Worship Education

My friend Erich has an interesting post dealing with attempts to instruct visiting worshipers at his church in the proper protocol of the procession (he's orthodox. Not that there's anything wrong with that.) It got me thinking about what I think is a glaring problem in our more contemporary worship, which is lack of training. At our church, if you want to join, you just walk up to the front during the altar call, profess your faith, get baptized (if you haven't already been), and you're a member. We do offer classes to learn more about the church, but they're not mandatory.

My business partner recently completed almost a year of classes to join the Catholic church. A full year. He learned about doctrine, history, church structure and polity, and came out the other side with the ability to know why he believes what he believes, as well as the proper place to hold his hands during the procession. Erich makes a good point, that it's too much to ask a visitor to know and conform to unwritten standards, but I think our protestant churches should require more of their members, keeping in mind that it is by grace that we are saved through faith, not by works, lest any man should boast.