Can a Worship Leader Be Evangelistic?

I love what I do.

There is not much as rewarding for me as leading worship in such a way that people fully engage Jesus... except maybe hearing about how God changes someone’s life as the Spirit does His work during the gathering.

But I also love people enough to wish I had been wired to be an evangelist. 

It burdens, even breaks my heart, to think of people I love spending their eternity in hell. And because I love those for whom I get to lead worship, I grieve over those who share the same burden.

So I ask myself often—really often—how can a worship leader be an evangelist.

If you share the struggle, maybe it could serve your journey to know some things I try to do:

1. I work hard to connect with people in my community who may not be connected to Jesus or His church.
2. I step into non-musical roles when invited and emphasize personal evangelism.
3. I regularly encourage worshipers to invite family, friends, and neighbors to join them.
4. I diligently pursue a worship gathering that is high quality; excellence often translates into credibility.
5. I choose songs that sound more like what is on the Top 40 radio station than my grandparents’ 1940's radio.
6. I use language that isn’t crafted for insiders, but makes what I’m talking about clear to everyone.
7. I have pushed hard for our worship gatherings to be streamed on Facebook Live.
8. I teach those in our worship ministry about the role of worship in evangelism.
9. I plan services where we sing the gospel.
10. I pray.

In this post I’ll talk more about the first two. Come back next time for part 2.

#1) Connecting — I have a restaurant ministry. As part of my work and family life, I’ve eaten out a lot. Okay, to be fair, almost every meal for decades. So I’ve turned my repeated visits to eateries into a mission field.

• When you drive thru at McDonald’s (or Starbucks, or Dunkin Donuts, etc.) every day, you can get to know the folks who work in the window. It doesn’t take more than 5-10 seconds a day. Quick follow up questions to “how are you today” will go a long way. Treat them with extravagant respect. Be generous—buy the meal of the person behind you every payday. Demonstrate kindness that stands out.
• Have meetings with people over lunch, and keep the options to a handful of restaurants. I know a lot of servers by name. I ask about their day, their major if they are in college, their hometown/country if they sound like they’re from out of town, etc. When we take an interest in the person—not just their performance—we can get invited in to their story. And then we can become part of their story. And then we can talk with them about inviting God (and our church) into their story. 
• It isn’t just about eating. I do this with my dry cleaner, at the doctor’s office, etc. This works with other parents on your kid’s sports teams or on school field trips.
• A word of caution: people don’t want to be projects. Don’t “work on them.” Get to know them. Do what you do out of love, with love, and for love. Be relational and value the relationship regardless of the outcome. Remember, that person who refuses to accept your invitation to join you at church is still an image-bearer of God. Just like you are.

#2) Non-musical roles — I love to lead in prayer, teach, preach, and go to (good) meetings. 

• Leading prayer. Whether in a Sunday morning “moment” or the role of congregational prayer leader in a mid-week service, I really enjoy serving the function of congregational prayer-voice. Sometimes that is simply me praying the prayers that I perceive are in the hearts of our people. But sometimes it’s more about leading the people to pray—guiding them through a series of subjects, or giving them direction and them breaking them into groups, or taking requests from the floor and asking specifically for the names of people who are disconnected from the church or not-yet saved. Worship leaders, let me remind you of the truth beautifully spoken by A. W. Tozer, “To sing is to pray twice.” You often lead people in prayer through music, so it isn’t as much a stretch as you might think to lead people to pray without music. Doing this well could bolster your ministry in profound ways.
• Teach. I enjoy teaching a Bible Study class on Sunday morning, a small group in my home, filling the role of the teacher at mid-week service, or facilitating a workshop. Every one of these provides an opportunity to let the “evangelist within” come out. I don’t necessarily mean teaching on evangelism, though that is sometimes called for. I mean thinking carefully in the stages of preparation, “How can my heart for evangelism permeate everything I’m teaching?”
• Preach. I am blessed to serve in a place where I get to preach every once in a while. My point of emphasis in preaching is typically up to me. So I let my heart for reaching those far from God permeate the sermon, or parts of it. (Assuming that it follows from the biblical text, of course.)
• Meetings. I volunteer to serve on the missions committee at my church. Nowhere is that in my job description or anything the church expects me to do. But my heart for evangelism and missions gets expressed (and modeled) by adding that to my list of monthly tasks. My administrative experience in church-life helps the committee function well, but I also get to have my finger on the pulse of the church’s expressions of reaching people near and far. I also speak into staff meetings, worship committee meetings, deacon meetings, and anywhere else I’m invited. My voice can be one that continually calls the church to an outward focus, a missional mindset, and help those outside my ministry think of the potential evangelistic impact of the worship ministry.

I’ll bet many of you are far better at this than I am. I’d love to read your comments. How do those of you who lead worship (point person or team member) get to exercise your passion for reaching those far from God?