worship and mission

i made a kind of discovery reading the gospel this past week. i believe that the church (ecclesiology) is not the church apart from mission (missiology). Its not really a discovery so much as a reminder or a revision of thought. Here's what that means:
We've been taught that the way people come to know Jesus or to be made part of the church is through/in worship. Getting people to "come to church" and "go to church" is the entry way to Christian life. We talk about inviting people to worship. I've been guilty of this way of thinking too---that worship is the Christian life. There is no church without worship. Worship has been the central, and sometimes exclusive, practice of the church. Chruch is defined by us as what we do in worship. We exaggerate the place of worship/liturgy within the Christian believer's life. So we say, Where does one find church? In that building on sunday morning where people are sitting or standing in pews worshiping God.
But what if that assumption about worship being primary is false? What if Jesus and His followers were not primarily worshipers, but primarily missionaries? Jesus calls and sends His disciples before anything remotely like worship occurs in the gospels. And Pentecost? When the Holy Spirit comes, are they driven together to worship? No! Actually, they are scattered by various tongues and languages to share the gospel news. When the church is persecuted, do they huddle together for worship? No. They are scattered outside of the city as witnesses. When Jesus sends the 12 or the 72, does he equip them to be worshipers or worship leaders? No. He equips them to bring peace, hope, healing, justice, food---for people. The early church was primarily a church in mission---A church in action on behalf of the poor, the outcast, the least, the marginalized.

Worship was a result of mission! They gathered for worship to refuel, to rebuild,to revive, for the gifts of faith, hope, and love found in the koinonia--the shared fellowship of believers. Worship doesn't beget mission; Mission begets worship.

Here's the thing. The big machine of Christendom taught us that worship is the heart of what Christians do. Mission is a result of what happens in worship. We think worship comes first for people. Then we are sent out. but what if the Christian life were primarily missional and, out of necessity, worshipful? Its no wonder the early church pieced together worship practice from synagogue practices; Baptism and Eucharist deriving from Jesus' own missional life of cleansing rebirth and sarificial eating and drinking. The church didn;t have time to be overtly creative. They were too busy living out the gospel.
Implications: What if we were called to invite people to live differently first? To live counterculturally, generously, sacrificially, spiritually, marginally? And as a result of it, we are drawn together to worship the GOD who called us and sent us to live in these ways? What if worship is necesary for the Christian who is out there living it because mission-living is spiritually hard? We are drawn together for spiritual food, in order to endure. Word/Sacrament becomes food for missionaries.