To Proclaim the Gospel
To proclaim means to declare what is true. What are you proclaiming with your life? What are we proclaiming in our church? "People come into our churches proclaiming all sorts of things with their words and actions. Through close-fisted giving, some are asserting how much their own personal wealth matters. Others, by their complaining, are declaring that personal comfort matters. Teens in the latest fashions may be proclaiming that being cool matters. Others confirm through their smiles or frowns that their musical preferences matter. But we want each of them to leave proclaiming this: the gospel of Jesus Christ matters."
The gospel is relevant to every area of our lives. It addresses the problem of sin in that Christ came and died so that our sin would be taken away! It addresses our suffering in that while we may suffer temporarily here on earth, our ultimate suffering has already been endured on the cross by Christ. The wrath of God no longer rests on us, we have been forgiven!
While we have been forgiven of our sin, sin still remains a part of our lives. Over the past few weeks we have been talking about relationships, and how to repair them when they break down. Sometimes a broken relationship can consume our thoughts, and we can't figure out how to forgive the one who has offended us. But "worshiping God together provides us with the opportunity to remember the One whom we ALL have offended." "We, the guilty ones, now stand forgiven through Christ's blood. How can we not forgive those who have sinned against us?"
Regardless of what is going on in our lives, when we come together on Sunday "we gather to declare-to ourselves, to each other, and to God-what we know to be eternal reality. There is one God, who is sovereign over the universe and every detail of our lives. We have rebelled against him. He sent His Son to die in our place for our sins. And through Jesus Christ we have forgiveness and peace with God."
As worship leaders, we need to remind ourselves daily of the beauty of the gospel. If we don't, we can forget, and how then can we expect to lead others in worship of the central figure of the gospel? "Nothing should ever displace or obscure the centrality of the gospel in our worship." What are you proclaiming?
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, February 23, 2011
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
Motivating the Gathered Church
Most of us have been leading worship for some time now, and I'm sure that we can remember a time when we were leading and people just weren't responding. They are sitting or standing there with a blank look on their face and it seems no matter what we try we just can't get them to join us in worship. So we start coming up with things for them to do: 'Lift your hands, sing louder!' The funny thing is, God never asks us to do those things without giving us a reason to do so. Psalm 117 says, "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" The writer gives us reasons to praise God, not just instructions to do so.
"When we're leading doctrinally rich, passionate songs, and people don't seem to be getting it, we need to hep them understand how these truths relate to their lives."
We need to do that by the example we set. People can tell by looking at you whether you are worshiping or thinking about where you are going for lunch. They can tell if you are too focused on the instrumental break coming up to catch the words of the song. It is obvious when we are looking to ourselves and not to Jesus. This doesn't just apply to those who are up front singing. It applies to everyone involved, from the choir to the instrumentalists to the vocal leaders. That is why I encourage all of you to sing as much as you can, even if you are not holding a microphone to your mouth. It allows you to be fully engaged in worship and it serves as an encouragement to the congregation. It helps them remember who we're focusing on. Again, please don't do this because you think it is what you are supposed to do, because people can tell if you're faking it. Our goal is to become a group of transparent worshipers, we need to be genuine examples of authentic worship.
When we are leading and people aren't responding, we have to remember that there are many things going on in the lives of the people in our church. Some were up until 3am, some had a fight with their spouse that morning, and others may have just found out that they are going to be losing their job. Our role is to remind them that God has saved them through Jesus, and that He is big enough to handle whatever situation they are facing right now. That kind of God inspires worship! Thank goodness this task doesn't only depend on you and me, but the Holy Spirit is already working on people!
Everything we do in worship has to be centered on God, that is the only way to inspire others to worship. We need to remind people that God is actively involved in their lives. What has He done in your life this week? The more we remind people that God is the center of our lives and He is active, the more apt they will be to worship Him.
"On Sundays God wants us to do more than sing songs together and have wonderful worship experiences. He wants to knit the fabric of our lives together. For many, church as become all about me-what I'm learning, what I'm seeking, what I'm desperate for, what I need, how I've been affected, what I can do. We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God, wherever we can find them. Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me-obsessed culture. Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worship community, we become worship consumers. We want worship on demand, served up in our way, at our own time, and with our own music. How do we counter that?"
"David Peterson tells us: Vitality and meaning will not be restored to Christian gatherings until those who lead and those who participate can recover a biblical perspective on their meetings, seeing them in relation to God's total plan and purpose for His people."
Our goal here at FCC is not to attract an audience, but to build a worshiping community. "A worshiping community is made up of individuals whose lives are centered around the Savior they worship each week. A worshiping community expects to encounter God's presence not only on Sunday morning but every day. A worshiping community recognizes that passionate times of singing God's praise flow from and lead to passionate lives lived for the glory of Jesus Christ."
So as we interact with those in our church who lead in worship each week, let us impress on them the need we have to become a worshiping community.
Enjoy the Journey
Most of us have been leading worship for some time now, and I'm sure that we can remember a time when we were leading and people just weren't responding. They are sitting or standing there with a blank look on their face and it seems no matter what we try we just can't get them to join us in worship. So we start coming up with things for them to do: 'Lift your hands, sing louder!' The funny thing is, God never asks us to do those things without giving us a reason to do so. Psalm 117 says, "Praise the Lord, all nations! Extol Him, all peoples! For great is His steadfast love toward us, and the faithfulness of the Lord endures forever. Praise the Lord!" The writer gives us reasons to praise God, not just instructions to do so.
"When we're leading doctrinally rich, passionate songs, and people don't seem to be getting it, we need to hep them understand how these truths relate to their lives."
We need to do that by the example we set. People can tell by looking at you whether you are worshiping or thinking about where you are going for lunch. They can tell if you are too focused on the instrumental break coming up to catch the words of the song. It is obvious when we are looking to ourselves and not to Jesus. This doesn't just apply to those who are up front singing. It applies to everyone involved, from the choir to the instrumentalists to the vocal leaders. That is why I encourage all of you to sing as much as you can, even if you are not holding a microphone to your mouth. It allows you to be fully engaged in worship and it serves as an encouragement to the congregation. It helps them remember who we're focusing on. Again, please don't do this because you think it is what you are supposed to do, because people can tell if you're faking it. Our goal is to become a group of transparent worshipers, we need to be genuine examples of authentic worship.
When we are leading and people aren't responding, we have to remember that there are many things going on in the lives of the people in our church. Some were up until 3am, some had a fight with their spouse that morning, and others may have just found out that they are going to be losing their job. Our role is to remind them that God has saved them through Jesus, and that He is big enough to handle whatever situation they are facing right now. That kind of God inspires worship! Thank goodness this task doesn't only depend on you and me, but the Holy Spirit is already working on people!
Everything we do in worship has to be centered on God, that is the only way to inspire others to worship. We need to remind people that God is actively involved in their lives. What has He done in your life this week? The more we remind people that God is the center of our lives and He is active, the more apt they will be to worship Him.
"On Sundays God wants us to do more than sing songs together and have wonderful worship experiences. He wants to knit the fabric of our lives together. For many, church as become all about me-what I'm learning, what I'm seeking, what I'm desperate for, what I need, how I've been affected, what I can do. We see ourselves as isolated individuals all seeking personal encounters with God, wherever we can find them. Sadly, this reflects our individualistic, me-obsessed culture. Rather than seeing ourselves as part of a worship community, we become worship consumers. We want worship on demand, served up in our way, at our own time, and with our own music. How do we counter that?"
"David Peterson tells us: Vitality and meaning will not be restored to Christian gatherings until those who lead and those who participate can recover a biblical perspective on their meetings, seeing them in relation to God's total plan and purpose for His people."
Our goal here at FCC is not to attract an audience, but to build a worshiping community. "A worshiping community is made up of individuals whose lives are centered around the Savior they worship each week. A worshiping community expects to encounter God's presence not only on Sunday morning but every day. A worshiping community recognizes that passionate times of singing God's praise flow from and lead to passionate lives lived for the glory of Jesus Christ."
So as we interact with those in our church who lead in worship each week, let us impress on them the need we have to become a worshiping community.
Enjoy the Journey
Wednesday, February 02, 2011
What Kind of Music?
"Being emotionally effected by music and actually worshipping God aren't the same thing, and no one should know this better than worship leaders. All by itself, music-even instrumental music-can make us cry, motivate us to cheer for our team, provoke us to protest, or fill us with joy."
Christians have a sad history of arguing about music and musical styles. Martin Luther said some pretty nasty things about people who didn't like the kind of music that he liked, and even 100 years after Isaac Watts died people would get up and walk out of a service if one of his songs were played. This was because back then the only thing that 'was fitting for church' was to sing Psalms set to music. This history continues and we see new chapters opening all the time, for various reasons and by various groups. But the Bible is clear that we should use music to praise God. Psalm 150 tells us to praise Him with music, and with all kinds of instruments! So we should use music to praise Him, "but if we don't understand God's purpose for music in worship, we can misuse it. Even worse, it can rob God of the glory we want to give Him."
Music accomplishes several things in worship.
Music stirs up and expresses God-glorifying emotions. There are two extremes when it comes to emotions in worship. There are those who seem to repress any emotion and think that feeling anything too strongly is a sign of immaturity. Then there are those who are over the top emotional and can miss the point because they are so overcome by their feelings. The latter is called emotionalism. People who embrace emotionalism see emotions as an end in themselves. It's all about that feeling, and sometimes God gets left out. However, music is meant to stir the emotions. Our goal is to combine a knowledge of God with a passion for Him. We want to engage both the mind and the heart.
Music helps us reflect the glory and activity of the triune God. Did you know that God sings? Zephaniah 3:17 says that God rejoices over us with singing. Jesus sang with His disciples before they went to the Mount of Olives. The Holy Spirit is with us now, inspiring the songs we sing. God sings, so how can we not sing?
Music helps us remember truth about God. There is no way around it. You will remember things that you sing far longer than things that you hear. Songs we sing stick with us longer (and more completely) than sermons. Not to say that sermons aren't important. But it is to say that what we sing must be chosen carefully, because that is what we will remember for years to come.
Music helps us express our unity in the gospel. Let's face it, there aren't too many things that a group of 400 people can actually do together. But singing is one of those things. It is a sign of unity. "Churches can potentially undermine this unity by offering different Sunday meetings based on musical preferences and styles. While it may mean numerical growth for the church in the short run, it can also separate families and tends to cultivate a consumer-based mind-set in the long run. There are other options. Diverse music teams can take turns leading on a Sunday morning. Different styles of music can be brought together in one meeting. More importantly, the church can be taught that setting aside their musical preferences for the sake of others is obeying Philippians 2:4 'Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.' Taking this path will probably require patient instruction, but over time the congregation will begin to see that the determining factor in our unity is not our musical styles-it's the gospel."
So what kind of music should we use? We have to use music that says something. It has been said: "Show me a churches songs and I'll show you their theology." "The words to our songs should be as strong and memorable as the tunes we put to them or the arrangements we put behind them." There are three basic types of lyrics to songs. Objective, Subjective, and Reflective. Objective lyrics tell us something about God. Subjective lyrics talk about our response to God. Reflective lyrics describe what we do as we worship God.
How we use instrumentation is also important. Dynamics are key. A reflective song is no longer reflective when there are 20 people playing as loudly as they can. By the same token a joyful song can lose its impact if it is too quiet. As we've said so many times, we are not here to put on a concert on Sunday, so must be sure that the way we play the songs we play engages the congregation in the way we want to engage them.
Musical diversity is a great tool. We serve a God who is infinitely creative, a God who created the sun and the ant. Take one look around and you can see His creative diversity. "How can anyone think that a single kind of music could adequately express the fulness of God's glory?" "Hymns are especially suited for innovated treatments that help us hear the words from a new perspective. Moving beyond traditional tunes and arrangements shouldn't bother us too much since most hymns were written without music, and a favorite tune only emerged over time. In the same way, sometimes old is new, sometimes old is better."
"Musical variety communicates God's heart for all generations, cultures, and races. We don't use different music because we want to keep everyone happy or because we're aiming for a 'blended' service. It's the gospel that blends us together, not music."
Ultimately, music should edify the church. No two churches will do the exact same things, because no two churches have the exact same people in them! A mix of traditions and innovation will always be needed within the church to bring people of all ages and cultures together in worship of God. "Artists will always be searching for new and fresh ways to express their gifts, but congregations must be able to hear the message without being distracted by the medium." We must always remember that we are here to glorify the Creator, not creativity.
Enjoy the Journey
"Being emotionally effected by music and actually worshipping God aren't the same thing, and no one should know this better than worship leaders. All by itself, music-even instrumental music-can make us cry, motivate us to cheer for our team, provoke us to protest, or fill us with joy."
Christians have a sad history of arguing about music and musical styles. Martin Luther said some pretty nasty things about people who didn't like the kind of music that he liked, and even 100 years after Isaac Watts died people would get up and walk out of a service if one of his songs were played. This was because back then the only thing that 'was fitting for church' was to sing Psalms set to music. This history continues and we see new chapters opening all the time, for various reasons and by various groups. But the Bible is clear that we should use music to praise God. Psalm 150 tells us to praise Him with music, and with all kinds of instruments! So we should use music to praise Him, "but if we don't understand God's purpose for music in worship, we can misuse it. Even worse, it can rob God of the glory we want to give Him."
Music accomplishes several things in worship.
Music stirs up and expresses God-glorifying emotions. There are two extremes when it comes to emotions in worship. There are those who seem to repress any emotion and think that feeling anything too strongly is a sign of immaturity. Then there are those who are over the top emotional and can miss the point because they are so overcome by their feelings. The latter is called emotionalism. People who embrace emotionalism see emotions as an end in themselves. It's all about that feeling, and sometimes God gets left out. However, music is meant to stir the emotions. Our goal is to combine a knowledge of God with a passion for Him. We want to engage both the mind and the heart.
Music helps us reflect the glory and activity of the triune God. Did you know that God sings? Zephaniah 3:17 says that God rejoices over us with singing. Jesus sang with His disciples before they went to the Mount of Olives. The Holy Spirit is with us now, inspiring the songs we sing. God sings, so how can we not sing?
Music helps us remember truth about God. There is no way around it. You will remember things that you sing far longer than things that you hear. Songs we sing stick with us longer (and more completely) than sermons. Not to say that sermons aren't important. But it is to say that what we sing must be chosen carefully, because that is what we will remember for years to come.
Music helps us express our unity in the gospel. Let's face it, there aren't too many things that a group of 400 people can actually do together. But singing is one of those things. It is a sign of unity. "Churches can potentially undermine this unity by offering different Sunday meetings based on musical preferences and styles. While it may mean numerical growth for the church in the short run, it can also separate families and tends to cultivate a consumer-based mind-set in the long run. There are other options. Diverse music teams can take turns leading on a Sunday morning. Different styles of music can be brought together in one meeting. More importantly, the church can be taught that setting aside their musical preferences for the sake of others is obeying Philippians 2:4 'Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.' Taking this path will probably require patient instruction, but over time the congregation will begin to see that the determining factor in our unity is not our musical styles-it's the gospel."
So what kind of music should we use? We have to use music that says something. It has been said: "Show me a churches songs and I'll show you their theology." "The words to our songs should be as strong and memorable as the tunes we put to them or the arrangements we put behind them." There are three basic types of lyrics to songs. Objective, Subjective, and Reflective. Objective lyrics tell us something about God. Subjective lyrics talk about our response to God. Reflective lyrics describe what we do as we worship God.
How we use instrumentation is also important. Dynamics are key. A reflective song is no longer reflective when there are 20 people playing as loudly as they can. By the same token a joyful song can lose its impact if it is too quiet. As we've said so many times, we are not here to put on a concert on Sunday, so must be sure that the way we play the songs we play engages the congregation in the way we want to engage them.
Musical diversity is a great tool. We serve a God who is infinitely creative, a God who created the sun and the ant. Take one look around and you can see His creative diversity. "How can anyone think that a single kind of music could adequately express the fulness of God's glory?" "Hymns are especially suited for innovated treatments that help us hear the words from a new perspective. Moving beyond traditional tunes and arrangements shouldn't bother us too much since most hymns were written without music, and a favorite tune only emerged over time. In the same way, sometimes old is new, sometimes old is better."
"Musical variety communicates God's heart for all generations, cultures, and races. We don't use different music because we want to keep everyone happy or because we're aiming for a 'blended' service. It's the gospel that blends us together, not music."
Ultimately, music should edify the church. No two churches will do the exact same things, because no two churches have the exact same people in them! A mix of traditions and innovation will always be needed within the church to bring people of all ages and cultures together in worship of God. "Artists will always be searching for new and fresh ways to express their gifts, but congregations must be able to hear the message without being distracted by the medium." We must always remember that we are here to glorify the Creator, not creativity.
Enjoy the Journey
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