WORSHIP ON THE STREETS/THEOLOGY

1.      Worship On The Streets provides a signpost to God.

Psalm 40:3: “He put a new song in my mouth, a hymn of praise to our God. Many will see and fear and put their trust in the Lord.”

In this short verse, we have the clearest biblical expression of the relationship between the act of musical worship and the outcome of non-believers putting their trust in the Lord. In the context of a Psalm about David seeking the Lord’s help, he envisions that his worship would result in seeing others come to know God for themselves. In doing so, he also breaks down the journey of that person.

At first, that person would “see” David’s act of worship – this implies that David would be in a place where his worship is hidden away from those who don’t know God. It wouldn’t be reserved for the tabernacle, but just as he modeled in 2 Samuel 6 when he danced by the Ark of the Tabernacle, his worship would be out in public for others to witness.

Secondly, David’s act of worship would cause people to “fear” – this would imply that David’s worship would cause reverence in people’s hearts for the reality of God. It could be said there would be an inward witness in them because of David’s outward witness of worship.

And finally, this “fear” would lead to people putting “their trust in the Lord.” – this shows that ultimately David believed his act of worship would lead to not just an experience for the person witnessing his worship, but also a change of heart and ongoing relationship with God.

In summary, it could be said that David believed his act of worship would be a signpost for people as to the reality and nature of God that leads to a salvation experience for that person as they place their trust in God.

In a similar way, the ministry of Worship On The Streets seeks to make the act of musical worship visible to those who don’t know Jesus by taking out into the public sphere (where in a village, centre, or city centre), in the hope that they too would be signposted to God, and experience this salvation experience through it.

Theology In Action: Last week I met a young man at a men’s breakfast – he came up to me and asked, “Are you the guy that sings on the streets?” – I of course said yes and he went on to tell me that a few months ago, he was walking past us whilst we were worshipping. At first, he walked past but then he said there was something about the music that made him want to come back to chat to us. He walked back to us and ended up chatting with our team and receiving prayer. He said sometime after that, he was with a friend and suddenly began having a seizure. Following our conversation with him, all he knew what to do was pray to Jesus to help him. Suddenly a bright light came into the room and his seizure stopped. He reasoned as he had been praying to Jesus, it must have been Jesus who helped him. He has since given his life to the Lord. This was a clear example of where the Lord was using our worship as a signpost to Himself, both in the moment and on a more long-term basis as well.

2.      Worship On The Streets helps facilitate an experience of God.

1 Samuel 10:5-7: “After that, you will go to Gibeah of God, where there is a Philistine outpost. As you approach the town, you will meet a procession of prophets coming down from the high place with lyres, timbrels, pipes, and harps being played before them, and they will be prophesying. The Spirit of the Lord will come powerfully upon you, and you will prophesy with them, and you will be changed into a different person.”

In this unusual but significant story, the prophet Samuel prophesies to Saul that on his journey to Gibeah Of God, he would meet a band of musicians and prophets – a company of people called by God to play music and speak His word. As he meets them, Samuel prophesies that when the Spirit of God comes, Saul would be caught up in the atmosphere of worship and prophesy, and not only would he prophesy himself, but that he would be “changed into a different person.”  

In this story we see three things coming together to help facilitate Saul’s encounter with God – worship (through the musicians), God’s word (through the prophets), and the Spirit Of God.

Interestingly, we see this combination of factors in other places in Scripture – most notably in 2 Kings 3:15, when Elisha instructs a harpist to come and play music before he prophesies, and it says, “While the harpist was playing, the hand of the Lord came upon Elisha, and he said, “This is what the Lords says….”

Returning to 1 Samuel 10, we see that not only does Saul’s experience with the musicians and prophets lead to an immediate effect on Saul, in that he starts to prophesy, but also that it has a lasting effect on him in that his heart is transformed.

In Worship On The Streets, we seek to follow the example that this story gives us through having people on the team who are there to chat to those passing by whilst the worship is going on so that they can share the gospel with people, offer opportunities for prayer and hand out copies of Joh’s gospel as well. Time and time again, we have seen the combination of worship and sharing the gospel go hand-in-hand and create a “Kingdom chemistry” that God seems to anoint in a special and unique way.

Theology In Action: We were coming to the end of our worship outreach when during the last song a man stopped about 5 metres from where we were. He had sunglasses on, but after a while, I could tell he was crying. We finished our song and went over to speak to him. When we asked if he was okay, he began by saying “Your music is healing my heart.” He wasn’t a believer, but he explained that as he was listening to the music, he was experiencing some kind of emotional release. He had recently split up with his girlfriend, and yet as he listened to the music he was being comforted. We explained that it was Jesus who was using the music to bring His healing and shared the gospel with Him. Although he didn’t make a commitment to Jesus, he let us pray with him and we trust the Lord used our time together.  This was a clear example of when the music was having a transformative effect on someone who didn’t know Jesus as they listened to the worship.

3.      Worship On The Streets is an attractional evangelistic ministry.

Matthew 4:19: “Jesus called out to them, “Come, follow me, and I will show you how to fish for people!””

In this invitation to his first followers, Jesus reveals something that is highly important about evangelism that we would be wise to listen to.

On one hand, Jesus is using the metaphor of fishing to invite his first followers into a life of mission because they themselves were fishermen. However, the metaphor also reveals something about what evangelism should look like. As we know, one of the basic tenants of fishing that makes it possible is that “bait” is used to lure the fish onto the hook and line. Something is needed to draw the fish to the fishermen.

This is particularly important for Worship On The Streets, as it highlights one of the things that makes it a fruitful ministry in that it uses music as a way of engaging people with the gospel. In many ways, the worship is a form of “bait” for those we are seeking to reach, in that it attracts people to make meaningful engagements with the team, as well as more importantly, the gospel.

Music is a medium that transcends generations and cultures. Perhaps now more than ever, music is shaping people’s lives in ways we have never seen before, and it is also more accessible than ever before. In 2021 for example, it was estimated that on average, 60,000 songs were loaded up onto Spotify every single day [i]. This is a clear indication of both the supply and demand for music, and the way it is playing such a significant part in people’s lives.

With this in mind, we believe music should play a significant role in the Church’s evangelistic efforts as well. We have seen this method in previous moves of God and denominational histories (most notably, in the “March For Jesus” campaigns and the histories of The Salvation Army and the Methodists) and we believe it still has an important role to play in today’s evangelistic efforts.

Theology In Action: We were in a local town Blyth when we had one of the busiest mornings ever. Although it was only me leading the music (there is usually at least one other person with me), the Lord was anointing the music so much so that we had people who could hear the music from the other end of town come over to find out what the music was. A couple of ladies ended up staying for the majority of our worship time, many people received prayer and throughout the morning we gave away all of our evangelistic CDs (we’ve never done that before) and more gospels than usual as well. This was a clear example of where the music was attracting people to come to us and giving us the opportunity to share the gospel and pray with people.

4.      Worship On The Streets offers a gift to those who don’t know Jesus.  

Matthew 10:7: “As you go, proclaim this message: ‘The kingdom of heaven has come near. Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse those who have leprosy, and drive out demons. Freely you have received, freely give.”

It is important to realise that the famous verse “Freely you have received, now freely give” was spoken by Jesus in the context of Him talking about evangelism. Quite simply, Jesus is saying that we are called to share with others what we ourselves received. For the disciples, this meant sharing the ministry of the Holy Spirit with others.  

For the Church worldwide, it has been a huge encouragement in recent years that the Spirit of God is still compelling believers to take these words at face value and we have seen Him raise up movements within the Church that are spanning denominational lines where Christians who have received the ministry of the Holy Spirit within a church context are taking it out of the church context and sharing it with those who don’t know Jesus. We can see this move through the ministries like Healing On The Streets, where Christians are taking the gift of healing to those outside of the church. We can also see it in the Treasure Hunting movement which sees Christians taking the gift of prophecy outside of the Church. And perhaps most well-known, we can see it in the Street Pastors movement, which sees the pastoral gift being taken out of the Church and then administered and shared amongst the wider community. In all these cases, something that began in the Church is now taken out of the Church and is being used as a witness for people who don’t know Jesus to demonstrate His love and power.

In the same way, Worship On The Streets seeks to take the gift of worship – a gift that has grown in its depth and experience over the last 50 years – outside of the Church context so that it can be freely shared and enjoyed by those who don’t know Jesus. Many Christians know the rich blessing that comes from engaging in the act of musical worship – whether through actively engaging in it or through simply enjoying the music – and as we see every time we go out, those who don’t know Jesus are also able to enjoy it and gain some insight or meaningful experience through it that takes them one step closer to knowing Jesus for themselves.

Theology In Actions: During our worship outreaches, we always try to be sensitive to the Lord’s leading as to what songs to sing. On one such occasion, I sensed the Lord was asking me to sing “How Great Thou Art” and so began singing it. As soon as I started singing it, an elderly lady began approaching us with tears in her eyes. She stood a few feet away listening to us singing. When we finished, she came over to us, and as she held back tears – she told us that the song meant a lot to her as it was the song they sang at her father’s funeral. We explained that we sensed God leading us to sing it and shared about God’s love for her and we finished our time together by praying for her. This was an example of where the songs that we usually sing in the Church are also meant to be gifts for people outside of the Church and can be used to minister God’s love to them in a personal and meaningful way.

[i] https://playlistplugs.com/blogs/news/how-many-songs-are-uploaded-to-spotify-every-day