Living Theology
in the Metropolitan Chicago Synod
Evangelical Lutheran
Church In America
Volume 7, Number 2
Christmas 2002
Liturgy in the Service of Evangelism
The Witness of
the Worshiping Community: Liturgy and the Practice of Evangelism by Frank C. Senn, Paulist
Press, New York/Mahwah, NJ, 1993.
A Synopsis Compiled by Joyce M. Bowers
This book has particular
significance to the theme of this issue.
Although it was written a dozen years ago when the church growth
movement with its seeker-friendly services was beginning to make an impact on
the mainline church, it retains its freshness and relevance as the church
continues to struggle with the relationship between worship and
evangelism. This synopsis gives an
overview of the book’s central themes through edited excerpts from the book
itself and three published reviews, viz.,
Fisch, Thomas.
Review, Worship, Vol. 68 No.
3, pp. 283-284. Fisch serves at The
Saint Paul Seminary School of Divinity, Saint Paul, Minnesota.
Nessan, Craig L.
Review, Dialog, Vol. 35 No. 4,
Fall 1996, pp. 318-320. Nessen is a
faculty member at Wartburg Theological Seminary, Des Moines, Iowa.
Pfatteicher, Philip H. Review, Lutheran Forum Vol.
31, Fall 1997, pp. 58-60. Pfatteicher
is co-author of Manual on the Liturgy:
Lutheran Book of Worship.
Introduction
Senn (back cover): “In their
efforts to reach the unchurched, too many churches in recent years have turned
worship into entertainment. Evangelism
— a word with profound New Testament significance — has become mere proselytism. The gospel is left devalued.
“In contrast to this
movement is the kind of worship that invites people to enter into the gospel
mysteries and gives witness to the living faith of the community. Genuine worship reveals God’s presence in
the community and speaks to the deepest needs of religious seekers. The best way to draw people into church is
to give them an experience of true worship, in word and sacrament, where God
becomes accessible and real. Churches
that practice evangelism through the quality of their prayer and community life
must be serious about how they welcome people and incorporate different
cultures. They must reflect on the way
faith develops in people and the way new members are absorbed into the
community. Ancient models of Christian
initiation can enlighten the present practice of evangelism. They also point to a notion of church that
is greater and more authentic than the competing congregations of today.”
Pfatteicher: “Senn addresses the
current fad for entertainment evangelism and church growth. He asks us to attend more closely to what
the church ought to be about: mission, that is the mission of God in the world,
a mission of reconciliation in which the church is invited to participate.”
Nessan: “Senn makes a clear and
much-needed case for the evangelical thrust of historic liturgical
practice. While current experimentation
with ‘seeker services’ and entertainment evangelism serves as the counterpoint
for Senn’s argument, this book is not shrill and does not degenerate into
polemic. Instead, he carefully expounds
the inherent evangelical quality of historic liturgy.”
Theological
Foundations: Liturgical Worship and the Mission of the Church
Senn presents a stimulating inquiry into the
relationship between liturgical worship and the mission of the Church. He begins with a vocabulary study because,
as he says, “language is a reflection of our notional concepts and also helps
to form them.” We distill the results
of his study in the following definitions:
I. Worship:
an attitude of awe and reverence which occurs within and outside of the cultic
community because one renders honor to God in one’s ethical conduct as well as
in one’s offering of prayer, praise, and thanksgiving.
II. Liturgy:
the work or service that an individual or group performs on behalf of others.
III. To
witness: to tell what one knows.
IV. Evangelism:
spreading the good news of what God has done in Jesus the Christ.
V. Mission:
both sending out missionaries to preach, teach, and convert and the special
task or purpose a person or group has.
These definitions will be
helpful as we continue to hear the author and the reviewers speak of worship
and mission.
Pfatteicher: “All of this activity
ought to be of one piece, but too often congregations and denominations are
fragmented so that ‘worship’ and ‘social ministry’ and ‘evangelism’ committees
seldom meet together. This book seeks
to show how these diverse parts fit together.”
Nessan: “Worship serves God’s
mission in the world. This is the basic
premise of Senn’s book. Ancient worship
practices have always had this as their aim.
The conviction that God is active in the gospel through word and
sacrament undergirds what the church has always practiced through its
liturgical rites. At the heart of this
conviction lies the trust that the transformative power of God’s kingdom
becomes manifest through baptism, eucharist, hymn, prayer, and
proclamation. References to the way the
kingdom of God comes alive through these historic means of grace punctuate
Senn’s writing and provide coherence to his vision.”
Pfatteicher: “The book is a careful
statement of the obligation of the church, informed throughout by a humility
that is all too rare in talking about the mission of the church. Too often church leaders talk as if
‘mission’ is what the church decides to do, as if what the church is doing God
is therefore doing, as if God works only through one organization that is often
not especially prayerful or self-sacrificing.
Senn’s understanding of God is larger and more faithful to the biblical
witness. He writes: ‘The church has a
place in the mission of God.’ That puts
the church in its rightful place.”
Fisch: “Senn skewers both the
church growth movement and ‘creative liturgy’ as a method for engineering
human change; the liturgy is neither a utilitarian tool nor an aesthetic
end. More extensive is his sharply
accurate appraisal of individualism and pietism. Within a culture that defines ‘religion’ as private (except for
the civil religion which cannot be acknowledged as religion), it is difficult
to avoid the traps of ‘me-centered Christianity’ and conversion as a completely
private concern. From this perspective,
the proclamation of the gospel becomes mere ‘individual testimony to what God
has done for me.’”
Pfatteicher: “Senn defines the
character of worship over against common and well-intentioned corruptions in
practice. Worship is corrupted when it
becomes utilitarian, a tool used to accomplish some practical end (‘The family
that prays together stays together’) rather than the congregation’s service of
God. Aestheticism is another
corruption, focusing on the sensual experience as an end in itself, whether the
beauty of music exquisitely performed or cheery, up-beat sermons to make the
congregants feel good, ignoring the situation of fallen humanity.”
Fisch: “Worship as entertainment
or as an intra-familial activity also will not do. Christians must recover the public character of liturgical
worship in order to embrace the mystery of a church that exists not for itself,
but as a servant ‘for the life of the world’ (Schmemann). The life we serve is not confined to
‘religious’ concerns, but is a vitality that intends the transformation of the
whole cosmos. This thoroughly
eschatological reality is central to both baptism and Eucharist, as Senn
notes. He critiques the false
alternatives of eschatology, triumphantly realized or totally apocalyptic, and
presents well the eschatological tension of the reign of God which is at once
fully realized and fully yet to come.
The implications for evangelism are delineated.”
Senn (pp. 87-89): “To envision
the relationship between eucharist and mission correctly, we must [see] the
necessity as opposed to the usefulness of worship. If we think in terms of usefulness, then worship is simply a good
preparation for being sent out to do mission.
Worship is seen as providing a source of power to enable Christians to
witness to Christ in their daily lives. …Against this it has to be affirmed
that worship is not a means to mission, it is an aspect of mission — God’s
mission. …[W]orship is the occasion for God and his people to encounter one
another, by means of God’s sacramental gifts and his people’s sacrificial
response. We should not ask how is our worship to be related to our mission, but how is the worship in
which God participates related to his mission? If worship is, in fact, a part of God’s mission, then there is no
separation of worship and mission from God’s side. Then from our side our worship is a way of participating in the
mission of God, just as our witness is.
“…The
church is engaging in mission when it worships. As its worship is renovated, its mission will be renovated. The church is engaged in mission when it
addresses the gospel to those in need, and provides necessary services to the
poor and destitute. As it recommits
itself to these acts of witness and service, it will be recommitted to mission. Any renewal of any missionary activity will
contribute to the renewal of the church.
“This has an important
bearing on liturgical reform. The point
of reform is not to restyle our worship to make it a better evangelism tool by
making it more of a mirror of our cultural fads and fancies. The point of liturgical reform is to make
our worship more reflective of what the church is called to be as the people of
God, the body of Christ, the herald of the kingdom, the sacrament of Christ’s
presence in the world, the servant of God.
There is an essential connection between liturgy and ecclesiology. The liturgy should be styled so that it is
done by the whole church — clergy and people, young and old, rich and poor,
black and white, men and women, learned and unlearned, each contributing the
gift he or she has to the building up of the whole body. This does not mean that the laity should
usurp the pastor’s role as preacher and presider. Nor should the pastor usurp the people’s liturgical roles. [There should be] a spiritual freedom for
each to contribute what he or she is able. …We need a variety of gifts: the
gifts of hospitality, of singing, of reading in public, of praying, of
offering, of making banners, of baking bread, of arranging space — whatever
the gift may be, there is a place for it in the liturgy. A liturgy in which all this is happening is
a paradigm of the new, reconciled humanity.”
Baptism and
Eucharist
Nessan: “Senn devotes key chapters
to ‘The Witness of Baptism’ and ‘The Witness of the Eucharist.’ The evangelical character of these
sacraments places the cross of Christ at the center of the faith. Evangelism historically led the inquirer
ever deeper into the Christian mystery, leading to identification with Christ’s
death in the conversion of baptism and nurturing a life of discipleship in
participation at the Lord’s supper.
Senn articulates the logic of historic practice with regard to these
sacraments, highlights their evangelistic intention, and provides helpful
guidance for the renewal of contemporary worship practice.”
Fisch: “The chapter on baptism centers
on the participation of the baptized in God’s mission to reconcile humanity to
himself. The Eucharist is treated as a
renewal of baptism. But baptism is
precisely entry into the Eucharist; the ecclesial body of Christ and the
sacramental body are not two things, but one.”
Pfatteicher: “Senn explores the missionary
dimensions inherent in the two sacraments of Holy Baptism and Holy Communion;
both are part of God’s mission of reconciling the world. The two sacraments incorporate Christians
into the eschatological mission of God.
Thus the church is engaging in mission when it worships as well as when
it provides necessary services to those in need. It is to such worship of God that those outside are to be
invited. Such worship, therefore, must be
authentic celebration and proclamation of the Gospel. Three sample sermons are provided as examples of how this may be
done.”
Nessan: “Senn offers suggestions
for improving hospitality to strangers who are welcomed to public worship. The role of ushers and greeters, written and
verbal directions for visitors, and especially the environment of worship each
deserve attention in order to enhance liturgy’s evangelical possibilities. Every culture rightly indigenizes the
liturgy in its own time and place. In
fact ‘the historic liturgy of the church is already a multicultural expression
in that it retains vestiges of all the cultures it has passed through’ (107). The beauty of liturgy begins with its
catholic character as it is inculturated among a particular people.”
Fisch: “An essay on invitational
evangelism links the theological section and the concluding pastorally oriented
chapters. The focus is on evangelistic hospitality
that is neither consumer-oriented nor narrowly defined. At the same time, it is something totally
distinct from proselytism. The main
enemy of true hospitality is too cozy an understanding of church. Outsiders will continue to feel excluded until
congregations recognize that the church of Christ is a thoroughly public
reality.”
Senn (p. 111): “[A] summary may
help to show the progression of thought that has unfolded in this chapter on
‘Invitational Evangelism.’ From the
idea of inviting people to church we went on to consider the atmosphere of
hospitality that is conveyed by the congregation through its members and
facilities. A whole world is being
enacted in the liturgy of the church.
This is a world with which the visitors must be able to connect. At the same time it must be a world
transformed and not just enacted in its fallen condition. The visitor sees the familiar transformed by
grace into a new and inviting reality.
Worship should project a vision of the new creation which alone can
provide hope to those who experience the inadequacies and failures of ‘this
world.’ Local worship must and will
reflect and express local culture. But
complete cultural capitulation is avoided by observing the catholic shape of
the liturgy and by accepting the leadership of the apostolic office.”
Pfatteicher: “History, tradition, and
fidelity to the liturgical forms we have inherited and have recovered provide
the time-tested ways of making those outside members of the church. Senn’s approach rejects turning the church
inside out to meet the unchurched where they are and rightly insists that those
outside the church are to be initiated by careful steps into the fullness of
the church’s life. Senn makes practical
and workable suggestions for instruction related to the church year and issues
a call for denominational cooperation, which is the most forceful means of
witness by the worshiping community.”
Senn (p. 134): “[L]iturgy is an
evangelistic activity because it is a proclamation and celebration of the
gospel. Worship in word and sacraments
is an integral part of God’s mission of reconciling the world to himself
because the acts of proclamation of the gospel and administration of the sacraments
are the very means of grace by which God calls, gathers, enlightens, and
sanctifies a people who shall be ‘a light to the nations.’ It is appropriate to invite people to come
to church — to where the word is preached and the sacraments administered —
because that is an arena of encounter between God and humanity. In this arena they meet Jesus who shows us
the God who is his Father.”
Senn (pp. 134-135): “Because we
are inviting people to ‘come and see’ we must attend to our hospitality to
strangers and visitors and the inculturation of the gospel in ways that make it
accessible to and connected with the local culture. In short, we must attend to the whole climate of evangelism in
the congregation. …But finally we want
to say that a liturgical church, that is, a church which lives from its
liturgy, must develop a liturgical evangelism.
A model for this can be found in the initiation practices of ancient
Christianity. Indeed, the rites of
Christian initiation made all-consuming demands on the church’s time and energy
and influenced the development of the church year. Liturgy serves evangelism as the ritual means of bringing
converts to new birth in Christ and incorporating those newly-born in Christ
into the body of Christ in the world — the church.”
Nessan: “The full evangelical
potential of the liturgy can be further enriched by renewed emphasis on the
catechumenate. Senn favors a
catechetical process such as proposed by the Roman Catholic Church in its Rite
of Christian Initiation for Adults (R.C.I.A.). Senn outlines the stages of this process and proposes a detailed
scheme for the implementation of the catechumenate in today’s church. To adopt such a plan would require new
appreciation for the distinct seasons of the liturgical year and a more
intentional plan for the scheduling of baptisms than is currently practiced by
most congregations. The most
far-reaching idea would have Christian initiation and the catechumenate become
the task of the territorial church or synod, with the bishop’s office playing
a significant role in providing structure to the process. It is in linking liturgical practice with a
reformed catechumenate that Senn’s vision is the most radical. Such changes would require a total
reorientation of current practice toward the task of incorporating new
believers into Christian discipleship.
If we are indeed on the threshold of a post-Christian era (and given the
widespread ineffectiveness of most new-member classes) perhaps it is exactly a
kairos moment for the church to take seriously this approach.”
Senn (p. 139): “This process of
education and ritual addresses the problem of the gap between the life of the
church and the knowledge and values of the unchurched. Rather than turning the
church inside out to meet the unchurched “where they are,” the unchurched are
initiated by careful steps into the fullness of the church’s life. The scope of
this process is such that it cannot be just one program among others. It
resists any kind of “quick fix” approach to evangelism.”
Conclusion
Nessan: “The Witness of the
Worshiping Community makes a valuable contribution to the current debate
about worship and evangelism. Ancient
liturgical and catechetical practices are anything but archaic when understood
in service of God’s mission in the world: to incorporate all people as
disciples in the kingdom of God.”
Since The Witness of the
Worshiping Community was published Frank Senn has continued to examine the
theological witness being offered to seekers and to hold up the vision of an
orthodox worldview together with processes of initiating new Christians into
such a worldview. He develops these
themes in his most recent book, New
Creation: A Liturgical Worldview (Minneapolis: Fortress 2000), especially
Chapters 8, 9, and 10, and in the following articles:
“‘Worship Alive!’: An Analysis and Critique of
‘Alternative Worship Services,’” Worship
69 (1995), 194-224.
“What is leadership in worship and evangelism?” in Open Questions in Worship 3: How does
worship evangelize?, ed. by Gordon Lathrop (Minneapolis: Augsburg Fortress
1995), 14-21.
“Worship and Evangelism,” Reformed Liturgy and Music XXXI (1997), 22-30.
“Orthodoxia, Orthopraxis, and Seekers,” in The Strange New Word of the Gospel:
Re-evangelizing in the Postmodern World, ed. by Carl E. Braaten and Robert
W. Jenson (Grand Rapids: William B. Eerdmans Publishing Co. 2002), 140-158.
Joyce M. Bowers
Gift Processor,
ELCA Foundation