Lausanne World Pulse – Themed Articles – Declare His Glory! Worship, Evangelism and Mission
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John was raised in a humanist home. He did not even know the fundamental beliefs of Christianity. As a student, however, he met a radiant, young, Christian woman. He was deeply puzzled as to what was clearly the inspiration of her wonderfully attractive life. She and others explained the gospel repeatedly to him and engaged in many discussions and frequent Bible studies with him. However, it was not until he began attending a vibrant worship service that, as he put it, “the penny dropped.” He recalls, “That’s when it all came alive. The words I’d read and listened to came to life. God himself came to life!”
In the part of Europe where I live, it is not always possible or appropriate to take an unbeliever to a worship service. However, perhaps in the face of the cultural chasm between our secular society and what goes on in most church services, we have lost our nerve and put worship—in particular, communal or congregational worship—and evangelism into two separate compartments. That is an indictment of both our understanding of evangelism and our practice of worship.
Some have responded by focusing on “seeker friendly” services. While these may seem helpful, too often they have mean stripping out anything that could not be equally at home in a pub, a lecture hall or on television. While we need to remove unnecessary barriers and cut away technical language that obscures rather than makes plain biblical truth, it is also possible to stress contextualisation to the degree that we lose sight of the true focus of worship—God himself and what delights him. In other words, in our commendable desire to reach unbelievers, we can reduce our congregational life to a social gathering—it is enjoyable, but ironically missing the very elements of reverence, awe, worship and “otherness” that flow from having God himself at the very heart of what we are about.
Authentic worship must be preoccupied with God. Sadly, much that is labelled worship is focused not on God and his glory; instead, it is focused on our feelings and needs. Many contemporary worship songs are “us-centred.” It is not wrong to open our hearts to the Lord and to express how we feel (indeed, in the Psalms the psalmist pours out his heart); however, worship must revolve firmly around the words, deeds and character of the Triune God himself. Worship is about honouring God. It is about giving him the glory that is his by right and declaring it to one another (and to an unbelieving world) with gladness and thanksgiving. Such worship reminds us that we are creatures before our Creator, sinners before our Redeemer, children looking up to our Father. It is faith-affirming and faith-stretching. It is no less than what God looks for.