Is worldliness a sin in and of itself? If yes, upon what basis? Here's a few of the scriptures that I think are commonly used when we talk about worldliness:
In more conservative churches, I think "worldliness" is often defined for the parishioners, at least the practical application aspect. For example, there may be admonitions or prohibitions on certain clothes or dress styles, hair styles, men wearing shorts, luxury vehicles, attending certain entertainment events, etc. But are these things actually what these scriptures are talking about or is there something more to it? Is a churches standard (rules) effective at preventing worldliness?1 John 2:15 Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world. If any man love the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
James 1:27 Pure religion and undefiled before God and the Father is this, To visit the fatherless and widows in their affliction, and to keep himself unspotted from the world.
Romans 12:2 And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God.
Dietrich Bonhoeffer (he wasn't Anabaptist) said something interesting:
I find his question interesting because sometimes I think that when a church goes about defining what worldliness is for it's members, the members might grow somewhat spiritually weak and fail to recognize other ways (that haven't been defined) in which they are becoming like the world."Will they ever learn that majority decision in matters of conscience kills the Spirit?"
If a church does seem to be drifting towards the world, what's actually wrong? Is it because of a failure to have a correct standard or some failure to enforce the standard?