Worship Motivates Mission

Over the past week I’ve been working my way through Christ-Centered Worship by Bryan Chapell. The subtitle, “Letting the Gospel Shape Our Practice”, is a concise summary of the book’s message that the Gospel itself ought to shape the structure of our worship gatherings.

Chapell concludes a chapter entitled “The Mission of Christ-Centered Worship” with the following comments about the connection between worship and mission.

The gospel narrative does not simply form the structure of our worship; it simultaneously stimulates mission on behalf of the One we worship. The story of Christ-centered worship is the story of the God who has come to redeem his people. As we retell his story in our worship, our hearts are moved by his love and we want to tell the world of it. We intuitively know that more glory will come to the One we worship if more people worship with us. As our worship resonates with the message of his love for us, our hearts resonate with love for him and his purposes. More and more we come to understand that our worship is part of God’s mission to make known his Son to our hearts and to the world (135).

Worship motivates mission!

More on Persuasion and Preaching the Gospel

Yesterday I posted a video of a talk given by Tim Keller on the role of persuasion in preaching the Gospel. As a follow up I wanted to provide an explanation of what Keller means by persuasion. The following is a paraphrase of Keller’s definition.

Persuasion is seeking to understand your audience so what you say to them will address their concerns and overcome their objections. In doing so, the barriers that formerly prevented your listeners from giving thought to the message you proclaim will be taken away and they can begin to see the attractiveness of the Gospel.

I encourage you to watch or listen to Keller’s talk in its entirety (see yesterday’s post).