Different Approaches to Corporate Worship and
Evangelistic Ministry
by Ellyzabeth
In this chapter we will examine a few approaches to corporate worship and evangelistic ministry.
The first approach, according to Gene Bartlett, is that worship should be ordered so as to declare the gospel message and also to enable people to make an adequate response.[1] This is a practical approach, which aims to order the service so that it has an evangelistic purpose. For example, practical considerations as to when the altar call should be made in the service or how the call should be made are addressed. These are good considerations. But the problem is that churches often do not consider how to do these things biblically. It is sad to say that though churches seem aware of the issue and problems, yet ironically the issue is often not addressed. “Our services not only lack an inherent integrity which offers unity, coherence and emphasis, qualities of any form of communication; they show little awareness that it is the biblical word which must determine the order.”[2] In other words, the contents of the Word of God should set the order of what should be included in worship and what takes priority. From this perspective, the Word of God ought to be the center of the worship service, so that whole gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ could be preached.
But at the same time, the worship service will
also emphasize the ability of the congregation to make their own
response to God. Ultimately we see that this approach sees a worship
service that is united in both the vertical and horizontal
directions. The question remains: “Is there anything wrong with this
kind of paradigm?” The answer to this is both yes and no. With
regard to having a dual emphasis in worship, the Bible never says,
“Worship the Lord vertically and also horizontally.” Rather, it
says, “Worship the Lord for He is worthy of worship.” As the
psalmist declares, “Great is the LORD, and greatly to be praised in
the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness” (Psalm 48:1). That statement
is such a strong declaration to God for what He has done, that it
implies that worship is only meant for God, and not man. Hence, the
order of the worship service must accomplish that very task, as
But on the other hand, worship, in reality, does have a dual emphasis, in result if not purposefully. One might ask how? Through direct vertical worship of God, a horizontal dimension results. The reason is that as man worships God, the Holy Spirit works in man to bear fruits. That is to say, the worship of God will bear fruit in other ministries of the church, such as the teaching ministry, evangelistic ministry, etc. In line with that, the fruit from the worship of God in other ministries of the church, being an adequate response from the congregation, can only be seen if the worship of God is done in a true manner, that is, having the Word of God as the center of the worship service.
The second approach is espoused by Sally Morgenthaler who writes that “unbelievers CAN respond positively to a worship that has been made culturally accessible to them; it also proposes that unbelievers come to church, not primarily to investigate the ‘claims of Christ,’ but to investigate the ‘Christ in us.’”[3] This approach to corporate worship and evangelistic ministry requires that we discuss a few issues.
When the quotation claims that unbelievers “CAN respond positively to a worship that has been made culturally accessible to them,” one must ask how one can evaluate whether worship is culturally accessible to the unbelievers or not? Morgenthaler responds to this question with three principles that define what she calls “worship that witnesses.”
(1) “Worship that witnesses affirms the culture of unbelievers by speaking their artistic and verbal language, and speaking it excellently.” (2) “Worship that witnesses is participative; it is the whole priesthood of believers, responding to God and giving a “living” testimony of their relationship with God.” (3) “Worship that witnesses is worship whose substance is truth.”[4]
According to John Smith, Australian church leader and social analyst, “We must know where people are in order to meet them where they are.”[5] To support this position Smith cites Acts 17:16-34 where the apostle Paul made use of what he knew of their culture when he witnessed to the Athenian philosophers. Smith emphasizes that the apostle “affirmed them culturally before sharing anything about Christ.” Ultimately, he addresses his arguments as “enculturating the truth into the vernacular of a broken world.”[6] Bear in mind that when the apostle Paul talked to the Athenians especially in the verse 22, the word “superstitious” carried two meanings - religious or superstitious. In this context, it seems that Paul wanted to be complimentary in order to gain a hearing. In other words, the verse tells us what it was necessary for the apostle Paul to do in order to gain a hearing from the people at that time.
To say that worship ought to enculturate the truth into the vernacular of a broken world might be controversial. By way of analogy, a Christian may learn doctrines of another religion in order to minister more effectively to those who follow it. Such a believer will not necessarily take part in that particular religion to the extent that he/she will adapt what he/she has learned. In other words, he/she will only study that religion in order to bring the gospel to the other person. There is nothing wrong in learning about another religion in order to be more effective in proclaiming the gospel, and it would, in fact, be necessary to do so. Yet on top of that, true worshippers must stand firm. The truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ must also stand by itself.
Ultimately, we will see that when unbelievers come to church, when the worship of the church proclaims the truth of the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, then only the “Christ in us” would be promoted. The unbelievers would be able to see how the resurrected Christ whom we worship is there among the congregation, worshipping together in the house of the Lord. In other words, the church fulfills its original purpose when its worshippers worship the Father “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:24). Consequently, the “claims of Christ” would be manifested among the worshipping church. This approach is promoted by Tommy Coomes.[7] Here, we will observe in how different ways have been used in order to draw unbelievers to church.
It is sad to say that the goal of drawing unbelievers to church has often been misused. Geisler reacts to this by commenting, “The essence of using worship for evangelism and church growth is to show how joyful and authentic a relationship with God can be. Non-Christians are attracted when they see this.”[8] In other words, the goal of drawing unbelievers to church, in order for them to want a relationship with the Lord had somewhat become one of the ways for a particular church to add numbers. With that, the question remains, to what extent can we rightly say that evangelism and church growth are related? Or rather, can we say that when we do evangelistic ministry that also implies the goal of establishing church growth for that particular people? A church growth issue in line with evangelistic ministry in a church has become a trend practiced by some churches. One of the reasons, as this may be categorized as what so-called a ‘successful church’ in the eyes of the people. With that in mind, the question is, what made a church grow or vice versa? To this, some issues to contemplate upon in line with the role of evangelism in corporate worship.
Basically, an evangelistic service is meant to win souls for Christ and is one of the ways to do evangelistic ministry in a church. Hence, a church will automatically grow in numbers if it is concerned with evangelism. At the same time, different churches will view evangelistic ministry differently. They will also make use of different approaches in their evangelistic ministry. Particularly in running an evangelistic service, there might be some controversies involved. The tendency of adopting new ideas will always be there in order to attract people to come to a church. By way of example, a teenager may one day knock at the pastor’s office saying that the youth ministry is dying due to the old fashioned style of worship practiced. In other words, the church may want to consider changing the way they do some things in order to add numbers to the church. One church pastor, commenting on change happening in his church said:
The seeker event we were offering wasn’t cutting it for some of the seekers who were coming. They said they were looking for something with more of a “spiritual” feel to it. So, we decided to provide a different kind of service, a celebrative time that both energizes believers and enlightens seekers. We wanted it to be kind of like the 1 Corinthians 14:22 worship where the unbeliever looks around and says, “Hey, God’s here!” a time where we invite God to “invade our space” and actually engage people with Him.[9]
Patrick R. Keifert, in further commenting on this issue, said,
The church growth movement, of late, has been busy churning out liturgical innovations that serve to “contextualize” and “inculturate” Christian worship in response to current cultural trends – thereby providing us with “seeker oriented” liturgies that “repackage” old worship styles into friendly talk-show formats, drama teams, Scripture choruses, and something called, God help us, “entertainment evangelism.”[10]
We know that the Word of God does not tell us to preach the gospel of Christ or hold an evangelistic service for the purpose of fulfilling a church growth strategy. An evangelistic service ought to be included in the ministry of the church, for indeed, a church is supposed to win souls for Christ or rather to evangelize. In other words, a church should have evangelistic services in order to win souls for Christ. It is not necessary to have an entertainment evangelistic service, for if a church makes Christ the center of worship, the Holy Spirit will prompt people to come to Christ at the proper time.
The third approach is promoted by Bruce Leafblad who says, “If God is to be first in our lives and first in our churches then worship must come ahead of everything else we do. Worship is that process in which we make God first in our lives… The worship comes first; then the work and the works follows.”[11] From Leafblad’s statement, it is clear that he uses the term worship as life worship, rather than a worship service. The life worship ought to be the foundation of everything we do, which also initiates the true acts of the worship service that is a worship service that centers on God. Ultimately, a true worship service will bear fruit in God’s proper time. In line with that, there is a possibility that the congregation will take initiatives to widen the church’s ministry. Apparently, the work of the Holy Spirit will prompt the hearts of the congregation to have a worshipful church that is a true worship service as pertaining to life worship. On the other hand, one may ask, how can a church that does not make God the center of the worship continue as a church? By all means, such a church should be considered a failure.
As the fruit of the ministries varies, there are also different priorities emphasized. Different churches will practice different emphases. For example, Jack Hayford strongly emphasizes that worship ought to be placed before fellowship and evangelism. As he says,
The idol of evangelism has distracted us from the worship of the living God, in more ways than many dedicated leaders and sincere believers realize. … our first sacrifice ought to be the sacrifice of praise. … our first work ought to be the humbling of ourselves in His presence.[12]
Furthermore, Hayford contends that evangelism ought to be seen as the “by-product of spiritual life flowing from a healthy Body nourished through worship and fellowship.”[13] In other words, Hayford stresses that a worship service should focus on God in a vertical direction and fellowship with people in a horizontal direction would result in evangelistic ministry.
Still others would view evangelism as part of worship. Ellsworth thus holds that “Christian ministry is not a matter of putting evangelism into a worship service or making worship a part of an “evangelistic” service. The two should be indivisible, evangelism being an outgrowth or result of true worship and hence as part of worship.”[14] This approach to corporate worship and evangelistic ministry looks for a balance between the ministries in the church, emphasizing that evangelism must be the result of the worship itself, that is, a true worship service enhances the evangelistic ministry of the church. Ultimately, a true worship service should be seen in a clearer perspective. The value of true worship must indeed be acted out in order for a church to bear fruit and, most of all, in order to please God by making Him the center of the worship service so that His name only will be glorified.
Ultimately, the writer is convinced that worship, in reality, does have a dual emphasis in result if not purposefully, that is, through direct vertical worship of God, a horizontal dimension results. With that, a church should have a worship service that centers on God in order for the church to bear fruit in other ministries of the church, such as teaching ministry, evangelistic ministry, etc., in God’s proper time.
As Hayford contends that evangelism ought to be seen as the “by-product”[15] so does the writer. Evangelism, being part of an evangelistic ministry ought to be the result of the corporate worship itself. In other words, evangelism should not be the focus of the worship service but rather it must only be observed when it is being the result of the worship service itself.
Subsequently, if a church holds an evangelistic service as part of the worship service, hence this practice may not seem appropriate. Though a church should have an evangelistic service as part of the ministry in order to win souls for Christ, yet this practice should not be done in the worship service as part of it. To combine both services, may simply twist the focus of each service.
[1] Gene E. Bartlett,
“Worship: The Ordered Proclamation of the Gospel,” Review
and Expositor 62 (Summer 1965): 281.
[2]
[3] Morgenthaler,
“Worship Evangelism,” 51. Emphasis hers.
[4] Morgenthaler, “Worship Evangelism,” 53.
[5] John Smith, “Bringing
the gospel to a secular world,” taped lecture #E43,
Christian Artists Music Seminar, 425 W. 115 Ave.,
[6] John Smith, “Bringing the gospel to a secular world.”
[7] “The Praise Band at
the Southern California Summer Harvest Crusade with
evangelist Greg Laurie arranged a crusade event. One of the
important factors about the Harvest Crusade was that the
evangelism done with The Praise Band there not only helped
to add new church members to Calvary Chapel Costa Mesa, but
also helped to feed new members into other churches in
[8] Dave Geisler, “Worship Bands Use Excellence to Draw Unchurched to Christ,” 51.
[9] Name withheld by
request, an interview by Sally Morgenthaler, Worship
Evangelism – Inviting Unbelievers into the Presence of God
(Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1999),
78.
[10] Patrick R. Keifert,
“Welcoming the Stranger: A Public Theology of Worship and
Evangelism,” Theology Today 50 (January 1994):
626.
[11] Leafblad, Music, Worship, and the Ministry of the Church, 21.
[12] Jack W. Hayford, Church On The Way (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1983), 52.
[13] Hayford, Church On The Way, 52.
[14] Ellsworth,
Christian Music in Contemporary Witness, 184.
[15] See p. 70.