Lausanne World Pulse – PUBLISHER'S MEMO – Doxological Evangelism: Learning to Share God's Glory with the World

By Doug Birdsall

Over the course of many years, one church tradition I have always delighted in is singing the Doxology as a congregation. It brings into sharp focus the purpose for which we unite, whom we worship and the call to all creation (here on earth and all creatures below and in the heavens) to worship the one true and living God. It touches not just the rational part of the human


The Doxology

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow; Praise him, all creatures here below; Praise him above, ye heavenly host; Praise Father, Son and Holy Ghost.

mind, but engages the human spirit. Here we have in miniature the whole of the gospel and the raison d’etre of Christian mission which exists to bring all nations to worship the greatness and glory of God.

All mission must start with worship and a desire to bring others into the great joy of worshipping our Lord Jesus Christ. In our worship of God, we encounter his glory, and from the overflow of our worship comes a burgeoning desire to share his glory with others. As John Piper reminds us in Let the Nations Be Glad1, “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever.” In our worship of God, we naturally become missional; worship is not only the goal of missions, but the very fuel which makes missions possible. Missions is not our duty, but our joy and delight to share with others his great gift of grace.

According to Piper, “Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, ‘Let the nations be glad!’ who cannot say from the heart, ‘I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee. I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High.’”

Doug Birdsall is executive chair of the Lausanne Committee for World Evangelization. He served as president of Asian Access from 1991 to 2007 and continues to serve on their board of directors. Birdsall is a graduate of Wheaton College, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary and Harvard University. He is co-publisher of Lausanne World Pulse.