Wednesday, March 30, 2011

Mission or Worship?

I asked a question via Twitter today:

Would you say that the primary purpose for Christians on earth is mission or worship?

The responses were very interesting. As I expected, most responses were something to the effect of "mission is worship". On one hand I agree with that. In fact Romans 12 which I consider to be a cornerstone passage for my life teaches the same thing. (my Rom. 12:1 paraphrase: In response to who God is, give your very life as an act of worship.) Worship is expressed much more clearly through lives of mission than singing ever could.

Yet, in spite of all that agreement I think I have to say that worship is the primary calling. We were created for worship, not for mission. Don't get me wrong, I do believe mission is essential. To use someone else's illustration, I would say that worship and mission are like two blades of a pair of scissors. Either without the other isn't really doing anything. But still, I must say that worship is primary. Because mission is only needed where authentic worship has been traded for false worship. And that is the crux of the matter. Mission as evangelism is needed where others need to hear about the one true God and what he has done on our behalf. Mission as justice is needed where humanity has tried to "play God" in someone's life resulting in oppression, exploitation, and injustice.

So in my mind, worship is our primary purpose but it finds its true expression in mission as we seek to respond to God's self-revelation with our lives and not just our lips.

What is your take on the relationship between mission and worship?

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