I heard the voice of the Lord saying, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” Then I said, “Here I am! Send me.”
Isaiah 6:8
Worship and mission are bound up so tightly together that you cannot separate one from the other. When worship declines, mission follows. One sure sign of a church losing its way in worship is that it loses its interest in mission.
If you want to evaluate a church’s worship, ask about its commitment to mission.
When God restores worship, His people pursue mission. Isaiah knew this from experience: “In the year that King Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up: and the train of his robe filled the temple” (6:1).
Isaiah had known the Lord for a long time, but now he saw God’s glory. And in that awesome experience of worship, Isaiah heard the voice of God say, “Whom shall I send, and who will go for us?” And Isaiah said, “Here I am! Send me” (6:8).
That’s the pattern: A worshipping church is a missionary church. Worship fuels mission. Those who see Christ’s glory are compelled to proclaim it. Where worship is restored, mission will prosper.
How would you evaluate your church’s worship? How about your own worship? Why did you answer each of these questions the way you did?
