Randall,

Thanks for sharing the article (and your blog). I look forward to reading it.

 I think over the past several years, churches have struggled over whether to make worship welcoming to the unchurched/seeker or to tailor it to the members of the congregation. Each group has their own particular needs. And in trying to meet the needs of either (or both!) groups, we become trapped.

What if . . . what if worship wasn't a performance, but a response to the God who moves and acts in our daily lives? 

What if . . . what if we just focused on God and worshiping Him instead of trying to meet everyone's needs? Now I know that's maybe to trite of a solution. After all, we come with our emotions, our own differing experiences and conceptions of God. We come with different depths in our relationships (with God, with others), with different spiritual maturity. But if we just focused on worshiping our Creator, our Redeemer,our Indweller, wouldn't that attract people (assuming we worshiped authentically in spirit and in truth)?

What if . . . what if we actually believed (and lived out) that worship isn't just a church event, but a lifestyle? Isn't that where worship evangelism might come in?

I don't think worship evangelism needs to be a wrong idea--we maybe just need a better understanding of what each of those concepts needs to look and how they should interact.

In His Light,

David Wenell
Associate Pastor of Youth & Family Ministries
Emmanuel ECC, Surrey, BC

Hi Rev. Dave.

I like the way you put this: W.E. doesn't have to be a wrong idea, we just need good understanding of what those terms mean.

If Worship Evangelism means: Creating a warm "welcome" in worship, I like that. "Welcome" goes way beyond form and style. It's a whole culture that leaders and congregations either cultivate, or won't/don't have. 

I think it takes a lot of work, because our tendency is to curve in our ourselves rather than reach beyond. Given the commission of Christ, it seems that the "reach" should always be a part of our common life. Jesus reached, and that's why we're part of the faith he taught and passed to the disciples. Then they reached. 

I know we get it all mucked up, but I still think we've (the whole church) learned a lot about "reaching" through the seeker-sensitive 'movement'. I don't think we should be so hard on the church. We especially shouldn't judge our brothers and sisters-- church planters or whomever-- for worshiping 'wrong'.

There are many ways to skin the cat, eh?

Thanks Dave,

Katie 

Thanks for your words as well, Katie. "Authentic Worship" is a much better route than "Evangelism Worship."

I finally got a chance to read Sally Morgenthaler's article. It is very insightful. And she's right: we're not going to attract people for worship if we're not also being Jesus' hands and feet in our neighbourhood.

And that's where authentic worship comes in. If we're truly worshiping the Triune God and living a life of worship, it won't just be a Sunday morning (or Saturday night) event. If we're authentic in worshiping our Lord, we're going to be about reaching out as well; we're going to help those in need. That's what authentic worship leads to; that's what true worship is.

In His Light,

David Wenell
Associate Pastor of Youth & Family Ministries
Emmanuel ECC, Surrey, BC

Dave.

Maybe that's the linchpin that holds the matter. Worship in our sanctuaries must prompt a life response, or it's just an event. The event is important, because we experience God's presence in the company of the saints, and it helps us discern what God is saying and doing among us for the good of the world, and it's a grace filled experience that gives us confidence to do the work we're called to do...

Thanks Dave

Katie 

I'm glad to see this thread, as I've been batting this subject around with my worship teams for a few weeks now, not only based upon this article, but a number of other things making me rethink our worship.  As Sally writes about how unchurched people are much less likely to step into our churches today, I resonate with David's comments that unchurched people will not come unless we are living out worship, being Jesus' hands and feet in our neighborhood.  So if unchurched people indeed join us in worship, our authenticity will be a key to inviting them in, as David also mentions.  So do we focus on seekers or believers, as Willow is asking right now?  I think we focus on engaging the people who are there, understanding how they can best offer authentic worship to the Lord.  Then, as Katie said, our worship prompts a response, and we come away transformed, living out our worship as a means of evangelism.

Brian Wo

Grace Community Covenant Church

Palo Alto, CA

Okay, so this is pretty late, but I haven't been on lately. I would like to add here that problems arise when Worship Evangelism, or Emergent Church or other programmatic (or anti-programmatic for that matter) approaches are taken with the specific goal of attracting people. Don't hear me saying I don't believe we should be thinking about that aspect, but when it becomes the sole focus, when the entire desire of a style is to get people in the doors, those people will quickly identify it as a marketing strategy and not as authentic. I am glad so many responses here have approached this "authentic" piece. Authentic worship directed to our triune God will be attractive to people, but that's not the point. The point is the worship. Authentic worship then, as others have said, is not a segregated portion of our lives. If we live lives of authentic worship, our everyday life of obedience to God will attract people to Him. As Romans 2:3-4 instructs, it is God's kindness that leads us to repentance. So, if we are authentic in our worship, the sense here being that it is part of our obedience to God, we will act in the lives of those around us, and that will lead not to our glory as worshipers, worship leaders etc., but to God's Glory and to the increase of His kingdom. After all, I think we are after kingdom level work before church membership. We need to escape the "PR" mindset accompanying much of church growth approaches and let God draw people to Him through our obedience in worship.

To obey is better than sacrifice, and to heed is better than the fat of rams.

1 Sam. 15:22                      

Steve

Life House Covenant Church

www.myspace.com/lhworship