Ready to Surrender

As a Christian and as a pastor, worship is important to me. How we worship, why we worship, when we worship, the ways we worship, and what/who we worship are all important to me. Yet, so often these things are not important to the others I am talking to. Often times when talking about worship with pastors and leaders the conversation is reduced to "How many were there?" and "How moved were they?"

When I talk about the need for a renewed worship, people respond with discussions of transitioning from "traditional music" (hymnal) to "contemporary music" (everything published after the hymnal). Or I hear statements like I did a couple of weeks ago with a group of pastors, when one pastor stated publicly, "I actually quit going to worship for a period of time before becoming a pastor. I mean, I understood why we worshiped but I just didn't have anything in common with the church people. But now that we have a "cowboy church" I just feel such a great sense of unity."

Hauerwas on Worship and Evangelism

I came across an excellent article by Stanley Hauerwas on the interesting position that has emerged within 'evangelical' churches that assumes there is a difference in worship and evangelism. Basing his assumption in the methods and practices currently used by a large portion of the Church, Hauerwas commented,

'Currently some Methodists are even suggesting, in the interest of church growth (which has become synonymous in some circles with evangelism), that worship must be made more "user-friendly". They thus assume a tension exists between worship and evangelism.'

Upon reflection, Hauerwas concluded that the 'tension' that seems to exist between worship and evangelism is actually a misrepresentation of true worship.