Louie Giglio: Worship Is a 'Weapon' That Brings Unity to a Divided Church
Passion City Church Pastor Louie Giglio says Christian worship is a "weapon" that, among other things, can help bring Christians who are divided together.
Giglio was the closing keynote speaker at the Orange Conference, a church leadership gathering in Atlanta, Georgia, that was attended by approximately 8,000 people.
On Friday afternoon, Giglio preached from Romans 15:5–6, "May the God who gives endurance and encouragement give you the same attitude of mind toward each other that Christ Jesus had, so that with one mind and one voice you may glorify the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
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Regarding the passage, Giglio said that "our song of praise can be unified," adding that "you can be at different corners of the House of God, the Church that Jesus is building, and still have the same song."
"That's why a worship song can jump all the strings of the church where the pastor can't and a message can't, but a worship song can," he said.
Regarding the Romans passage, Giglio noted, "you don't get unity and then get a Spirit of following Christ Jesus, it's in the Spirit of following Christ Jesus that there is the possibility of unity."
Referring to worship as "power" and the "missing weapon ... in the life of the average believer," Giglio saw worship as going beyond the normal definition of praise.
"Worship is a weapon because worship gets our gaze back on the greatness of God in the face of whatever circumstance that we're in," Giglio argued.
"Worship invites us and gives us significance. To know that there is a chorus of God's worship happening in the entire universe right now. Not just in America, not just in the world, and not just in the Church, but the entire cosmos is singing God's praise. And He's inviting you, awakening you from the dead to join your unique instrument, your voice if you will, in the symphony of all creation."
Giglio's comments were part of the Orange Conference, a multiday gathering for church leaders whose theme was that of "One Voice."
"It's too easy to drift into silo thinking and build churches that become characterized by fragmented and random programs," stated the conference's home page.
"But if we combine our talents, perspectives, and gifts to lead with one voice we have a different kind of influence with the next generation."
Andy Stanley, senior pastor of North Point Church, spoke at Orange Conference on Thursday about the need for a unified church, calling it more important than "being theologically correct."
Stanley spoke of how he came to believe that believing in Jesus Christ was more important than theological arguments like how communion should be served or if babies should be baptized.
"Will we prioritize our oneness over our doctrinal peculiarities? Our baptism, our communion, our style of worship, our preaching?" asked Stanley.
"Will we prioritize our oneness over our politics? Will we continue to allow the kingdom of the world to divide the Kingdom of God that is in this world because of politics?"
Stanley argued that oneness in the faith was "more important than being theologically correct," adding that he believed when Christians of various denominations get to Heaven "we will discover that when it comes to theology, we were all wrong about something."
