5. Worship is a powerful witness to unbelievers if God’s presence is felt and the message is understandable.
Both of those are essential parts of a worship service when witnessing to unbelievers. Again, Acts 2 is a good example of this. God’s presence was so evident in the disciple’s worship at Pentecost that it attracted the attention of all the unbelievers throughout the city. And then the message was understandable. Remember the miracle of tongues? Every man heard the message in his own language. It had to be understandable! And that’s true today as well.
Trav’s Feedback: People are craving authenticity. Discerning people can tell if you live what you say you believe. The way we worship shows a world what we truly think about God – how committed we are to it.
But also, the gift of tongues in the Book of Acts showed us something about God’s heart – he wants the message to be understandable. He doesn’t expect people far from God to have to decode what we talk about at a church service. This doesn’t water down the message, this just means stop talking Christianese.
Justification, atonement, propitiation, saved, and baptized are not common words anymore. The messages of all those words are foundational to what we believe, but the words do not hold a sacred power. The message is what transforms lives.
So, step back and think next time you are in a church service. If I had never been to church, never had Christian parents who taught me, would I understand what the guy up there was talking about?
Travis Agnew serves as the Lead Pastor of Rocky Creek Church in Greenville, SC. His most recent book is Just (About) Married.
