A New Year’s Message: Worship Comes First

A Question for the New Year

Dear Friends,

As we head into another new year, there is a question that reaches deeper than goals, resolutions, or plans. It is a question worth asking —inviting us to examine what matters most.

What will we worship?

What Worship Is (and Is Not)

If our actions and attitudes truly shape who we are, then worship can never be a secondary matter. It is not primarily about music, style, preference, or atmosphere.

Worship is the way humans respond to the revelation of God.

What we behold, we become. (See 2 Corinthians 3:18 and Psalm 115:8)

Why Worship Matters So Deeply

After years of serving among missionaries in areas where Christ is least known — I am convinced of this: worship is not only vital to the spiritual renewal of the Church; it may well be central to the redemption of the world.

So many of the tensions, divisions, and conflicts of our time and culture can be traced back to misplaced worship—worship that is distorted, diminished, overly commercialized, or detached from truth.

Worship and Spiritual Warfare

Worship is not peripheral to spiritual conflict. Sometimes it is the front line of spiritual warfare. 

Worship is the point of the spear, where the battle for the human heart and mind is most fiercely fought.

When Worship Is Rightly Rooted

When worship is rooted in Scripture, shaped by theology, informed by history, sensitive to culture, and aligned with God’s mission—something powerful happens. 

Light pushes back darkness. 

Truth displaces distortion. 

Apathy is replaced with devotion. 

God’s kingdom grows—not artificially and by manipulation, but by faith bearing good fruit.

Worship and Mission

This is why worship matters so deeply in mission. God invites everyone, everywhere, into the divine–human relationship through Jesus Christ, and worship is our human response to that invitation.

Wherever the gospel goes, worship follows—not as a Western export, but as a contextual, faithful response to God’s revelation.

An Intention for the New Year

If we get worship right—not perfectly, but intentionally—then we become a people whose lives bear witness to the worth of God. And where true worship takes root, darkness does not remain comfortable.

So as the year turns  . . .

• May our lives give God the worship He is worthy of.
• May we respond to His revelation with our whole being.
• May we place worship where it belongs—at the center of our hearts affections.

All glory to God. Amen.

Have a blessed and worship filled New Year!