From the Pastor's Weekly Briefing

From H.B. London:

A majority of Protestant clergy in this country feel strongly that salvation comes only through Jesus Christ (88%), and that Christians have a responsibility to try to convert active members of non-Christian faith groups to Christianity (82%), according to a just-released study reported in Facts & Trends magazine. However, a majority is also willing to partner with non-Christian faith groups to accomplish something good for the community, and call for more interfaith cooperation for the good of society.

Among denominations, every Pentecostal/charismatic minister in the study agreed strongly that Jesus Christ is the only path to salvation. Southern Baptist ministers (98%) and other Baptist ministers -- American Baptist, National Baptist, etc. -- (96%) also agreed strongly. Lutherans (77%) and Methodists (65%) were less likely to strongly agree.For the complete data from this study, including all the questions asked and the denominational detail, visit www.ellisonresearch.com/PastorStudy.htm.

Fine study. Now - here's the quick quiz...

Which of these denominational/traditional breakdowns are growing the fastest?

Answer: Pentecostal/charismatic. Next: Southern Baptists.

Which of these denominational/traditional breakdowns are not growing?

Answer: Lutherans. Methodists.

Evangelistic insight: stick with the Bible. In it, there is growth. With Jesus, the Church is on the march.

Worship gets us moving

"Without doubt the emphasis in Christian teaching today should be on worship. There is little danger that we shall become merely worshipers and neglect the practical implications of the gospel. No one can long worship God in spirit and in truth before the obligation to holy service becomes too strong to resist. Fellowship with God leads straight to obedience and good works. That is the divine order and it can never be reversed." (A.W. Tozer, Born After Midnight)

And what does it say of a local church when it is not obeying the Great Commission and showing compassion to the hurting and helpless?

Worship problems. Or, perhaps, worshipping the wrong god altogether.

Found this at sermoncentral.com:

James Michener, writing in his book, The Source, tells the story of a man named Urbaal, who was a farmer living about 2200 B.C.

He worshiped two gods, one a god of death, the other a goddess of fertility. One day, the temple priests tell Urbaal to bring his young son to the temple for sacrifice--if he wants good crops. Urbaal obeys, and on the appointed day drags his wife and boy to the scene of the boy's "religious execution" by fire to the god of death.

After the sacrifice of Urbaal's boy and several others, the priests announce that one of the fathers will spend next week in the temple, with a new temple prostitute. Urbaal's wife is stunned as she notices a desire written more intensely across his face than she had seen before, and she is overwhelmed to see him eagerly lunge forward when his name is called. The ceremony over, she walks out of the temple with her head swimming, concluding that "if he had different gods, he would have been a different man."

What difference should an evangelistic...a missionary God...have on who we are and what we do?

Worship leads to evangelism and missions

“While they were worshiping the Lord and fasting, the Holy Spirit said, "Set apart for me Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them. So after they had fasted and prayed, they placed their hands on them and sent them off.” (Acts 13:2-3)

Luke the historian tells us that at Antioch, Christianity’s first and most famous missionaries were sent out because the church heard the Holy Spirit speaking during worship.

Little wonder. When we praise and adore a missionary God, the church shouldn’t be surprised that such praise impels us towards missionary enterprise. When we seek the face of the One who reveals Himself and His apostolic vision, He often sends us in new directions.

Worship and evangelism come up again later in Luke’s account of the early church. After Paul and Silas had been severely flogged in Philippi for preaching to the rich and poor alike, they were thrown into the inner cell of the local prison and fastened in stocks. About midnight, says Luke, “Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.” This would have surprised the other prisoners and the jailer as well – prisons in those days were rough places to find yourself. They were so filthy and the conditions so harsh that prisoner suicide was common. Better to die than have to live another solitary night in such squalid environs.

“Suddenly,” reports Luke, “there was such a violent earthquake that the foundations of the prison were shaken. At once all the prison doors flew open, and everybody's chains came loose.”

At this moment of holy liberation the freed prisoners stood fast and refused to flee; the jailer, overcome with the emotion of the moment, exclaimed, “What must I do to be saved?” Luke tells us that the jailer and his whole family came to know salvation.

Worship first, then the spreading of the gospel. Whether the worship takes place in a church or a prison, the praise of the Almighty inspires the outward movement of the gospel.

But it thus leads us to a pretty important question. Are we really worshipping? In most congregations, the lack of evangelism and missions would hardly indicate that we are.

Note it well: our God is a missionary God. To worship Him is to emulate Him. An outward bound deity produces in His people movement to the people, the nations.