Question: What is the Church of the Nazarene's position on worship evangelism or seek-sensitive/user-friendly worship? It seems many Nazarene churches have shifted to these types of services to grow the congregation; to the detriment of our distinctive doctrine of holiness and edification of all believers.

Our denomination has no position, formal or informal. My response will be my response, no one else's. I think your question is an important one, although my response may created some uneasiness depending where your opinion and preferences are.

The question assumes when a pastor or local congregation leadership team tries to reach hungry unbelievers, they stop preaching holiness. Such a bifurcation is unnecessary. Nothing compels us to choose one over the other. Any church and pastor who fails to preach holiness disconnects from scripture, our heritage (tradition) and from successful church growth principles. Church growth research shows (as far back as the 1970's when Gene Kelley researched and wrote for the World Council Why Conservative Churches Grow) that the congregations who preach from Scripture and highlight their distinctives collect and retain adherents. Recent findings by Thom Rainer in his book Surprising Insights from the Formerly Unchurched support the value of preaching sound doctrine.

The churches effective in reaching unchurched people shape their worship experiences to reflect musical styles appealing to the culture they target. They make worship understandable and meaningful for newcomers. In our pluralistic society we will not survive if we do not accommodate the "consumer." That fact need not suggest a watering down of the demands of Christ. In truth with hypocrisy so rampant throughout society, people are looking for integrity and genuine love. Holiness certainly includes these virtues and more. Jesus-likeness is attractive to the seeker.

The sin of local congregations is failure to seek the lost. We are willing to get them saved if they show up on Sunday. We tend, however, to focus on meeting our own needs, sustaining our traditions and securing our future. We would do well to accept the purpose statement of Jesus, "I came to seek and to save the lost." Next we should embrace the position of the apostle Paul who wrote, "by all means save some."