Thinking Surgically While Leading Liturgically

WorshipGod11 is only two months away.  One of the 40 seminars being offered (4 in Spanish!) is by Jamie Brown, a good friend who leads the worship in song at The Falls Church, an Anglican church in Northern Virginia.

Jamie will be addressing the topic “Thinking Surgically While Leading Liturgically.” His specific burden is to encourage people who serve in the context of a traditional liturgy to lead with faith. I asked Jamie  a few questions about his session.

What do you hope will be filling people’s minds and hearts as they walk away from your message?
It can be discouraging and frustrating to lead worship in a liturgical church. I hope this seminar relieves some of that frustration, and encourages worship leaders to go back home with some hope and excitement at what God can do through them even in the constraints of a formal liturgy.

How has what you’re going to speak on affected your own life?
I have only ever attended and led worship in an Anglican church. I know firsthand that leading worship in this setting can feel like trying to paint in a straight jacket. I’ve seen dead, robotic services where heartless hymn singing is the norm and contemporary songs are the enemy. I’ve also seen God melt hearts of stone and use music as a surgical tool to help people encounter God in vibrant worship.

Can you expound on one point that you’ll be making in your message?
Great chefs have learned, through years of experience, how to work with a recipe, mixing all the different ingredients and making some adjustments, to present something that feeds and satisfies. Worship leaders, especially in liturgical churches, have a lot of ingredients and recipes to juggle. If the “recipe” owns them – the meal is going to be stale and bland. If they get comfortable and familiar enough to own the recipe – to know where they can make adjustments and where they can’t – then the final product can be more edifying. And edible.

How are people best going to be served by coming to this seminar?
For years I left these kind of conferences thinking “those were amazing times of corporate worship. Too bad my church can’t experience that.” I hope worship leaders will leave this seminar thinking “my congregation can experience more of this than I thought”.

Is there any passage of Scripture that sums up what you’ll be sharing?
Many liturgical churches do Psalm 46:10 really well (“Be still, and know that I am God…”). They might be surprised that two verses later, in Psalm 47:1 they’re encouraged to: “Clap your hands, all peoples! Shout to God with loud songs of joy!” By thinking surgically and leading carefully, prayerfully, and biblically, you can help your congregation grow in their expression of heartfelt, Christ-centered, Sprit-filled worship.

There’s still a month left to sign up for WorshipGod11, but if you’re planning on coming I’d suggest you get on it. We just raised the cap for attendance, but seminars are starting to fill up. You can register here.

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8 Responses to Thinking Surgically While Leading Liturgically

  1. Joey June 15, 2011 at 12:58 AM #

    I’m looking forward to attending this seminar. Our church here in Jacksonville does not follow as formal of a liturgy as described here, but I am recently reading through “Christ-Centered Worship” and it has sparked an interest in learning more about different liturgies and how they fit into the “modern” worship scene.

    Thanks for the post!
    Joey

  2. Johanna June 15, 2011 at 10:27 AM #

    May the Lord encounter you with His heart in your seminar! :)

  3. Tom July 28, 2011 at 2:41 PM #

    I unfortunately cannot attend the conference, will there be video clips of these sessions?

    I grew up in a charismatic church, then led worship for a college ministry at a Baptists church. I just recently was hired on as a director of music at a Lutheran church and am learning much of the liturgy. I’d love to hear this session to help as I develop my sea legs in this new church environment.

    • Bob Kauflin July 28, 2011 at 3:15 PM #

      Tom, we’re working on live streaming the main sessions of the conference. All the messages will be available for free download after the conference. We’ll also have some video clips available.

  4. Tom August 1, 2011 at 4:51 PM #

    Bob, thanks! I’ll look forward to watching those, and learning from them.

  5. Cody Kimmel October 5, 2011 at 8:40 PM #

    I understand the basic premise of what you are talking about and I think it’s a necessary topic. However, it seems strange to me that there is a distinction between a liturgical church and a non-liturgical church. Every church is liturgical if there is any element of organized and repeated modes of worship. A charismatic church is liturgical just as much as an Anglican church is, its just a different liturgy with a shorter history.

    I say this only to say that the point you made about owning the ingredients and not letting the ingredients own you applies to all worship leaders. A church that loves contemporary songs and a full band can become just as stale if the worship leader doesn’t utilize the common liturgy of his church to act surgically.

    Thanks for the comment.

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