Every time I say this I get howled down, but I am going to say it again: Worship is not the place for evangelism, but the goal.
Dude!
There ain’t a true, confessional Lutheran on FR that would disagree with you, in concept.
Now...that “american evangelical” thing, mmmmm...not so much.
But still, the desire of God is served as best as our weak efforts can be used.
Christ died to save sinners from their sins.
If a person doesn't believe their sins are that bad before God, they won't feel the need to be saved from them.
Therefore, what exactly are they worshipping?
Anything other than a Holy and just God, who desires to have relationship with man, at the cost of his son's death on the cross, and resurrection, that removes their stain sin, so that they maybe Holy before that Holy God, anything else is truly self worship. Worship to make ones self feel good. Thus worship of self.
When a person worships God, there are 2 beings involved (no matter the size of the crowd). The person and God. If the person isn't worshipping God, there is only one left at who they are worshipping.
What does an unbeliever know of Amazing Grace? Or the greatness of Gods faithfulness? What do they know of Holy, Holy, Holy, as they stand and sing covered in the stench of sin?
Somewhere we got the idea that we need to bring someone to church to "get saved"
I think there’s a place where people can go to a church service and see that God is really among them (thinking of 1 Corinthians 14) but good music alone, isn’t it.
For the record, while I like a lot of contemporary Christian music, I simply have no use for what passes as *worship* in most churches.
I am not interested in a rock band type concert on a Sunday morning that blasts my eardrums so that I leave church with my ears ringing. And the performance of the *worship leaders* on the platform is something else I don’t even want to get started on.
WAY too much self in it.