What is the purpose of a worship service?

I was on the website of a local church the other day and read something that struck me.

We want to attract seekers AND edify believers in our services.

Now, I'll start by saying that I know that not everyone out there will agree with me on this. Your comments are welcome.

Having said that, I have a problem with the number of churches today that are schizophrenic in their mission. Should a church edify believers? YES! Should a church pursue seekers? YES! But too many churches are trying to meet both goals within one service. You can't do it!

I should note that I'm identifying "seekers" as those who do not know Christ as their Lord and Savior and are seeking the "truth", but have not yet determined what that is.

Worship services should exalt Christ. They should facilitate teaching those who know Christ as their Lord to serve Him better. They should give us the tools to serve Him.

They should not, however, have the purpose of attracting those who are lost. The church should be mission-driven. We should seek out those who are lost and present the gospel to them. But we must reach out to them. We can't build our ministry around them coming to us and liking what they see. They are lost, therefore they don't love the Christ that we love.

As it stands, churches are adjusting their services to meet what the lost are looking for. In turn, the saved are presented with no meat, and the milk that is presented is watered down.

I'm not saying that Crossroads Church presents watered down milk. I've never been there and can't make that judgment (though they are openly "seeker-sensitive"). I'm making a conclusion based on their statement of "what we believe" rather than based on their actual service.

But I have seen that statement reflected in the services of many churches I have been to. The gospel is being watered down because we're seeking to do what that sentence says: "attract seekers."

I don't want to attract seekers to our services. I want seekers to be attracted to Christ. This could happen in our services, but should never be the purpose of our services. The worship service should a.) be worshipful of Christ and b.) build up the saints.

Seeking to attract seekers accomplishes neither.