True worship, real evangelism

Christian Century, April 21, 1999 by Marva J. Dawn

MANY CHURCHES have been torn apart because of the conflicts generated by a serious confusion between worship and evangelism: they've decided that worship ought to be designed to appeal to the unbeliever or "unchurched" and therefore should make use of a certain kind of accessible "style." Deep at the root, the disagreements arise because declining numbers have put congregations and denominations in a great panic over how to attract new members. Many pastors, lay leaders and national church officers seem to be thoroughly disdaining God's own instructions when they accept the false advice of marketing gurus to "throw out the traditions" of their churches in order to "appeal" to the world around them and thereby "grow."

The result is a push for a worship style that lacks theological substance, invites passivity and fosters an easy-listening consumerism that provides neither music nor words that will help worship participants remember deep truths. Another result is that the real problems--namely, failure to educate people concerning the meaning and practice of worship, failure to understand the real idolatries that keep people from participating in the church, and failure to equip the priesthood of all believers for outreach to the world--remain unaddressed.

I am convinced that we should be using new music and new worship forms; however, we should use them not to attract people, but because they are faithful in praising God and forming us to be his people. If we choose a certain musical style or other element simply to appeal to those outside our walls, then we are forcing worship to bear the brunt of evangelism, which is instead the task of all believers. Don't misunderstand: good worship will be evangelistic, but that is not its primary purpose, for it is directed toward God, not toward the neighbor.

Evangelism, on the other hand, is done by all of us who realize that everyone around us needs God's grace. Out of our love for God and for our neighbors, we are eager to serve them and pass on the witness of faith. Evangelism happens in our daily lives, our regular encounters, our simple conversations and carings--or at evangelistic events, which have a focus different from that of worship--in order that we can bring others with us to worship God. Evangelism is the means; worship is the end.

Worship is the language of love and growth between believers and God; evangelism is the language of introduction between those who believe and those who don't. To confuse the two and put on worship the burden of evangelism robs the people of God of their responsibility to care about their neighbors, defrauds believers of transforming depth and steals from God the profound praise of which God is worthy.

Of course, the distinction is not total, for if believers worship with gladness and passion, anyone not yet a part of the community certainly will be attracted to the One who is the object of their worship. But to focus the worship on evangelistic introduction deprives believers of deeper nurturing toward Churchbeing. (I use the term Churchbeing to replace "community" and "church," which our culture has reduced to signifying merely collections of people who are not necessarily practicing a Christian way of life together.)

"Seeker services" do not address the root problems of our times because they remove the responsibility for witness and nurturing from all the people of God. Since statistics show that most people come to believe in Christ through friendship with someone committed to him, and since growing in faith requires deep mentoring both to eradicate false understandings and to develop truly Christian perspectives, it is essential that the gospel be specifically incarnated in caring individuals rather than only proclaimed in performances, no matter how polished they might be. The gospel has always been incarnated--as in Christ, so in human beings who have died to themselves and risen again to life and engaged in that life by the power of the Holy Spirit.

When and how will our congregations begin to equip the people for both worship and witness? It will require great catechumenal training and intensive mentoring, for our churches are in severe trouble. Many congregations and denominations have failed for decades or perhaps even centuries to teach people what worship is and to educate members to be witnesses, to care for their neighbors and to minister to the world around them as active participants in the Body of Christ.

Why don't Christians talk about their faith with their neighbors? Sociological studies as well as personal conversations and class discussions have convinced me that each person has one or several reasons or rationalizations for not doing so.

Different studies highlight alternate excuses, and the reasons vary according to an individual's personality, so the following list of explanations is not in any particular order by proportion. Here, however, are some of the most common hindrances to the witness aspect of Churchbeing and some beginning responses (of course, these are too brief and noncontextualized) of how truly being the church would solve the problem: