Rethinking worship evangelism
In an excellent article, Sally Morgenthaler outlines the change in her thinking about worship as evangelism:
By 2002 a few pastors of praise and worship churches began admitting to me that they weren't making much of a dent in the surrounding non-Christian population, even though their services were packed and they were known for the best worship production in town..
For all the money, time, and effort we've spent on cultural relevance—and that includes culturally relevant worship—it seems we came through the last 15 years with a significant net loss in churchgoers, proliferation of megachurches and all...
May you, as leader of your congregation, have the courage to leave the "if we build it, they will come" world of the last two decades behind. May you and the Christ-followers you serve become worshippers who can raise the bar of authenticity, as well as your hands. And may you be reminiscent of Isaiah, who, having glimpsed the hem of God's garment and felt the cleansing fire of grace on his lips, cried, "Here am I, send me."
What Christians need to spend more of their time on is friendship evangelism. 86% of people come to Jesus through friends and family. We can have the best services in the world and it will not be as effective as our friendships and relationships with others. It be more convincing if they see the love in our lives. The gospel is of course, love God and love your neighbour as yourself. We need to convince people that they are loved by God and us. They will then feel loved and share this with others. Jesus passed this very clear message to us and it is our responsibilty to pass the message along not just in words but in our actions. Jesus said "Love others as I have loved you".
The more we pratice what we preach the more convincing the message will be. The medium is the message is what Marshall Mcluhan said.
Jesus was the medium that passed on the message to love which people believed because of Jesus's character.
APOSTOLIC URGENCY
"Scriptural Christianity, as beginning to exist in individuals; as spreading from one to another; as covering the earth." – John Wesley
Wesley saw the world as his parish. He worked in his parish with sacrificial commitment and powerful effectiveness.
He demanded the same of anyone that called one’s self a Methodist. It was this sense of urgency that drove the Methodist movement into everycorner of the globe...
Church Development;Methodist Style by Jared Siebert
www.fmc-canada.org
We need to become more enthusiastic Christians. People will believe the message if they see it in our love for one another, God and our neighbours.