In Robert Webber's book "Blended Worship" he makes a good point, but I do have something to add.

He says,"Nevertheless, evangelism is not worship because the thrust of the service is directed toward the people, particularly the sinner, with the intention of bringing the sinner to a personal relationship with God through Christ. Unfortunately, many churches have brought this evangelistic model into the Sunday morning service and called it worship; it is evangelism. The church must be about evangelism, but it must also be about worship---and worship is the people's celebration of the living, dying, and rising of Christ, a celebration which is offered to God's glory."

He also makes a point that Willow Creek Community Church has its Sunday morning time geared toward evangelism, but they have a meeting during the week for the expressed purpose of the worship of believers. Both are essential.
I would tend to believe though that evangelism is also worship. Our very lives are to be an outpouring of worship for our creator. Part of our problem in the church is that we tend to view what we do in the church building as our only worship, but it is so much more than that. I do believe that a time of corporate worship is essential for believers, but I also believe that when we meet the needs of our community in whatever form they appear we are worshipping with our very lives.
Webber says, "...worship is the people's celebration of the living, dying, and rising of Christ, a celebration which is offered to God's glory."
I think that evangelism by its very nature is a form of worship as defined by Webber. Everything we do should reflect the celebration of the living, dying, and rising of Christ for the Glory of God.

I just pray that my life can begin to take on that form of worship.

A question in my mind right now.

How do you start this new meeting of a community without it being an "Event?" We are "Event" obsessed in this culture. If a band plays to create an atmosphere, how is it not just seen as another "concert" to attend? I don't want to be about the task of performing for performing's sake.

I think we have to be deliberate about making it more than just another "event", but at the same time I think we have to make it something that people would want to stop in on and see what it is all about. Once people are there I think they will see the community of it and the value in that community, but getting them there may require some "event" type appearances.

Any ideas?

I have kind of been waiting for something profound to hit me so I could write and it doesn't seem to be happening. I am spiritually dry right now...I need a drink.
Yet even in the midst of that, today the Lord started to reveal the beginnings of a plan he has had me dreaming about for the past couple of months. Exciting stuff. Something I spoke of in an earlier post, a place I could invite my friends and know they would feel a sense of belonging and community. The "New Church" or whatever you want to call it. Being the church to a community of people that are tired of the "church" they have known growing up. A good friend of mine is in Amsterdam right now building a community like that in a place where people don't know what "church" is. They are creating this community not on a blueprint of what has been done to death, but on something fresh and new whose form reflects the very needs of the community they reach.
That is what I want to be in the business of doing, right where I live...wherever that may be.

A great friend of mine Mike left a comment on my last post and I wanted to respond in another post rather than just a comment.
I am pretty good at pointing out what is wrong, but I don't feel like I have a handle yet on what things might look like when we finally step out and "mess things up a bit" in our attempts to become relevent and undignified.

Here are a couple of things I guess I see as essential in that process, but again are my opinion(I guess that is a disclamer):

1. Sunday morning church is for the believer not the non-believer.
*we have tried to do our outreach at a time that we are to be meeting for the sole purpose of building each other up in the faith
so we can be more effective out in the world where we are called to minister.
*when we look at the 1st century church, people came to Christ when they(the apostles) were out among the people sharing His message with them...not when they were in their own homes meeting together to be encouraged and built up for the task ahead.
* no more of this: anouncements, music, sermon, leave, anouncements, music, sermon, leave, anouncements, music, sermon, leave. People want more...conversation, relevence, sharing ideas, sharing hurts, sharing who we are and who we are becoming. REAL STUFF!!
2. We have to leave the church building to minister to people.
* Yes we will actually have to hang out with "sinners" and form relationships with them as if they are actually real people with real needs so they can see Christ in us on a daily basis.
* In a world where people will not just come to church because it is the "right thing" to do we have to go find people to minister to, they won't just come to us anymore.
* Service, service, service is what our mindset should be...and that is not us being served but us finally serving others.
3. We must become undignified.
* There is no room for Pride
* Christ was seen serving the down and out, the broken, the unlovable, the unforgivable, the out casts...people that we often double take when they walk through the doors of our churches.
* This form of humble service can't be achieved if we are always wondering, "How would that look?" or "What would people think?"
4. Our vocations must be seen as a means to touch the world around us.
* Instead of seeing our jobs as something we have to do to get the bills paid, we must begin to see them as the most effective way in which we can begin to meet people's needs with the love of Christ.
* This is can be a 40hr+ a week mission field if we want it to be, or we can just forget about that and think that because we teach a Sunday school class we are doing our part.

Just some thoughts...

My wife was listening to the radio last night and called me into the room. They were saying that young people today, Gen X, Gen Y and the like will likely never set foot in a church building and are turned off by what they have seen of "church" in this country. I can't say that I blame them. I would like to think that I am trying to be part of the solution to that, but more times than not I find myself perpetuating the problem. The same satus quo I have begun to hate, all to often, is a picture of my life.
I think the fear of persecution by our own "brothers and sisters" in the church keeps us from a real radical abandonment when it comes to ministry... REAL life ministry. We are too afraid of looking undignified in the presence of our peers which keeps us from looking like Christ to the world around us. I am included...I don't want to be...I am trying not to be...but it takes time to change these patterns we have created for ourselves.
We have painted ourselves into a corner on our front porch and the only way out is to just walk all over that wet paint and mess things up a bit. Otherwise we will just stay in that corner and continue to be afraid that we might mess up the way things look. We have worked hard to make things look as nice as they are, but what we fail to realize is that the wood floor on the porch is beginning to rot, and no amount of paint can change that fact.
Lord wake us up from our slumber...may we see the world through your eyes...may we become as undiginified as You were when you gave up the splendor of heaven to come here and serve us.

Whewwwwwwwwwww!!

A chapter in my life is now over. An identity I have held as so important for the past 7 years is now gone. I don't care though...the desires of my heart have been turned upside down.

"But whatever was to my profit I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. What is more, I consider everything a loss compared to the surpassing greatness of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them rubbish, that I may gain Christ and be found in Him,..."

I have a new Identity...it is as a servant of the Most High God, no distractions, no conflict of interest, none of me and all of Him. Real freedom...Real release...Real refreshing...I love it.