Public and Private Worship … (June 2024 Update)
Every time I teach the Prayer and Worship class, students have one big question (among others). I have a lecture called “Public Worship is More Important than Private Worship,” and most of the students disagree. On the surface, it seems like private worship should be what “feeds” our public worship. But upon further examination, I am convinced that, while private worship is vital to our walk with God, public worship has far more benefits and blessings than private worship. We posted this article a number of years ago. But I think it is worth revisiting this important topic – especially as more and more believers are tempted to neglect public worship by listening online. There are many ways that private worship, as important as it is, is not sufficient for our total spiritual growth.
Until a few years ago, I believed that private worship was more important than public worship. But, in preparing for teaching a class on Worship, I read an article by Don Whitney on “Private Worship.” In his introduction, he wrote about a sermon by David Clarkson, “Public Worship to be Preferred Before Private” which changed his mind. After reading Don’s comments about the sermon, I then read the sermon itself. I too was convinced! Clarkson has 12 lengthy major points followed by 9 explanations and another 11 exhortations or applications! Here are a few reasons that I have summarized from this excellent sermon with a couple more of my own observations.
First, Public Worship is more like heaven than Private Worship. In private worship, we are alone with the Lord – which has its benefits also. But in public worship, we are joining our hearts and voices together with people from every nation, tribe and tongue in praising God. This is the picture we have in the Book of Revelation – voices from every tribe and nation throughout human history joining their voices together in praise! Public worship is in many ways a special foretaste of heaven itself!
Second, Public Worship glorifies God more greatly. Certainly God is glorified in the worship of even one of His redeemed. But when thousands upon thousands glorify God together in the same place, God’s glory is magnified and seen by all.
Third, Public Worship can be more edifying than Private Worship. In private worship, you are mainly edifying your own soul. In public worship, we build up one another as we worship together. Also, private worship is often frustrated by times of personal lukewarmness; but in public worship our own weaknesses are lessened by joining together in worship with the whole Body. So, while private worship can be edifying for us personally, public worship has the advantage of edifying us even when we are personally weak or struggling spiritually.
Fourth, Public Worship includes Exhortation from God’s Word. While it is true that the Word of God should be central even in our private worship, public worship affords an opportunity for us to hear clear exposition and exhortation from God’s Word to our own lives. Try as hard as we might, in our private devotions, we can be inclined to skip over or ignore convicting sections of God’s Word. Additionally, we are often “surprised” by the Word in public worship, and we hear what God is saying in ways we would not in private devotions.
Fifth, Public Worship provides opportunities for ministry to one another. In private worship, there is little opportunity to be used by the Lord in ministering to others. We may receive many great blessings in private worship, but we have far less opportunity to use those blessings in ministering to others. In public worship, the gifts and talents of many can be used to touch the lives of many, many more.
Sixth, Public Worship keeps us out of a “worship rut.” In private worship, we tend to follow the same routines and sing the same songs. But, through public worship, we are introduced to other songs and a variety of truths through corporate worship.
Private worship has its benefits too. Private worship helps to prepare our hearts for public worship and daily private worship gives us strength and encouragement for each day. But public worship can also do this. For example, almost every Sunday my heart is stirred by certain songs that I find myself singing throughout the week. Last week, I found myself singing “His Mercy Is More” all week even though I had not even thought about this song for months. The verses are great, but the chorus continually led me to continue to worship in private:
Praise the Lord, His mercy is more
Stronger than darkness, new every morn
Our sins they are many, His mercy is more
If it were not for public worship, my heart might not have been stirred to remember His great mercy all week long!
Public worship is not only very beneficial to our souls, it is actually commanded. Hebrews 10:24-25 reminds us to “consider one another in order to stir up love and good works, not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching.” Private worship has many values and should never be neglected. Consistent, daily private worship will enrich your public worship and will enable you to walk with the Lord every day – not just on Sundays! But public worship should not be neglected either. It has many spiritual benefits that we cannot gain simply through private worship. So, worship the Lord – publicly and privately – for He is worthy to be praised!
Teaching Ministry …
Last month was a very busy month for teaching. I finished grading papers from the Theology 1 class (Doctrine of God) and spent a lot of time getting ready for my two classes in May. At Kyiv Theological Seminary (KTS), Nataliya Tereshchenko and I started teaching the Research and Writing class that we have been teaching for over 13 years now. We were joined by Natasha Chikota who is observing the class so that she can teach it next year. She is a graduate from KTS and was one of our best students. We are excited to be helping her to teach this class next year. We will be helping her through the year and probably help her with the class in 2025 until she is comfortable teaching on her own.
This class will continue until June 21. We had nearly 40 students. This has become our favorite class because it is so helpful to students in ministry. We work a lot on helping students learn to write more clearly. Graduates often tell us that this class was the hardest in their seminary experience, but it was also the most helpful for them in ministry. Be praying for us as we teach the next two weeks.
Also in May, I co-taught the Prayer and Worship class with David Snead at Ukrainian Baptist Seminary in Lviv. David has been helping me teach this class for about 7 years now. This year, he taught most of the class by himself. We had some great discussions about various aspects of worship (especially about Public vs Private worship) and also about prayer. This class was small this year which made everything more manageable. We were also able to have some really good discussions.
Both classes went well with only a few interruptions due to the war. Last week, a number of students could not attend because the electricity was off due to Russian missile strikes. But most are doing well in spite of the difficulties that the war is causing.
In addition to regular classes, both schools continue to provide special seminars and training in topics related to the current war. KTS continues to train chaplains to minister to the troops in the thick of battle. Also, both seminaries had graduations. I am still amazed at the resilience of the Ukrainian people and especially of the commitment of believers to continue to train and prepare for ministry! Thank you for praying for them and their ministries!
Next month, we begin our transition to helping with Global Serve International (GSI). I will be attending the new missionary orientation in July. GSI will be sending about 30 new missionaries to the mission field, and this will be an orientation week for them. It will also give me a chance to meet these missionaries that I will be providing training and providing pastoral care for in the coming years.
GSI only sends missionaries to closed (restricted access) countries where missionaries are not permitted. Each missionary works with an unreached people group, learning the language and planting new churches among those people groups. Our job would be to provide pastoral support and training for these missionaries on the field. While we will be helping GSI, we will still be working through Teaching Resources. We will be partnering with them so that we can help provide some help and resources that they are currently lacking. So, all of our funding needs to come through Teaching Resources just like it always has. The only change is that we are transitioning our US office to be nearer us. So our new mailing address for donations is: Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735.
We are continuing to pray for our support while we are here in the states. We are doing well, and God is providing everything that we need. Still, our finances are a little lower than we need to live in the US. And a number of monthly supporters are shifting their gifts to other missionaries and ministries since we are now stateside. However, each month, Jehovah Jireh has provided extra gifts that have been so helpful in this transition! But we also need to add 3-4 additional families to our regular monthly support team. If you are interested in being part of our support team, information about making donations can be found at the end of this update.
Address Change (reminder) …
We have transferred the main mailing address to an office nearer to our home. Please start sending your gifts to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735 (we actually live closer to Goshen than Fayetteville). The Post Office will forward all mail but only for 6 months. So, please change the address for your giving.
Family …
We finished our Homeschooling year last month and the girls capped off the year with their last swimming lesson also. To celebrate, we went to have some “home-made ice cream” together! We asked for small cones and were shocked to find out that a “small cone” was 3 big scoops! It was more than we needed but we praise God for this unusual surprise blessing! The girls were not happy about the end of school and asked if they could continue through the summer. That’s exciting to hear. But we told them that a break for us all would be good. During the summer, we will do some review and they are still reading 3-5 books per week. So, we think they will do just fine. We started reading and listening to Pilgrim’s Progress and we are enjoying all the lessons that Bunyan has provided for us!
In May, we also had some special fun times. We went to a Naturals Baseball game with our missionary friends from Hiding Place Hollow. It was so good to see them and talk about what the Lord is doing in their lives. Hiding Place Hollow was hit by the high winds that accompanied the tornado a few weeks ago. If you want to help them financially or volunteer to help, you can contact them through their website. We also went to the Strawberry Festival in Fayetteville and the girls got to play in the sprinkler and went ice skating at the Jones Center with Haven and Harley. Ice skating is a great way to cope with Arkansas heat!
Summer will be extra busy for us with trying to work on landscaping and hopefully get our decks on too. We have been moving lots of gravel for landscaping and we carried about 60 flat stones from a nearby creek to use for sidewalks and paths. It was extremely hot and humid, but everyone pitched in to help, and we accomplished a lot.
My health has been unusually good these last 2 years. I have not felt this strong for about 5 years. While the work has been constant and tiring, we think much of my good health can be attributed to all the hard work. Still, I have one major problem that I will need surgery soon to correct. Last year, I was diagnosed with a large hiatal hernia. I had another scope done this spring and the doctor said it had worsened significantly and he recommends surgery. The surgery is not too difficult, but the recovery is really hard. I would not be able to lift anything heavy for 3-6 weeks and it could take 10-12 weeks to be able to eat normally again. Since I still have so much that needs to be done with the house, I am trying to hold off on surgery until the end of summer. At times, it is really quite painful. Please pray that I can manage until I get most of the heavy work done this summer.
Pray for Ukraine …
Please continue to pray for Ukraine. While we are now in the states to stay, our hearts are still with our colleagues, friends and former students. The war is affecting everyone there in so many ways. While the situation is somewhat better, they still live in fear from the almost daily missile attacks. Many are just worn out by the air raids and just the tension of war itself. Most have said that it is hard to plan for tomorrow when you really don’t know if you will have a tomorrow.
But, in spite of these difficulties, they are adjusting. And most are even more involved in ministry even more than before the war. Pray for our Ukrainian friends as they minister to the soldiers and their families and as they reach out to those who has lost everything because of the war.
Thank you for being our lifeline with your support and your prayers. These last 2+ years have been some of the most difficult of our lives, but your love and support have made these some of the best years of our lives as well. We continue to be amazed at all the ways God has provided for us since our return to the states. And we are praying that the Lord will continue to use us as we begin to work with other missionaries, helping them to continue in the Lord’s work even in various kinds of difficulties.
By His Grace,
Jim and Katya, Kristina and Nadia
If you missed previous updates or just want to read some short theological reflections, you can find these at our website at https://teachingresources.org/ .
Also, some have asked about how to support us. You can send checks to Teaching Resources International, PO Box 100, Goshen, AR 72735 (note: new address) or pay through PayPal on our website. Just put “#1000 Ehrhard” in the memo so our treasurer knows where to allocate the funds.
Some have also asked about our personal address now that we are in the states. Our new address is 14680 Magnolia Ridge, Fayetteville, AR 72701.