say, Paul the Apostle walked into one of our worship services, would it seem familiar to him? Do our worship services have the same elements that would be found in the gatherings he oversaw? As far as I can tell, these were the elements of worship in the early church:

• Reading and Teaching of Scripture - Public reading and exposition of Scripture were central to worship. 1 Timothy 4:13 – “Until I come, devote yourself to the public reading of Scripture, to exhortation, to teaching.”
• Prayer - Prayer was both corporate and individual, often intercessory, thankful, and Spirit-led. 1 Timothy 2:1–2 – Encourages prayers, intercessions, and thanksgivings for all people.
• Singing - Worship involved singing psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs to God and to one another. Ephesians 5:19 – “Addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs…”
• The Lord’s Supper (Communion) The early church observed the breaking of bread, a reference to both communal meals and the remembrance of Christ’s death. Acts 2:42 – “They devoted themselves… to the breaking of bread…” 1 Corinthians 11:23–26 – Paul describes the institution of the Lord’s Supper and its significance.
• Baptism - One of the only practices (the other being communion) that the Lord Jesus Himself commanded us to practice. Acts 2:41 – “Those who received his word were baptized, and there were added that day about three thousand souls.”
• Giving (Offerings) -Financial giving was a regular part of worship, for the support of ministers, the poor, and missions. 1 Corinthians 16:1–2 – “On the first day of every week, each of you is to put something aside…” 2 Corinthians 9:6–7 – Encourages cheerful, voluntary giving.
• Use of Spiritual Gifts In gatherings, various members would use spiritual gifts for mutual edification. 1 Corinthians 14:26 – “When you come together, each one has a hymn, a lesson, a revelation, a tongue, or an interpretation.” Romans 12:4–8 – Describes the variety of gifts within the body of Christ.

Theologians refer to our desire to allow the scriptures to set the elements of our worship as the regulative principle, that is, scripture regulates how we worship. We don’t dream this stuff up; God tells us, in His word, how He desires for us to worship in Lord’s Day gatherings. I think we have done a pretty good job of creating space for each of those things in our services.

The second thing I am concerned about as we plan our services is making our corporate worship services more authentic and impactful. Now, don’t get me wrong, that’s ultimately God’s job, not mine. As the old hymn writer put it, “all is in vain unless the Spirit of the Holy One comes down”. However, if we can tweak things to allow people to lay aside the cares of the world and simply worship, we want to do so.

Recently, something has been stirring within me that I think may be a tweak that can make our gatherings more impactful. I have increasingly been aware of the fact that so much of what God did through Christ and the early church happened in a very close, intimate proximity and was often physical in nature. Things happened that could not be live-streamed.

The miracles of Jesus were most often personal, physical, and proximate.

• “They brought to him all who were sick… and he healed them.” (Matthew 4:24)
• “They implored him that they might only touch the fringe of his garment…” (Matthew 14:36
• “They brought to him all who were sick or oppressed by demons.” (Mark 1:32)

It was up close. Personal. Often involving touch. Sure, Jesus could have simply declared everyone healed, but He didn’t do it that way. When Jesus would come into a town, people were “brought” to him. He often touched them and brought healing.

And it didn’t stop with Jesus. As the church was born and began to spread, this pattern of physical ministry continued. The Apostles were often laying hands on people and praying for God to heal or bless them. At times, they anointed them with oil, as James commanded in his letter. My inquisitive mind wonders why. To be completely honest, I haven’t been able to answer that question, beyond recognizing that spiritual ministry happens within a physical context; therefore, things like proximity and touch matter.

Think about it — what is the first thing we do after repenting of our sins and believing in Jesus Christ? Someone takes hold of us and immerses us in a large body of water, literally burying us and then raising us back up — pointing to the death and resurrection of Jesus. Baptism is a very physical act. One does not baptize oneself; the disciples were told to baptize others. Therefore, in obedience to Christ, we baptize new believers.
Then, (in our context) on the first Lord’s day of each month, we celebrate the Lord’s Supper, which is also a very physical act of worship, through which we literally eat and drink the elements of worship into our physical bodies.

It didn’t stop there for the early church; the men of the church were commanded to lift holy hands unto the Lord, and they were to greet one another with a holy kiss. The early church was tactile. Embodied. Present. They didn’t just talk about ministry—they touched it. They didn’t just pray from afar—they showed up, laid hands, and stood alongside one another in moments of great need.

It has me thinking: maybe one of the most countercultural things the modern church could do isn’t bigger screens or slicker sound—it’s simply getting close again. What would it look like, and how might it enhance our experience of Lord’s day worship if we allowed a time for this to happen?

At some point in our worship services, we as a staff are discussing ways of reintroducing an opportunity for in-person, up-front prayer and ministry. During the singing portion of our service, I’ll step forward and briefly explain what’s happening. We’ll invite anyone who desires prayer or simply wants to come seek the Lord to step out and come forward. It won’t be emotional manipulation. It won’t be flashy. Just a sacred space for God and his people to come together.

This moment will likely last 2–4 minutes. Worship will continue softly in the background. People will be free to stay, kneel, be prayed over, or simply stand in the presence of God. And the rest of us will continue to worship and support from where we are. Will everyone come forward? Of course not. But I believe several will. And more importantly, I believe God will meet us there.

This is just one small way we’re trying to take what I sensed during sabbatical—and put it into practice. After all, ours is not a disembodied faith. We believe in a God who took on flesh, touched lepers, wept with mourners, broke bread with sinners, and laid hands on children. His ministry was physical—so why shouldn’t ours be?