Yesterday morning, I had the privilege of leading the church in celebrating the Lord’s supper. This is a slightly edited version of the thoughts I shared. As a church, sharing communion is a significant event where we gratefully acknowledge together that the death of Christ is full payment for the sins we’ve committed against a holy God. If you’re our guest this morning, we’re so glad that you’ve joined us. Thank you for coming! However, because of the significance of this meal, we’d like you to refrain from participating in communion with us unless you yourself have turned from your sins and trusted in Jesus Christ as your Savior. But …
Archive | Worship in the Church
Posts regarding the direct practice of worship in the context of the local church.
How Do We Grow in Physical Expressiveness in Worship? Pt. 4
This is my last post (for now) on the topic of bodily expression in corporate worship. Let me say again that in issues regarding our faith, physical expressiveness in corporate worship is an important but secondary issue. I have no problem worshiping God with a church that may be more enthusiastic or reserved than I’m used to, as long as they are proclaiming the same Gospel and glorying in the same Savior. However, our culture tends to separate head and heart, doctrine and devotion. Some congregations sing profoundly biblical lyrics with no visible effect (which doesn’t always mean they aren’t affected). Other churches are enthusiastically …
Share this post:
How Do We Grow in Physical Expressiveness in Worship? Pt. 3
I’ve been talking about how to help a church grow in physical expression that draws attention to the greatness of God’s glory in Christ. After teaching on the appropriateness of that expression in worshipping God and the importance of the heart, I’d move on to: 3. Address the different reasons people might be reserved in their expression and teach on preferring others. Some Christians are simply unaware of what the Bible teaches about physical responses to God. They don’t know that Scripture is filled with examples of exuberant, passionate worship (Psalm 150; Neh. 8:6; Rev. 5:11-14). Perhaps they’ve grown up in a church environment …
Share this post:
How Do We Grow in Physical Expressiveness in Worship? Pt. 2
Last Friday I started to answer this question from a pastor: “Exactly how, and how much should we encourage our people to follow the numerous commands throughout Scripture of bodily expression (as a natural outpouring of the heart)?” I began by saying we must teach our people that physical expression is appropriate in biblical worship. We aren’t disembodied spirits. God intends that we use our whole beings to bring him praise (Ps. 16:9). But how and how much? We don’t simply tell people to “sing like they mean it,” or “jump higher for Jesus,” although in my early zeal to see God honored I crossed that line a few times. Commanding …
Share this post:
How Do We Grow in Physical Expressiveness in Worship? Pt. 1
After the Together for the Gospel conference, I received a lengthy e-mail from a worship pastor in attendance who shared a current dilemma his pastoral team is facing. They have been “wrestling with how to best be obedient to Scripture in our corporate worship through song.” His church contains people who are “naturally NOT very expressive AT ALL” during that time. So he asks: “Exactly how, and how much should we encourage our people to follow the numerous commands throughout Scripture of bodily expression (as a natural outpouring of the heart)? First, I want to thank this pastor and his team for their humility in seeking to wrestle …
Share this post:
How Do We Move Away From “Worshiptainment”?
This question came from a gentleman who works at a Christian school. Every Friday a 4-5 piece band has been leading the 6th through 12th graders in a time of “praise and worship.” However, most of the students aren’t Christians. The leadership is changing so he wrote in: “This year the students have really got into creating motions akin to “Christian line dancing” in a very “worshiptainment” atmosphere. I don’t like it but have been powerless to change it. There has been a lot of disagreement over the years as to the proper focus of our Friday service. Do we try to have a worship focus or, because so many of our students are lost, do …
Share this post:
To Clap or Not to Clap?
In response to my mention of clapping at the Together for the Gospel conference, Steve commented: “I grew up in the type of church where clapping was extremely frowned upon. Later, as an adult, I got involved in more contemporary settings…where clapping, along with and after songs, was the norm…I recently watched a live DVD recording of a particular band doing an incredibly delicate and moving rendition of “I Love You, Lord.” As the last soft chord decayed, the audience began to cheer and clap. It suddenly seemed inappropriate to me.” In a more general sense, Jon asked: “How we are to treat the commands of the psalms….clap, …
Share this post:
How Familiar Should Songs Be?
I recently received these questions from Lisa, a music coordinator whose church has had an influx of new guests. People are starting to comment more frequently that they don’t know the songs being sung. That situation has raised these questions: 1. How important do you think familiarity is in facilitating worship? 2. Do you limit your pick list somehow, even “retiring” good songs? If so, how? 3. How can we help our congregation familiarize themselves with the songs we sing, outside of church? I’ve often heard it said that singing familiar songs contributes to people engaging in true worship of God. While a well known song can often …
Share this post:
The Humble Critic
This question came in from Amy, after reading my post on “Entering the Draw Me Close Conversation.” “How do you balance discernment without being critical? I find myself struggling with this constantly. Where is the balance between noticing and being concerned that the theology presented in songs/sermons is man-centered, or that the gospel is missing, vs. being critical of the music and preaching and thus being unable to actually worship?” Great question. How do we exercise doctrinal discernment and personal humility at the same time? First, we need to recognize the importance of being faithful to Scripture. We aren’t simply …
Share this post:
Entering the “Draw Me Close” Conversation
In the latest issue of Christianity Today, Chuck Colson has an article entitled “Soothing Ourselves to Death.” He begins with this paragraph: When church music directors lead congregations in singing contemporary Christian music, I often listen stoically with teeth clenched. But one Sunday morning, I cracked. We’d been led through endless repetitions of a meaningless ditty called “Draw Me Close to You,” which has zero theological content and could just as easily be sung in any nightclub. When I thought it was finally and mercifully over, the music leader beamed. “Let’s sing that again, shall we?” he asked. “No!” I shouted, loudly enough …
Share this post:
One More Thought on Training Children to Worship God
After posting this earlier today, I had another thought about training our children to worship God. "Worshipping God" means different things at different ages. Younger children, who may not know God yet, may still participate enthusiastically in various external forms of worshipping God. However, we want their worship to be from the heart, and not simply a matter of conforming. They need a clear knowledge of who God is and what He has done. That includes His nature, His attributes, and His works, especially our redemption through Christ. As the Holy Spirit enables them, they will become increasingly aware of their sinfulness before …
Share this post:
Training Children to Worship God
This is a topic that is more related to parents than congregational worship leaders, but I thought it was worth addressing. Helen wrote in to ask about recent experiences she’s been having with her children at home. She’s noticed a decreased lack of fervor in her 8 and 9 year old as they meet in the morning to sing God’s praises and read Scripture together. She wrote: Did you ever go through this with your children? Is this something we should force them to do? We recognize that worship encompasses much more than singing with our voices…are we putting too much emphasis on this part of worship? The topic of training children to worship …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? In Closing…
I was going to entitle this post “Final Thoughts,” but that’s probably not going to happen. One of the reasons I started this blog was to explore this role in an ongoing way. But this does mark the end of the series on the role of the corporate worship leader. Really. If you’re a musician who is responsible to lead others in praising God, I pray you’ve been served by this series. I’m grateful for those of you who have taken the time to post an encouraging comment, expand upon my thoughts, or ask questions. We need to continually ask ourselves if what we’re doing is lining up with Scripture. On most Wednesday mornings I have the joy …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 16
One more time, this is the definition for a congregational worship leader I’ve proposed: An effective corporate worship leader, aided and led by the Holy Spirit, skillfully combines biblical truth with music to magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, thereby motivating the gathered church to join him in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God and seeking to live all of life for the glory of God. Today, I’m going to share a few thoughts on that last line. Worship doesn’t begin when the singing starts, nor end when the music stops. We don’t “do worship” in a meeting, nor compartmentalize …
Share this post:
What Does a Worship Leader Do? Pt. 15
If you’re just joining us, I’m currently describing what I think is the biblical role of someone who leads the church in congregational worship. We’ve covered this in the first 14 posts: An effective corporate worship leader, aided and led by the Holy Spirit, skillfully combines biblical truth with music to magnify the worth of God and the redemptive work of Jesus Christ, thereby motivating the gathered church… Today, I’m going to unpack the next phrase: To join him in proclaiming and cherishing the truth about God. As I mentioned last week, an effective corporate worship leader invites others to join him in what he is already …