Over a number of years, I have written two general bodies of essays regarding how God uses us to bring reconciliation to the world, through worship and through evangelism. I have collected them below as the seed of a proposed book. The proposed outline of the book, at this point, is just the two large subject headings give below: namely, how we bring reconciliation to the world through 1) our worship and 2) our evangelism. The individual web pages grouped under each heading I view as seeds or sources; they may or may not be incorporated into the final work as they are (this will be a team decision). I expect that this web page seed material will both grow and be modified substantially prior to print publication. I hereby request the participation another qualified Christian leader (or possibly more than one leader), as both a mentor and a co-author, partner, or even principal author (sharing my vision) in completing this work. I also invite the participation of anyone the Lord calls to collaborate in this work, regardless of their human qualifications, as explained in the "note on qualifications" linked below. All details are subject to further discussion.
This section will set forth the fundamental principle that God brings reconciliation to His Body, and through us, in our unity, to the world, through our worship. However, as is explained in the essay "A Call to Worship," for which a link is given below, "worship"—that "worship" that brings reconciliation—is NOT a musical genre. Rather, "worship" is the sacrifice of our lives to God, which shows in everything we do. The remaining articles linked below are seeds for thought about aspects of worship, that is, the ways true worship is revealed in various parts of our lives and attitudes.
Faith: Believing What God Says is More Real than What I See
Worship and the True Christian Sabbath (Resting From my Own Works Every Day)
When God's Provision Seems Too Slow (Praying for What he Wants)
What is Baptism in the Holy Spirit?
Being Filled with the Holy Spirit
The Sealing of the Holy Spirit
The Promised Gift of the Holy Spirit
No portion of this section has been written yet, even in "seed" form. This section will develop the community aspect of oneness which my first book Our Oneness in Christ did not address in detail (although possible points of departure are found in Chapters 3, 4, 7-9 and 12 of that book). In approaching this subject, it will also necessarily address one of the major weaknesses of nearly all modern churches--their narrow emphasis on building a vertical relationship between individual believers (a/k/a "worshippers," a term which clearly reflects this bias) and God through the worship leaders, whose place is emphasized, usually to the exclusion of building horizontal relationships with each other. The room and the "order of worship" during a "service" is so designed as to make the pastor, priest or minister(s), and the choir or worship team, the sole focus of attention, except for brief periods of encouraged greetings and superficial prayers for each other. To the extent God is allowed to speak to us individually at all during worship services in most mainline churches, it is because the songs impersonally selected and the message the preacher preached (without reference to our individual situations) happened to match something that was going on in our individual minds or lives. In Pentecostal and Charismatic churches, this may be augmented by " words of knowledge" directed at us individually by the leader who is presently recognized to speak. But nothing in our services is usually permitted to approach our deep individual needs on more than a superficial level. We are allowed to be nearly anonymous in our churches, unless we seek out ways to serve within the established program—and, even then, church programs are usually focused on either building the numbers in attendance, on raising money, or on teaching groups (again, focused on a single teacher who is teaching a fixed, approved curriculum that doesn't directly address individual needs). There is little room for interactions that are deep enough to heal us and draw us into living as one. There is little room for true community, beyond merely cooperating functionally in activities for the good of the organization.
God brings reconciliation to the world through "evangelism." Nearly all Christians agree with this statement. But we my not have a clear understanding of what "evangelism" is, who is to do it, and how. The articles linked below provide some initial seeds for a discussion of this important topic.
Comparison of Modern Evangelism to the New Testament Models
The Question of the Message: What is the Gospel?
The Question of the Messenger: Who is Authorized to Present the Message?.
Evangelism: The Issues of Venue, Format and Numbers.
The Question of Equipping for Evangelism: Have the New Testament Offices Been Unnecessarily Limited? (Develop from Ian Johnson and Lauston Stephens, Our Oneness in Christ, pp. 133-149.
The Purpose of the Spiritual Gifts
Simultaneously Believing and Disbelieving: A Call to Action.
Note on qualifications of joint authors and lead authors
E-mail me if interested, or to make nominations.
Books and resources by others about worship.
Books by others about the Church.
Books by others about evangelism and Church mission.
©2007 Ian B. Johnson