Why am I going on about access to worship, the need for clear sound in worship, etc? Because the worship community is, for many people in postmodern America, the first stop on the way to the encounter with the Holy Spirit on the road to meeting Christ. I have written a chapter about Christian education and evangelism for a book concerning Wesleyan/Holiness perspectives on Christian education to be published by Warner Press in 2011… In this chapter, I discussed the fact that many people come to saving faith because of personal relationships with Christians that result in ongoing conversations that are educational. I quote Norma Cooke Everest as saying that it is not often that a person comes into church and has a life-changing encounter with Christ.
What I did not say in the chapter, however, is that many people who are participating in ongoing conversation with personal friends and mentors are also exploring the church, getting their feet wet in Christian culture. The Church would like them to jump in, to immerse themselves in small groups and other Christian education activities. However, for various reasons, some people do not feel ready for this much involvement when they begin their exploration. Some do not reach that point of readiness for a long time–and perhaps some never reach it. I am not convinced that this means they have no Christian community… In today’s society, where people can be disconnected from their next-door neighbors but at the same time closely connected to their best friend across the country, it is very difficult to assess the state of a person’s “community.” People are often continuing those conversations with family or friends who are not necessarily part of the church where they choose to explore. The church, on the other hand, may assume they have no community since they have come alone… This can be a damaging situation; and one reason why people hesitate to become involved is that they perceive they are at risk of being wounded by heavy-handed efforts to evangelize coming from people who don’t understand the journey they have been taking. We must begin our relations with the understanding that we know nothing about a person until we have begun to relate to them and to allow them to educate us. It is a challenging way to relate, to offer hospitality to the other and recognize that we are not the ones who are the experts on what is going on.
In worship, we have a chance to connect with the explorer, to offer hospitality, to say that we know they are present and we care about their journey, to offer a hand of fellowship to those who want to take it. It matters very much how we do this, and it matters that we do it at all. For while so many people come in preferring and expecting to remain anonymous, they are also watching us to see what we do in response to their presence, to see how we live out the love of Christ that we claim has given us life. Is it just something that fuels the energy that flows between us and our church friends? Or does it give life that flows to the whole community? What does it mean to live in that kind of life? Worship doesn’t just happen inside the sanctuary, though it is a good start. It is something we take with us, something that drives us to live differently than we might otherwise live.
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