Worship Evangelism

The term worship evangelism itself suggests that worship is one means of witnessing to Christ's love. This article describes a vision for Christian worship that has at its heart a love for the unbeliever and a deep desire to see them become a part of the body of Christ. By expressing worship in a cultural language that most unbelievers can understand, many may be brought into the church, while worship itself can be enriched.

A New Paradigm for Worship Take a look across the American worship landscape today. The variety of emphases, forms, and expressions is immediately apparent. From traditional, hymn-based worship to intensely personal expressions, the evangelical panorama is a study in contrast. Yet, even as we gaze, the picture is changing. As Robert Webber concludes, "?a kind of cross-fertilization is occurring, and each tradition is borrowing from other traditions?" (Signs of Wonder: The Phenomenon of Convergence in Modern Liturgical and Charismatic Churches [Nashville: Abbott Martyn, 1992], 55). Truly, these are landmark times for worship as our God-given creativity is being unleashed to bring God glory. It is out of this creative ferment that a new paradigm of worship is being formed. As the walls separating worship traditions are now crumbling, the walls separating worship from life outside the sanctuary are falling as well. This is the principle of the new paradigm: that worship is, first and foremost, a life. It is a life that brings honor to God—a life fully given to God and God's purposes. And although it is a life weekly punctuated by the corporate events we typically call worship, true worship remains, predominantly, a life. As Paul states in Romans 12:1, "?Therefore, I urge you, brothers, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God—this is your spiritual act of worship.?" Second, the new paradigm asserts that worship is a witness. Fully worshiping believers can not help but witness. If a Christian is truly functioning as a "?living sacrifice?" during the week in this narcissistic, disintegrating society, he or she will naturally be attracting positive curiosity from nonbelieving relatives, neighbors, co-workers, and acquaintances. This person's joy and readiness to meet needs will radiate the gospel. A New Testament passage describes this process:

But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumphant procession in Christ and through us spreads everywhere the fragrance of the knowledge of him. For we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and those who are perishing. (2 Cor. 2:14–15)

Third, worship as witness applies also to the corporate event. In this environment, believers not only celebrate the saving work of Christ, they give a witness to the world of Christ's actual presence—the living Christ, inhabiting their praises. In Acts 16, we're given a picture of how God used Paul and Silas's worship to witness to criminals in a Philippian jail. "?About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them?" (v. 25). Here were two innocent men, bleeding from beatings and chained to their cells. And they worshiped? No wonder the other prisoners were listening, instead of jeering. There was something amazing going on in that cell. These men worshiped with their lives and their lips; and the Christ they adored was present in their praise. Today, when lost and dying people have turned a deaf ear to the church, what does it take to get them to listen? How can we recapture the interest of a cynical society? Some would say "?a service just for seekers?" or "?more practical, up-to-date programs.?" Others might concentrate on a large, attractive facility as the solution. Worship itself would probably not even make the top ten. But consider the evangelistic potential of authentic, culturally relevant corporate worship, not revivals, not crusades (although God can and does use these special events in a mighty way). We're talking about week-to-week, Sunday-after-Sunday worship that witnesses. Now, here's a taboo question, on what basis have we tacitly excluded the unbeliever from our corporate honor of Christ? Of course, we don't really slam doors in anyone's face! Yet, aside from perhaps a welcome and a perfunctory altar call at the end of the service, the unbeliever must usually endure fifty-five minutes of foreign language immersion. There are those five King James language praise choruses in the key of C. Or, how about that congregational prayer in Christian-ese, followed by special music titled, "?I'm Clad in the Heavenly Garment?"? We typically use 1 Corinthians 2:14 to justify subcultural ruts like these. "?The man without the Spirit does not accept the things that come from the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually discerned.?" We reason that since an unbeliever can't understand what we're doing anyway, let's just do it like we've always done it. But, what do we do with Christ's own statement in John 6:44? "?No one can come to me unless the Father who sent me draws him.?" Surely this should lead us to concede that the Holy Spirit is at work in the unbeliever's heart before conversion takes place! If our argument is simply that an unbeliever cannot worship, Scripture would agree with us. In John 4:24, Jesus clearly defines the requirements of true worship—we must do so in Spirit and in truth. The seeker is still being drawn to the truth and, therefore, cannot worship in the truth. Nevertheless, by the Spirit of the God, who is drawing the unbeliever, the things of God are being revealed. The unbeliever in whom God is working is, therefore, capable of at least some spiritual understanding and discernment. Even Pharisee Nicodemus was able to discern, by the Holy Spirit, that Jesus had come from God (John 3:1–2). And this discernment preceded conversion! We love to set the boundaries for God's plan. We are like the apostle Peter with the Gentiles in Acts 10—slow to get the message that God actually wants to extend God's work beyond ourselves. Isn't it just easier to solve this whole worship matter by establishing, once and for all, that the unbeliever simply does not have the capacity to appreciate worship? Such neat categories make it easier to maintain that status quo. Then we resemble Tom Sine's description of the church, driving "?headlong into the future with our eyes fixed on our rearview mirrors?" (Wild Hope [Dallas: Word Publishing, 1992], 4). The seeker-service model, popularized by Willow Creek Community Church, has been a bold and innovative attempt to open church doors to the unbeliever. Yet, significantly, the doors that are opening are not doors to worship. Rather, they are doors to a presentation environment—an attractive, nonthreatening place in which unbelievers can investigate the claims of Christ, insulated from the religious activity called worship that they cannot understand or appreciate. This is a highly controlled atmosphere. No one in the theater seats will audibly participate or respond, except perhaps to join in one corporate song and offer applause. Gifted professionals and laypeople present the claims of Christ in multifaceted splendor. But worship is not one of those facets. Why? The customary explanation is that seekers and worship do not mix. The new worship paradigm contends that unbelievers can respond positively to a worship that has been made culturally accessible to them. It also proposes that unbelievers come to church, not primarily to investigate the "?claims of Christ,?" but to investigate the "?Christ in us.?" In our post-Christian, post-rationalistic society, the lost darken the church door because they are broken people, alerted by the Holy Spirit to their emptiness and helplessness. They are longing for the supernatural to break into their world and make them whole. As Webber says, "?They are searching for an experience of mystery. They're asking, '?Will I experience God here? Do these people sitting around me have God in their lives??'?" (Webber 23). Apologetics and entertainment may work wonderfully to get the basic concept of the gospel across. But believers in heartfelt worship can present a three-dimensional model that entertainment and apologetics cannot: humans restored to their original purpose—glorifying and honoring God. Through the window of authentic worship, unbelievers can actually see believers responding to God's redemptive gift in Jesus Christ. They are moved by observing Christians in relationship to God and to each other. Most importantly, they experience God's presence as he "?inhabits the praises of his people?" (Ps. 22:3). If it is difficult to imagine that worship could be this dynamic, perhaps it is because we've been predisposed by our own boundaries to accept subcultural, exclusive, and downright paltry worship as the norm. One of the many things the seeker model has done right is to raise the standards of what is an acceptable sacrifice to God. In fact, Bill Hybels' central plea to pastors, ministry leaders, and laypeople when they come to a Willow Creek conference is not "?become like us.?" Rather, it is to give God their unmitigated best—to do "?whatever it takes to reach the lost.?" Perhaps that is why this ministry has come the closest to "?opening the doors?" to unbelievers in our country. Its sheer commitment to excellence, service, and cultural relevance puts Willow Creek in a class by itself. Yet, the question now surfacing in evangelical circles is this: What would happen if local churches that are committed to evangelism applied this same intentional "?elbow grease,?" this whatever-it-takes attitude, to worship? According to John Smith, Australian church leader and social analyst, "?We've asked the unchurched to go through a painful cultural circumcision in order to become a Christian.?" Religion, he states, has traditionally been the "?culture bearer?" for society. He points out that, in most world communities, religion still contains the culture.?" ("?Bringing the Gospel to a Secular World,?" Christian Artists Music Seminar taped lecture no. E43; 425 W. 115th Ave., Denver, CO 80234). That description was true of Christianity in the United States until roughly forty years ago. Now, American Christian culture is an anachronism in its own backyard. We simply won't admit it. Foreign missions would come to a screeching halt if we were to insist on the kind of ministry-without-translation we proliferate in our worship services. Ephesians 3:20 tells us that God "?is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to God's power that is at work within us.?" An increasing number of Christians think it's time for us to let God out of the box. It's time to bring our worship to the marketplace of life. And it's time for whatever-it-takes worship celebrations that allow the living God to touch the lost. We've got some decisions to make if we're through with self-justification. It's time to get real. A Blueprint for Change How do you reach the unbeliever through corporate worship? The first step is to get clear about the principles governing worship that witnesses. Principle 1: Worship that witnesses affirms the culture of unbelievers by speaking their artistic and verbal language and speaking it excellently. John Smith contends, "?We must know where people are in order to meet them where they are.?" In other words, we need to make it our job to study the unbeliever's lifestyle and be informed about his or her reading, viewing, and listening habits. Smith draws upon Acts 17:16–34, where Paul witnessed to the Athenian philosophers. Smith stresses that Paul affirmed them culturally before sharing anything about Christ. "?Paul was deeply wounded by their idolatry, but he said to them, '?Men of Athens, I see you are very religious.?'?" Then, after acknowledging what was right with their culture, Paul lovingly pointed out its deficits. When he did communicate the gospel, he did so, not in Hebrew jargon, but in straightforward Greek—phrased specifically for the philosophical mind. Worship that witnesses dares to do what Paul did, only in the context of worship. It dares to affirm unbelievers' culture by using their good "?stuff?"—their style of dress and music, their turn of a phrase, their distinctive pattern of celebration—and using it excellently to communicate the love of God in Christ. Whether we're in an urban African American, border-town Hispanic, middle-class Caucasian, or rural German environment, we can witness more effectively through worship if we first of all affirm the culture by using its unique "?language?" and, secondly, transcend it with the gospel. It's what Smith calls "?enculturating the truth into the vernacular of a broken world.?" Principle 2: Worship that witnesses is participative; it is the whole priesthood of believers, responding to God and giving a "?living?" testimony of their relationship with God. Some have argued that evangelism and worship can't mix because evangelism is directed toward people, while worship is directed toward God. If we were to follow this line of thinking, any worship that is evangelistically oriented could not be worship because it is not participative. Instead, evangelistic "?worship?" would have to be an essentially passive event, fixated on the unregenerate sinner and his or her need to accept Christ. It would be a revival or a crusade, not worship. But isn't this picture of evangelism a bit narrow? According to such a definition, evangelism is mere verbal persuasion. But, in reality, evangelism happens any time believers live out their faith with specific honor to Christ! Worship that witnesses is worship, and it is definitely participative! Principle 3: Worship that witnesses is worship whose substance is truth. True Christian worship is a "?Romans 12:1–2 worship.?" It says to God, "?God, I love you. I praise you for all that you are and for your great mercy to me through your Son. Cleanse me, transform me. Here I am, wholly available.?" In such a worship, the complete gospel of Christ—salvation, and the power of living a new life—is at the very center, not on the periphery somewhere or included simply as "?atonement?" in an altar call. We often assume that, since believers have already accepted Christ, the gospel is irrelevant to worship. Of course, that assumption is dangerous, if for no other reason than it is probable there are some unbelievers in the crowd! But viewing the gospel as irrelevant to believers represents a serious reduction of what the gospel actually is. Jesus "?became obedient to death,?" not only to atone for our sins and reconcile us to God, but to transform our lives in the here and now. Look at the words of the apostle Paul, where he refers to Christians as "?those sanctified in Christ Jesus and called to be holy?" (1 Cor. 1:2). Look again at Hebrews, where the author tells us to "?fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfector of our faith … ?" (Heb. 12:2). As Dallas Willard observes, "?the message of Jesus himself and of the early disciples was not just one of forgiveness of sins, but rather was one of newness of life?" (The Spirit of the Disciplines [San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1988], 36). What does all this have to do with the "?nuts and bolts?" of worship evangelism? It has to do with everything—because religion itself never evangelized anybody. And, if Christ is not the focal point of our worship or our lives, that's all we have—religion. Lacking Christ, we most certainly lack a message. But, more tragically, we lack any authentic Christian witness. There is no power for newness of life without Christ. We have only our own meager little selves. Think about the worship you're planning for this Sunday. Will Melinda's unsaved neighbor who's been dabbling in New Age practices be able to differentiate what your church believes from "?one of many paths?"? Will she know what to do with her sin after God's whole character is blessed, but God as the way, the truth, and the life is deleted? Or, think about young Joey, the crack addict. Will he be motivated to kick the habit by this week's riveting reiteration of pull-yourself-up-by-the-bootstraps morality, a sermon on "?Developing Self-Control?"? What about Don, the depressed co-worker Bill prayed about last week? Will he be encouraged by the anointed Communion with the Holy Spirit if there is not one mention of the loving, healing Redeemer by whom that Spirit was sent? Will he see any Christians doing a gut-level reality check with God, seeking forgiveness, cleansing, and renewal? Romans 5:8 exclaims, "?While we were sinners, Christ died for us.?" John 10:10 says,?"I have come that they may have life, and that they may have it more abundantly.?" Love and life through Christ is the message that is going to make a difference in our lives and in the lives of unbelievers. This must be the substance of our worship if it is to be truly Christian. We must proclaim it but, more importantly, flesh it out by openly acknowledging that we can't give this love and life to ourselves—that we need God's forgiveness and supernatural, transforming power. Then we will be real, and unbelievers will want what we have. They will want Jesus Christ. Some Guidelines for Worship Evangelism Worship that is fluent in the vernacular of the people, participative, and Christ-infused—what in the world would it look like? New covenant substance would immediately give it a distinctive personality. But the remaining features of participation and cultural relevance would give it as many shapes and faces as there are worshiping communities. So, rather than dictate a specific format that could prove irrelevant in your situation, listed below are guidelines for establishing direction, flow, and cohesion within a variety of formats. Then, to demonstrate how the principles could work in a specific cultural context, there is a sample cultural profile of a baby boomer community, along with a "?boomer music bank?"—a listing of high-impact, complete gospel praise and worship songs, organized by the "?MTC?" formula, explained below. (1) Think of worship as a "?funnel?" representing our picture of God moving from the general to the specific and our distance from God moving from great to small. Begin at the wide end with praise to God for the broad strokes of God's character (holiness, righteousness, omnipotence, etc.) and with responses that require the least amount of vulnerability. (2) Start narrowing the funnel by shifting the praise and thanksgiving toward God's mercy in Christ. Then, narrow it even further into opportunities for personal, reflective response. The MTC formula makes this process easier to remember. It is:

M—Remember God's Mercy given to us through Christ, by proclaiming the redemption message and by praising and thanking God for that gift.

T—Seek Transformation, by allowing ourselves to grieve about our sin and asking God to change us. C—Consecrate ourselves (set ourselves apart for God's use), by confessing our sin(s), repenting, receiving forgiveness, and committing to live obedient lives. For the unbeliever, consecration begins at conversion. The MTC pattern represents a natural progression of the convicted soul after encountering or reencountering God's unconditional love in Jesus Christ. Although this order is certainly not set in concrete, it helps to keep mercy near the front end so people know why they need transformation and consecration. Also, remember that it's a long way from the church parking lot with five squabbling kids to vulnerability with God! In other words, prepare believers and unbelievers adequately for baring their souls to the Almighty! You don't have to mention Christ or Jesus directly in every MTC element, nor should you leave God the Father and the Holy Spirit on the bench in your zeal to focus on the Son. However, since Christ is the "?exact representation of his [God's] being … (Heb. 1:3),?" Christ alone gives a complete picture of who God is. You just need to make sure you offer the 8-by-10 glossy instead of just the half-developed snapshot sometime before people move into personal consecration. (3) Use both participative and presentational elements as you narrow the worship funnel. If you group songs or hymns together in medleys, plan their order so that there is a gradual narrowing of the funnel, even with medleys. (4) Effective worship prepares worshipers to respond to what God has to say to them. Fuse the message to the rest of worship by preceding it with carefully chosen MTC elements that also focus, either directly or indirectly, on the message's theme. And since the message is really an extended call for transformation, it works well to place some expressions of personal consecration afterward. Mercy, transformation, and consecration—these should be the very cornerstones of our daily relationship with God, but even more so, the foundations of how we worship when we're together. This is because something powerful happens when, with one voice, we agree about the truth of who God is, who we are, and how we are made whole. God diffuses the self-righteousness that separates us not only from God's self, but from the unbelievers around us. What a payoff!