Worship Wars

Three practical tasks

2. Getting unbelievers into worship

The numbering is not a mistake. This task actually comes second, but nearly everyone thinks it comes first!

It is natural to believe that they must get non-Christians into worship before they can begin ‘doxological evangelism’. But the reverse is the case. Non-Christians do not get invited into worship unless the worship is already evangelistic. The only way they will have non-Christians in attendance is through personal invitation by Christians. Just as in the Psalms, the ‘nations’ must be directly asked to come. But the main stimulus to building bridges and invitation is the comprehensibility and quality of the worship experience.

Christians will instantly sense if a worship experience will be attractive to their non-Christian friends. They may find a particular service wonderfully edifying for them, and yet know that their non-believing neighbours would react negatively.

Therefore, a vicious cycle persists. Pastors see only Christians present, so they lack incentive to make their worship comprehensible to outsiders. But since they fail to make the adaptations, Christians who are there (though perhaps edified themselves) do not think to bring their sceptical and non-Christian friends to church. They do not think they will be impressed. So no outsiders come. And so the pastors respond only to the Christian audience. And so on and on. Therefore, the best way to get Christians to bring non-Christians is to worship as if there are dozens and hundreds of sceptical onlookers. And if you worship as if, eventually they will be there in reality.

1. Making worship comprehensible to unbelievers.

Our purpose is not to make the unbeliever ‘comfortable’. (In 1 Corinthians 14.24-25 or Acts 2.12 and 37, they are cut to the heart!) We aim to be intelligible to them. We must address their ‘heart secrets’ (1 Corinthians 14.25). That means we must remember what it is like to not believe; we must remember what an unbelieving heart is like. How do we do that?

a) Worship and preaching in the ‘vernacular’. It is hard to overstate how ghetto-ised our preaching is. It is normal to make all kinds of statements that appear persuasive to us, but are based on all sorts of premises that the secular person does not hold. It is normal to make all sorts of references using terms and phrases that mean nothing outside our Christian sub-group. So avoid unnecessary theological or evangelical sub-culture ‘jargon’, and explain carefully the basic theological concepts, such as confession of sin, praise, thanksgiving, and so on. In the preaching, show continual willingness to address the questions that the unbelieving heart will ask. Speak respectfully and sympathetically to people who have difficulty with Christianity. As you write the sermon, imagine a particular sceptical non-Christian in the chair listening to you. Add the asides, the qualifiers, the extra explanations necessary. Listen to everything said in the worship service with the ears of someone who has doubts or troubles with belief.

b) Explain the service as you go along. Though there is danger of pastoral verbosity, learn to give one or two-sentence, non-jargony explanations of each new part of the service. ‘When we confess our sins, we are not grovelling in guilt, but dealing with our guilt. If you deny your sins you will never get free from them.’

It is good to begin worship services as the black church often does, with a ‘devotional’: a brief talk that explains the meaning of worship. This way you continually instruct newcomers in worship.

c) Directly address and welcome them. Talk regularly to ‘those of you who aren’t sure you believe this, or who aren’t sure just what you believe’. Give them many asides, even expressing the language of their hearts. Articulate their objections to Christian living and belief better than they can do it themselves.

Express sincere sympathy for their difficulties, even when challenging them severely for their selfishness and unbelief.

d) Quality aesthetics. The power of art draws people to behold it. Good art and its message enters the soul through the imagination and begins to appeal to the reason, for art makes ideas plausible. The quality of music and speech in worship will have a major impact on its evangelistic power. In many churches, the quality of the music is mediocre or poor. Excellent aesthetics includes outsiders, while mediocre or poor aesthetics exclude. The low level of artistic quality in many churches guarantees that only insiders will continue to come. For the non-Christian, the attraction of good art will have a major part in drawing them in.

e) Celebrate deeds of mercy and justice. We live in a time when public esteem of the church is plummeting. For many outsiders or enquirers, the deeds of the church will be far more important than words in gaining plausibility. The leaders of most towns see ‘word-only’ churches as costs to their community, not a value. Effective churches will be so involved in deeds of mercy and justice that outsiders will say, ‘We cannot do without churches like this. This church is channelling so much value into our community through its services to people that, if it went out of business, we’d have to raise everybody’s taxes’. Mercy deeds give the gospel words plausibility (Acts 4.32 followed by verse 33).

Therefore, evangelistic worship services should highlight offerings for deed ministry and should celebrate through reports and testimonies and prayer what is being done. It is best that offerings for mercy ministry be separate, attached (as traditional) to the Lord’s Supper. This brings before the non-Christian the impact of the gospel on people’s hearts (it makes us generous) and the impact of lives poured out for the world.

f) Preach grace. The one message that both believers and unbelievers need to hear is that salvation and adoption are by grace alone. A worship service that focuses too much and too often on educating Christians in the details of theology will simply bore or confuse the unbelievers present. While we should preach the whole counsel of God, we must major on the ‘ABCs’ of the Christian faith.

If the response to this is ‘then Christians will be bored’, it shows a misunderstanding of the gospel. The gospel of free, gracious justification and adoption is not just the way we enter the kingdom, but also the way we grow into the likeness of Christ. Many Christians are ‘defeated’ and stagnant in their growth because they try to be holy for wrong motives. They say ‘no’ to temptation by telling themselves, ‘God will get me’ or ‘people will find out’ or ‘I’ll hate myself in the morning’ or ‘it will hurt my self-esteem’ or ‘it will hurt other people’ or ‘it’s against the law — I’ll be caught’ or ‘it’s against my principles’ or ‘I will look bad’. Some or all of these may be true, but Titus tells us they are inadequate. Only the grace of God, the logic of the gospel will work. Titus (2.11-13) says it ‘teaches’ us, it argues with us.

Therefore, the one basic message that both Christians and unbelievers need to hear is the gospel of grace.

It can then be applied to both groups, right on the spot and directly. If the Sunday service and sermon aim primarily at evangelism, it will bore the saints. If they aim primarily at education, they’ll bore and confuse unbelievers. If they aim at praising the God who saves by grace, they’ll both instruct insiders and challenge outsiders.

3. Leading to commitment

We have seen that unbelievers in worship actually ‘close with Christ’ in two basic ways. Some may come to Christ during the service itself (1 Corinthians 14.24-25). Others must be ‘followed up’ very specifically.

a) During the service. A way to invite commitment during the service is to give people a time of silence after the sermon.

A ‘prayer of belief’ could be prayed by the pastor (or printed in the bulletin at that juncture in the order of worship) to help people reach out to Christ.

b) After meetings. Acts 2 seems to show us an ‘after meeting’. In verses 12 and 13 we are told that some folks mocked upon hearing the apostles praise and preach, but others were disturbed and asked, ‘What does this mean?’ Then Peter very specifically explained the gospel, and, in response to a second question ‘what shall we do?’ (verse 37), explained very specifically how to become Christians. Historically, it has been found very effective to offer such meetings to unbelievers and seekers immediately after evangelistic worship.

Convicted seekers have just come from being in the presence of God, and they are often most teachable and open. To seek to ‘get them into a small group’ or even to merely return next Sunday is asking a lot of them. They may also be ‘amazed and perplexed’ (Acts 2.12) and it is best to ‘strike while the iron is hot’. This is not to doubt that God is infallibly drawing his elect! That knowledge helps us to relax as we do evangelism, knowing that conversions are not dependent on our eloquence. But the Westminster Confession tells us that God ordinarily works through secondary causes, normal social and psychological processes. Therefore, to invite people into a follow-up meeting immediately is usually more conducive to ‘conserving the fruit of the Word’.

After meetings may consist first of one or more persons who wait at the front of the auditorium to pray with and talk with any seekers who come forward to make enquiries right on the spot. A second after meeting can consist of a simple question-and-answer session with the preacher in some room near the main auditorium or even in the auditorium (after the postlude). Third, after meetings should also consist of one or two classes or small group experiences targeted to specific questions non-Christians ask about the content, relevance, and credibility of the Christian faith. After meetings should be attended by skilled lay evangelists who can come alongside newcomers and answer spiritual questions and provide guidance as to their next steps.

Tim Keller is pastor of Redeemer Presbyterian Church of New York. This article first appeared in the Irish Presbyterian magazine Reachout. © Tim Keller 2006. All rights reserved. Used with permission.

Final part of Tim Keller's consideration of the tension between historic and contemporary worship

Three practical tasks

2. Getting unbelievers into worship

1. Making worship comprehensible to unbelievers.

3. Leading to commitment

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