Several years ago I was visited by my friend, Nikolay, who is a pastor in Bulgaria. I wanted him to experience life in the American south, which includes Friday night high school football. This was the first time Nikolay had attended an American football game. As the game progressed I noticed that Nikolay seemed to be somewhat unimpressed, even uninterested. I asked, “What do you think of American football?” He replied, “I guess I could enjoy it if I understood what was happening.”
Through the years of following various fads (aka, movements) in the church I have decided that much of the “missional” conversation in which we have engaged has not helped us in sharing the good news of Jesus Christ.
For example, we have spent much energy trying to convince ourselves that Christianity is not a religion. We have declared, “Christianity is not a religion, it’s a relationship.” Or, “I’m not religious, I just love Jesus.” These words reflect the pathos of Protestantism (and Pentecostalism) that seeks to separate “worship in Spirit and truth” (John 4:24) from “a form of godliness” that denies the power of the gospel (2 Timothy 3:5). Most Pentecostals view any resemblance to liturgical form with great suspicion. So, Pentecostals and Charismatics are suspicious of the Protestant traditions of worship; and most Protestants often view formal liturgy as empty religious ritual.
While Christians of all tribes are engaged in these vigorous worship wars we have missed the missional point – that non-Christians see us all as “religious.” They see us as religious because we are devoted to a deity, because we attend religious events, because we see the world through the lens of faith. We can protest, “I’m not religious, I just love Jesus.” The unbeliever will respond, “Because you love Jesus, you’re religious!” In fact, unbelievers expect Christians to be religious, that is, devoted to Jesus Christ.
That leads to my next point. If Christian worship is to be a power encounter in Spirit and truth, then Christian worship must glorify God and faithfully declare the good news of Jesus Christ. Much discussion in the past of decades has focused on making Christian worship services “seeker friendly.” In other words, lets remove the mystery, the tradition, and the symbols; so that when unbelievers “enter His gates” they find themselves in comfortable surroundings, much like a concert hall. Again, this has more to do with Protestant pathos of anti-traditionalism than it does with effectively sharing the gospel.
When unbelievers come to church, much of what they experience is mysterious, even weird. But that doesn’t mean we must remove the mystery. Instead, we must explain the mystery. The Apostle Paul wrote,
Therefore if the whole church assembles together and all speak in tongues, and ungifted men or unbelievers enter, will they not say that you are mad? But if all prophesy, and an unbeliever or an ungifted man enters, he is convicted by all, he is called to account by all; the secrets of his heart are disclosed; and so he will fall on his face and worship God, declaring that God is certainly among you (1 Corinthians 14:23-25).
Paul was not prohibiting the mystery of tongues-speech in worship (1 Corinthians 14:5-19). He insisted that the mystery must be properly interpreted (1 Corinthians 14:27-28). To the unbeliever, there are many mysteries in Christian worship – hymns and spiritual songs, the Eucharist, and the charismata. It is the properly explained mystery – the prophetic gift – that brings the unbeliever to belief.
Back to my friend, Nikolay, and his first American football game. When I said “football” he heard “soccer.” So the first thing that I had to do was to define “football.” For Nikolay to appreciate the game I didn’t need to change the rules, or redesigned the field. I needed to explain the game in the hope that he could understand and appreciate the game.
Maybe, instead of trying to reinvent the church every decade or so, we should focus on better explaining the mystery of the gospel and proclaiming its good news.
