Basic Differences

At some point in time among Protestants, the worship service began to be seen as a vehicle for evangelism and outreach. In fact, some have said that the chief place where outreach takes place is on Sunday morning. With such a view of worship, what happens on Sunday morning must be made more than intelligible to those not yet believers -- it must be engaging, it must be welcoming, it must be familiar, it must be non-threatening, it must be accessible. Therefore, the mission principle is the justification for what is done on Sunday morning.

As one such minister put it to me, if your target for outreach consists of German folks whose taste in music is classical, who are formal by nature, who like singing hymns with difficult melodies, and who like to be passive instead of involved, then by all means do liturgy. But if your target people are different than this group, then you cannot use the liturgy (hymns, pipe organs, etc.) and be successful in outreach. The culture of Sunday morning must match the culture of the people you are appealing to...

There is only one basic problem with this thesis -- those who are not yet believers cannot worship God. Period. This is not Larry Peters conclusion. This is God speaking through Scripture. Only those who know Him (by baptism and faith) can worship Him in spirit and truth, as He desires, requires, and inspires.

I do not dispute the fact that every Sunday morning has "not yet believers" sitting in the pews with believers. I do not challenge the idea that people walk through the doors on Sunday morning without a clue to what the Christian faith is and that they gauge their impression of what the faith is from what they see and hear. BUT that these people are present does not mean that what is done on Sunday morning is for them or that it must intelligible to them -- much less tailored to those not yet believers (pagan, unbelievers, or even unchurched sounds so judgmental... worse it sounds defeatist... I prefer to call them the not yet believers... the not yet baptized... the not yet part of the community of faith...).

A comment on another post on this blog disparaged my disparagement of worship that mirrors our culture and defended: those who are using Lutheran praise worship as a vehicle for communicating Law/Gospel to the lost and bringing them to the cross of Jesus Christ. There is a problem here. First of all I am not even sure what "Lutheran praise worship" is but worship is NOT a vehicle for communicating Law/Gospel to the lost and bringing them to the cross of Jesus Christ. They may hear the Law and Gospel in worship, the Spirit may work through this Word to open their hearts to faith, but only the Body of Christ can worship Christ the head of that Body and the Trinity whom He reveals. Yes, we welcome those who do not yet belong but to suggest that worship is primarily or even secondarily a vehicle for communicating to the lost is just plain wrong. Have we forgotten the old distinction between the Mass of the Catechumens and the Mass of the Faithful?

This remains the biggest chasm between those who advocate a service that appeals to people's wants, needs, and culture, and those who insist that worship must conform the historic pattern of Word and Meal (within the framework of the mass form, with is Service of the Word and Service of the Sacrament). The debate is not about the age or youth of the hymns (read that songs). It is not about whether the confession can be here or somewhere else in the order. It is not about the words being "King James" or twitter speak. It is not about the use or lack of technology. It is not about vestments or lack of vestments. It is first and foremost about the basic question: Who can worship?

My own parish has tripled in size over the years, built a new facility, expanded mission support, established a preschool, multiplied our ministry, and created a very welcoming community (with all kinds of greeters, we care people, etc.). I am for growth. I am for outreach. I believe that we need to reach out to those not yet believers with the Law and Gospel. But worship is not evangelistic outreach. Only those who are already a part of the church by baptism and faith CAN worship. Those "not yet" can appreciate what they see and hear, learn from it, and even be drawn into it's mystery (that is how many of my newest members describe being in the liturgy) -- but worship belongs to those who belong to the community of faith.

Once I went to a worship conference where one contemporary worship person and one traditional worship person both had to address the question "Who is worship for -- those inside the church or those outside the church?" The "traditional" guy said he was at a loss to know what to do because neither of the choices were exactly correct. Worship is for God -- from God, yes, but also for God. The Divine Service with all of its gifts is for those whom He has called His own, washed in the living waters of baptism, and respond with faith under the guidance of the Holy Spirit.

Evangelism, outreach, catechesis, instruction, and assimilation need to be connected to the liturgy and flow from the Church assembled around the Word and Sacraments. The Church's witness begins within the context of what the Church does on Sunday morning but Sunday morning is not our outreach program.

When good people and good Pastors say "we say we will do whatever it takes on Sunday morning to bring the Law and Gospel to the lost so that they may be brought to the cross of Christ" I understand what they mean, what they hope to accomplish, and what is moving them... But is it correct? Is worship a tool of outreach? Is worship a program to be used for evangelism (or even education, for that matter)?

I believe Sunday morning should be welcoming and winsome -- here we print out the service because we are in the South, we have so many people from non-liturgical backgrounds, we have 3-8 new families who show up for the first time on a Sunday morning. I am not in favor of barriers or making people feel uncomfortable. But if a person off the street walks into the Church and does not feel at least a little uncomfortable, something is wrong. The Gospel is a jarring message that cuts across the reality of what the world outside of Christ believes. The efficacious Word is a strange concept to people who live in the culture of feelings, wants, and desires. The mysterion of the Sacraments is foreign to those outside the community of faith. We cannot bridge the gap to those outside by diminishing what happens on the inside. We are doing them a disservice. We are also doing the greatest disservice to the 95% of the people there who belong there by baptism and faith, catechesis and confession.

I believe in outreach, mission, evangelism, and witness. I believe in using tools that are authentic to our identity as Lutheran Christians. I believe in using the tools of technology in that outreach. I believe that the first priority of the church budget is mission. I believe that need to look at the building, the parking lot, the Sanctuary from the eyes of the new person to make sure we have not placed hidden barriers there. But I believe that what happens on Sunday morning must be dictated NOT by outreach concerns but by the Word, by the context of the community of the baptized believers who gather around that Word and Meal, and by the Church that is this assembly of those whom God has called, gathered, enlightened, and sanctified.