There is a lot of talk out there about seeker sensitivity in worship. The arguments on both sides range from creating an experience just for the spiritual seeker - one that won't offend and uses culturally-relevant ingredients to attract them - to the extreme views that worship must not consider the spiritual seeker in any way and any worship that appeals to a spiritual seeker is “watered-down" and "bible-lite.”

Quarry Ridge believes that a spiritual seeker should be able to witness Christ-followers in meaningful worship and be supernaturally impressed to seek to find the God we worship. At the same time, we try to reduce the things that might cause confusion or cause a spiritual seeker to be too uncomfortable.

It’s a hard line to follow. We want the challenge the believers; but we don’t want to chase the seeker or searcher away.

Here are some thoughts on worship and seeker sensitivity from some heavy hitters. They're from several different sources I've read in recent months. Not sure I can cite all the references, so forgive me if I don't try!

Jack Hayford – Church On The Way:

The key to growth at The Church On The Way is the spirit of worship, not traditional evangelistic methods or outreach programs. I originally thought worship was for believers, and evangelism was for the unsaved. God changed my thinking gradually to realize the Bible commands the unsaved to worship God: “Make a joyful noise unto the Lord all ye lands.” (Psalm 100)

[When the unchurched enter a worship service Hayford says] . . . they focus on the interpretation of what we are doing so they may know, participate with and meet God. As a result, The Church On The Way has grown with little evangelistic preaching, a very untraditional altar call, no visitation program and rare evangelistic meetings. Preaching does not center on denouncing sin but on exalting Christ.

Worship is intended to introduce God’s Kingdom power in the Church and extend that power through the Church.

The church must redefine, unwrap, and unseal worship, returning it to its original power and outreach:

Redefining means that worship must be more that the adoration of God; it also includes intimacy between the worshipper and God.

Unwrapping worship means removing sectarian prejudices. (e.g. lifting hands is no longer a sign of being “charismatic.”)

Unsealing worship means that worship becomes a whole-person reformation process. [Hayford is not only concerned with] . . .worthily worshipping God because He deserves to be worshipped. . . [but about what the worshipper gets out of the process]. The worshipper is nurtured, healed and redirected by the process of worship.

John Wimber – founder of the Vineyard movement:

As we discover and experience the majesty of God, the reality of His presence in our lives, and His availability to us in out times of need, we will be unable to keep from worshipping Him. It’s a natural response.

Rick Warren – Saddleback Valley Community Church:

Church growth is a result of church health. Church growth can only occur when our message is biblical and our mission is balanced. Balance in a church does not occur naturally; in fact, we must continually correct imbalance.

Myth: You Must Compromise the Message and the Mission of the Church in Order to Grow.

Jesus’ ministry attracted enormous crowds. Why? Because the Gospel is good news! It has an attractive power when clearly presented. Jesus said, “When I am lifted up from the earth, [I] will draw all men to myself” (John 12:32). Not only did crowds of adults want to be around Jesus, so did young children. A Christ-like church will have the same drawing effect.

Jesus drew large crowds yet he never compromised the truth. No one accuse him of watering down the message except the jealous chief priests who criticized him out of envy (Mark 15:12).

Many people. . . confuse what is expected of unbelieving attenders with what is expected of the actual church members. These are two very different groups. At Saddleback we use the terms “the Crowd” and “the Congregation” to distinguish between the groups. At Saddleback Church we do not expect unbelievers to act like believers until they are. We do not expect visitors in the crowd to act like members of the congregation. We expect very little from the seeker who is investigating the claims of Christ. We simply say, as Jesus did in His first encounter with the disciples, “Come and see!” We invite unbelievers to check us out, to see for themselves what the church is all about.

Anyone who is serious about doing ministry, not just theorizing about it, must be willing to live with the tension of what Bruce and Marshall Shelley call “our ambidextrous calling.” On the one hand we are obligated to remain faithful to the unchanging Word of God. On the other hand we must minister in an ever-changing world. Sadly, many Christians unwilling to live with this tension retreat to one of two extremes.

1) Some churches, fearing worldly infection, retreat into isolation from today’s culture.

2) Then there are those who, fearing irrelevance, foolishly imitate the latest fad and fashion. In the attempt to relate to today’s culture they compromise the message and lose all sense of being set apart. Too often, these churches offer a message that emphasizes the benefits of the Gospel while ignoring the responsibility and cost of following Christ.

Unbelievers can watch believers worship. Unbelievers can observe the joy we feel. They can see how we value God’s Word, how we respond to it, and how the Bible answers the problems and questions of life. They can notice how worship encourages, strengthens, and changes us. It is even possible for them to sense when God is supernaturally moving in a service, although they won’t be able to explain it.

Worship is a powerful witness to unbelievers if God’s presence is felt and if the message is understandable. In Acts 2, on the day of Pentecost, God’s presence was so evident in the disciples’ worship service that it attracted the attention of unbelievers throughout the entire city. Acts 2:6 says “. . . a crowd came together.” We know it must have been a big crowd because 3,000 people were saved that day. . . More people are won to Christ by feeling God’s presence than by all of our apologetic arguments combined. Few people, if any, are converted to Christ on purely intellectual grounds. It is the sense of God’s presence that melts hearts and explodes mental barriers.

In genuine worship God’s presence is felt, God’s pardon is offered, God’s purposes are revealed, and God’s power is displayed. That sounds to me like an ideal context for evangelism! I’ve noticed that when unbelievers watch believers relate to God in an intelligent, sincere manner, it creates a desire in them to know God too.

God expects us to be sensitive to the fears, hang-ups, and needs of unbelievers when they are present in our worship services. This is the principle Paul taught about in 1 Corinthians 14. (tongues to be limited in public worship) Paul didn’t say tongues were foolish, only that they appear foolish to unbelievers. . . I believe there is a larger principle behind this advice to the Corinthian church. The point Paul is making is that we must be willing to adjust our worship practices when unbelievers are present. Being seeker sensitive in our worship service is a biblical command.

A Worship service does not have to be shallow to be seeker sensitive. The message doesn’t have to be compromised, just understandable. Making a service “comfortable” for the unchurched doesn’t mean changing your theology, it means changing the environment of the service. Changing the environment could be done through the way you greet visitors, the style of music you use, the Bible translation you preach from, and the kinds of announcements you make in the service. The message is not always comfortable; in fact, sometimes God’s truth is very uncomfortable! Still, we must teach “the whole counsel of God.” Being seeker sensitive does not limit what you say, but it does affect how you say it. . . the unchurched are not asking for a watered-down message – they expect to hear the Bible when they come to church. What they do want is to hear how the Bible relates to their lives in terms they understand and in a tone that shows you respect and care about them. They are looking for solutions, not a scolding.

A Christ-like ministry still attracts crowds. You don’t have to use gimmicks or compromise your convictions to gather a crowd. You don’t have to water down your message. I’ve even found that you don’t need a church building to draw a crowd! But you do have to minister to people the way Jesus did. What attracted large crowds to Jesus’ ministry? Jesus did three things with crowds: He loved them, He met their needs, and He taught them in interesting and practical ways. These same ingredients will attract crowds today.

There is more than one way to grow a church. It takes all kinds of churches to reach all kinds of people. (Never confuse methods with the message. The message must never change, but the methods must change with each new generation.) Never criticize what God is blessing.

We must love unbelievers the way Jesus did. . . Love draws people in like a powerful magnet. A lack of love drives people away. . . Long before the pastor preaches, the visitors are already deciding if they will come back. . .

Our world is filled with lonely people who are starving for the affirmation of a loving touch. . . Every pastor must decide whether he wants to impress people or influence them. . . A church will never grow beyond its capacity to meet needs. If your church is genuinely meeting needs, then attendance will be the least of your problems – you’ll have to lock the doors to keep people out.

We do not have to make the Bible relevant – it already is! But we have to show its relevance. . . the Good News offers lost people what they’re frantically searching for. . . Most unbelievers are looking for relief, not truth. . . People need fewer “need-to” sermons and more “how-to” sermons.

What really attracts large numbers of unchurched to a church is changed lives – a lot of changed lives.