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Evangelistic
Worship
“He
has given me a new song to sing, a hymn of praise to our God.
Many will see what he has done and be astounded. They will
put their trust in the LORD.” Psalm 40:3
Before
I became a Christian, I remember walking into a church for
the first time. The first thing I noticed was the people singing
all around me. They were singing about the greatness of God.
I had listened to music almost all my life, had been performing
and studying music for almost ten plus years, attended two
music appreciation programs but never had I heard a sound
such as this! It wasn’t as if musically things were
perfect or amazing.. but there was something different that
touched me in a way that had I had never felt before. It was
my first opportunity to witness followers of Jesus Christ
worship together. As they lifted their voices we all encountered
the presence of God that day.
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purpose of worship isn’t evangelism. In fact, our English
word means worthship,' denoting the worthiness of an individual
to receive special honor in accordance with that worth. "
Warren Wiersbe offers a broad definition based upon these
concepts. He writes, "Worship is the believer's response
of all that he is--mind, emotions, will, and body--to all
that God is and says and does." A more narrow definition
may sound like this: Worship is pure adoration, the lifting
up of the redeemed spirit toward God in contemplation of His
holy perfection. So the purpose of worship is to definitely
glorify God, but I believe evangelism is the natural fruit
of authentic worship.
The
bible also talks about Worship that is evangelistic too. Look
at what happens to the jailer in Acts 16:25-30 “Around
midnight, Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to
God, and the other prisoners were listening. Suddenly, there
was a great earthquake, and the prison was shaken to its foundations.
All the doors flew open, and the chains of every prisoner
fell off! The jailer woke up to see the prison doors wide
open. He assumed the prisoners had escaped, so he drew his
sword to kill himself. But Paul shouted to him, "Don't
do it! We are all here!" Trembling with fear, the jailer
called for lights and ran to the dungeon and fell down before
Paul and Silas. He brought them out and asked, "Sirs,
what must I do to be saved?"
Authentic worship invites response.
Musical performances, drama, testimonies, messages and apologetics
about God and faith are all wonderful tools God can use to
touch the mind and heart of a non-Christian. But they are
all examples of presentation and don’t require people
to give anything of themselves back to God. Corporate worship
should do more than inspire—it should provide opportunities
for response.
Evangelistic worship happens in two ways: first, unbelievers
hear the truth about God and second, they observe the real
relationship between worshipers and God. The Truth rings out
when we emphasize the gospel and highlight the Word of God
in our songs and in our worship.
Nonbelievers may not be able to worship in spirit and in truth,
but they can gain understanding of the gospel by observing
it in motion as those around them respond to a magnificent
God who sent His Son to die for our salvation. We need to
allow the supernatural God of the Bible to show up and interact
with people in our congregation. “Our time together
in corporate worship should be spent presenting a clear picture
of who Jesus is and what He’s done for us,” says
Bob Kauflin.*
The value of our worship experience correlates to the value
of who it is we worship. How we as Christians worship God
will directly affect a non-Christian’s image of God.
Through our worship we can show nonbelievers how big our God
is. The desire of our worship ministry is that we can show
visitors in our services that we worship a holy and magnificent
God. “A non-Christian should be able to come into a
gathering of Christians who are worshiping in song and come
away with two things, why God is so great and why these people
are so passionate about Him,” says Bob. Evangelistic
Worship calls the us to consider the remarkable, untapped
potential of worship as an opportunity reach those who are
not yet followers of Jesus Christ. My prayer is that when
an unbeliever walks into our (Grace Church) service for the
first time, just as I did over 20 years ago, they would encounter
God’s presence just I did that day.
Give thanks to the LORD and proclaim his greatness. Let the
whole world know what he has done. Sing to him; yes, sing
his praises. Tell everyone about his miracles. Psalm 105:1-2
*Bob
Kauflin serves as director of worship development for Sovereign
Grace Ministries, and as a pastor and worship leader at Covenant
Life Church in Gaithersburg, Maryland.
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