Worship is…Evangelistic

Dear Worshippers,

We continue our journey through the core values of our worship this week with the fifth value. As I keep saying, you may be surprised that none of the things the Elders are considering as core values of our worship are necessarily music-oriented. Actually none of them deal with elements at all, but rather with the essentials of worship. They are more the why than the what of worship, if you will.

Last week I mentioned that the last two phrases of our new brand flesh out our mission focus very nicely: Multiplying communities of Christ. Around the World. The thing about multiplying communities of faith, whether here, there or everywhere, is that it requires evangelism. That is, seeing the lost turn to Christ alone for salvation. Our mission to do this around the world implies that we will be doing that right here for starters. If we are to be an evangelistic people, and we are, then our worship must be Evangelistic. There are any number of Scriptures that speak to this value, but here are the ones we are recommending for inclusion in the philosophical document:

They will tell of the glory of your kingdom
and speak of your might,

so that all men may know of your mighty acts
and the glorious splendor of your kingdom. Psalm 145:11-12

Since, then, we know what it is to fear the Lord, we try to persuade men…For Christ's love compels us, because we are convinced that one died for all, and therefore all died. And he died for all, that those who live should no longer live for themselves but for him who died for them and was raised again…

All this is from God, who reconciled us to himself through Christ and gave us the ministry of reconciliation: that God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men's sins against them. And he has committed to us the message of reconciliation. II Corinthians 5:11a, 14-15, 18-19 (From II Corinthian 5:11-21)

Part of the reason that we worship is so that others may hear of God’s mighty acts as we glorify Him. We often forget about the horizontal dimension of worship. When we gather to worship we are there with others. Though our primary focus is the Lord, we recognize the presence of others with us, believers and unbelievers. You may ask, “Do you really think there are that many unbelievers in church from week to week?” The Scriptures bears out very clearly that there are many who think they know Christ, but have never surrendered their lives to Him, and others who simply have not yielded but are being drawn to Christ. When we worship God, those unbelievers hear of “[His] mighty acts and the glorious splendor of [His] Kingdom and have the opportunity to turn in faith.

The second passage reminds us that we have entrusted with the ministry of reconciliation, that is, helping people to realize a that Christ has made a way to be reconciled to God. What a privilege is ours to be Christ’s ambassadors. If this is a part of our life in Christ individually, then certainly it will find expression through us collectively. We need always to be looking out for those opportunities to help people realize they can have peace with God.

While we offer a variety of events that have this as a part of their focus, it may not be more clearly presented than at our Christmas musical. There is an effort made to invite the unchurched, and unevangelized in our lives to come. While here, they hear the Christmas story and have an opportunity to give their lives to Christ. Take advantage of this evangelistic event by inviting others and encouraging them to join us for the musical.

But the musical is not the only evangelistic thing we do all year. Every time we gather there is that awareness that unbelievers are likely in our midst and we must clearly communicate the gospel so that they have the opportunity to come to faith. Keep your eyes open for those opportunities when you are here, and when you are there. Everywhere.

Jesus, may our individual lives of worship be evangelistic, so that when we join together in our corporate worship it will be evangelistic as well.

In Christ,

Pastor Scott