Worship and Missions Part 2

I think the problem is that we've divorced worship from missions. God spanked Israel by saying "you honor me with your mouths, but your hearts are far from me". So how do we bring our hearts near to God? Micah 6:8 says "He has showed you, O man, what is good. And what does the Lord require of you? To act justly and to love mercy and to walk humbly with your God."

How can we stand up in front of our churches and lead people to worship God if we are unwilling to live by Micah 6:8? Ouch! I've heard the convicting voice of the Holy Spirit at times say to me "your heart is far from me"!

Surely there is more to worship ministry than creating set lists, recruiting musicians, and leading music. The real excitement is in missions! Nothing fuels the fire of worship like a fresh missions experience.

I remember the my first Sunday back at church leading worship after returning from a mission trip to Nicaragua. As I sang the lyrics "You're the defender of the week. You comfort those in need", I broke into tears because I was recounting the orphans that we ministered to. It was a powerful moment as I shared our experiences with the congregation.

True worship should always lead to missions. As worship connects us to God's heart by bringing our hearts near to Him, we begin to love what God loves and hate what God hates. 

 

Comments

[Rich Kirkpatrick]

I am excited to see a worshiptogether blog! So cool.

[marina berryman]

I've been thinking and praying about this concept of walking humbly with God. It's all about loving the things He loves and doing the things He does, while WALKING, not waiting, not running, not watching, not standing, not sitting, but walking. So, if we walk with Him, He will surely help us to see what He sees and feel what He feels and respond to the world around us with His love and compassion and mercy and justice (among other things). We will find ourselves not just walking in our comfortable places, but in places of great discomfort, places that don't look or smell clean and sanitized, places that are inconvenient and messy, places that we wouldn't necessarily choose to walk.

[G. Shaw]

Being a worshp leader at a mission base in Mexico for 4 years and heading up the outreach portion nothing comes closer to touching the heart of God and fueling the passion in our hearts to reach out to people. To see the poor people and rich people, but to see them through the eyes of Jesus! Wow! That really changes a person's view on things. I am so grateful to God for the experience and life lessons through this time!