Tag Archives: corporate worship

Antidotes for boring services: Worship

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Perhaps provocatively, I would like to talk about boring church services.  You may therefore feel nervous about forwarding it on to your pastor!  Please assure them that I’m not pointing the finger at any church or church leader… For the record, I find my own church to be a mixture: sometimes our services are sharp and engaging, other times less so.  And I’m forwarding this to our pastors too, in a spirit of robust, loving encouragement!

Getting music right can surely play a part in reducing boredom, as can understanding the culture well, having a great welcoming process, and having gifted people on the platform.

I’m sure there are plenty of suggestions that astute people have made over the years for how to grab the attention of the gathered folk, hold it for an hour or so, and then promise it again for the following Sunday.

Some churches try technology.  Others try winsome, charismatic leadership style.  One pastor who is a good friend of mine has in his service plans a column for something unusual every week, just to make sure he keeps it interesting.

But although these various initiatives can be a great way of loving our people, I’m not sure these are in themselves the solution.  I think there are deeper issues at stake.

I now refer briefly to my background for some context.  I belong to the Reformed Evangelical arm of the Anglican Church here in Australia.  I grew up in Sydney as the son of an Anglican minister and studied theology at Moore College for 4 years.  I’ve been in full time ministry now for 9 years at Holy Trinity Adelaide as the music minister, and have no particular urge to move to any other church or denomination.  I don’t think we’re the best or worst denomination, but neither do I think that matters.  I have a heritage amongst people whom I love and respect deeply, though I also have many friends in other denominations or churches with other styles.

I provide this detail because readers from different backgrounds will tend to have a different experience of church services, and of the efforts that have been made to make them interesting.

I often hear people say they wish they could find a church that has Reformed Evangelical Anglican (REA) preaching with a Hillsong version of music and service structure.  “What a combo,” they say.

I’m not convinced.  That implies that REAs have preaching worked out and Hillsong has music worked out.  Don’t get me wrong: I think we can all learn from each other.  It’s just that I’m looking for something deeper than comparison or benchmarking.

So at this point, I want to try to clarify what I think the question is.

My title suggests that boredom is an issue in church.  But you know, we are flawed creatures, and even if the Lord himself had visited us during his earthly ministry, we would still have been likely to drift off because of the weakness of our flesh.  We get sleepy; our worldly interests still tug at our hearts; we haven’t got a vision of Christ in his full sin-smashing glory.

So maybe boredom isn’t quite the precise category we’re looking for, since it often says more about those of us in the pew than about the program being delivered from the platform.  But there is a biblical category that governs what we should be doing in church, and that is edification.

Now this sounds less exciting than my title, but perhaps the question is simply, “Are our services edifying?”  The problem here is that the term “edifying” has fallen down a crevice between a vapid, inoffensive word to describe positive learning experiences (e.g. “that movie was marginally edifying but not particularly exciting”) and a technical theological term that ministers use rather vaguely and unconvincingly (e.g. “I hope my sermon today edified you in some helpful way”).

What I will seek to do in this 4 part series of blogs is to try to say some things about edification in the gathering and what our role is (those involved in planning or running services) in trying to bring it about.  I’m not going to do an extensive survey of New Testament usage, but rather focus on broader biblical principles and a few key texts.

The first of these relevant biblical principles is worship.

Where we find ourselves

I refer again to my REA background.  In my stable, I think many of us (including myself) have become very hesitant to use the word worship to describe what we are doing in a church service.  This is because our “whole of Bible” understanding of worship has rightly pointed us towards worship as a “whole of life” activity, not simply the activities that we undertake in church.

Let me list some of the things we’ve reacted against.  We have reacted against the reducing of worship to congregational singing when it has so much more of a wide scope than this.  We’ve reacted against the use of the term ‘worship leader’ to describe the song leader when the preacher is at least as eligible for that description, if not anyone up the front urging people to submit their lives to God.  We’ve reacted against the confusing idea that expressing worship is primarily about expressing feelings… we would agree that feelings associated with our awe of God are a natural by-product of worship, but we’ve insisted that they are not its essence.

However, I think we’ve seen an over-reaction to this imprecise word usage that has had wide and deep implications for the way we run our services.  In our reluctance to describe the activities of our gatherings as worship, we have found ourselves without an adequate vocabulary to describe the vertical or God-ward aspects of our meetings.  As a result, those God-ward aspects have often been pushed aside.  We’ve picked up the New Testament’s emphasis on edification when we meet, and tended to focus more on the horizontal aspects of our meetings.  But somehow in doing this, I think we’ve created a division between worship and edification, and here is the nub of the problem.

I have found myself asking, “What exactly is edification?”  I realise it’s the idea of building… that we are built up into Christ.  It’s the idea of Christians becoming stronger and more numerous.

But the problem is, often the attempts to edify me fail.  I was once taught that singing in church was for my encouragement, and yet I usually felt sapped by it.  In fact, one of the reasons I went into formal music ministry was that so much church music made me feel discouraged.  I couldn’t just sit around and complain about it – I felt I had to do something.

So how does the church get built?  It’s by the strengthening of individuals and by the adding of people into it.  2 parts to this I guess: the Christians and the soon-to-become-Christians.

Strengthening the Church by strengthening insiders

For Christians to be strengthened, the Bible has a few ideas.  In Paul’s letters, as in other parts, there is the very common indicative-imperative pattern.  Things are said in the indicative mood (describing), indicating the grace of God, the plan of God or the glory of Christ.  These are then followed by the imperative (instructions or appeals), calling us to adapt our behaviour or our thinking.  Paul doesn’t tend to give out rules – mostly just implications.  If we knew just how much we were loved, we’d love in return.  If we knew the spiritual reality of being in Christ, we would act in Christ and not in a fleshly way.  And so on.

Edification is always grace driven.  It’s always driven by the character of God or a description of the work of God.  And here is a key point: to be edified, we need to be drawn to God himself.

We see this in the book of Hebrews as well, where a series of warning passages are alternated with a series of passages persuading the reader/hearer of Christ’s incomparable glory, and of the manner in which the new covenant in Jesus stupendously surpasses the old.  The key thing is that these words of edification and encouragement to Christians are interwoven with words of praise and acclamation.

Before I go any further, let me say that the alternative is a very dangerous path.  God has saved us by grace, through faith alone, not by works, so that no-one can boast.  If we slip into preaching sermons and running services that for some reason have lost their grace mooring, then they potentially lead people into falsehood.  We can unwittingly preach about the importance of evangelism, or the need to stop sinning, or the putting on of virtues, without couching these in the terms of response.  Every good deed must be a response to God’s gracious work, or I’d argue that it’s not actually a good deed but an attempt to win God’s favour through our own merit.

I should also say that the majority of the time, our failure in this is unintentional… I think!  Those who have the privilege of ministering from the platform in a church are usually very clear in their heads about the grace-driven nature of our faith, and perhaps we make assumptions about the people in the seats.

We get a sense that people need to be reminded to share their faith and so we create a program or a timetable.  We ask people to sign up to things or attend events, and our meetings can start to feel like a campaign meeting in a political party.

We kick off the year with all sorts of new structures, goals and targets that we’re sure will be a vehicle for God’s blessing, and we present them to the congregation much like you might present at an organisation’s Annual General Meeting.

We know that we need to pray to God for our people and our ministries, so we list them off to him much like we’re placing an order at a drive-through window.

I have no doubt that these things are all well intended.  But what I feel is missing when we do this… is worship.  Call it what you will: I don’t mind if you call it a God-focus or a grace motivation.  What matters is that we never make assumptions about how the church is strengthened.  It is only in God that people are edified.

So how might it look to shape our meetings to be services of worship?  I think that the time when we gather together as Christ’s people to sit under his word is specifically a time of worship.  That is, it is a time when we enact our submission to Christ’s lordship in some very particular ways: we sit under his word (which is a first order act of worship), we respond to him in words of faith and repentance, we sing and say together words of praise and thanksgiving, directed both to him and to each other, and through all of these things we remind each other of the kingdom and its implications for our lives.

Now we can have strategy and planning meetings, we can set aside time in the week to review our approach and make improvements.  We can have fun times chatting about interests we might have in common other than the kingdom of God.  But there must be a time in our week dedicated to those activities at the end of the previous paragraph.

This time of worship will actually provide the greatest edification of your entire week.  But if it is watered down to just a meeting of like minded people, then it runs the very high risk of losing its God-ward focus, and therefore not being as edifying for people.  The church struggles to grow because its message becomes like that of the advertisers… yet another appeal for our time, money and energy.

What about the 3 examples above… can they still be done in a service of worship?  Yes.  The first related to evangelism.  But if you want people to evangelise (I run the risk of giving the false impression of being an expert here), you need to proclaim to those around you the glory, love, mercy, wisdom, power and holiness of God as revealed in Christ, and challenge people about whether this message has transformed them.  I would much prefer it if that was the bulk of what was communicated in the service, and that the particular details of the strategy were referred to concisely, not in detail.

I’d say the same with our structures, goals and targets.  Hand out a document if you like.  But use the time in the service to draw people’s minds yet again to some aspect of God’s glory and grace that will make them excited to read your document!

With the example of prayer above, this is something that people could take onboard for leading prayers in the service or in a home group, or even in their private devotions.  Here’s the thing: I struggle to find a prayer in the entire Bible that doesn’t keep making references to God and his wonderful wisdom, mercy and strength.  If we could see clearly with our eyes who it was that we were addressing, we would just find ourselves compelled to refer to him and to what he has done and is doing.  All prayer should be expressions of our worship… not in a high and righteous tone – he is our loving heavenly Father as well as our Sovereign Lord – but in the deep respect and awe of him who holds our lives and livelihoods in the palm of his hand.

Strengthening the Church by adding outsiders

Now briefly, the soon-to-become-Christians in our church services: I suggested that the church is built by people becoming Christians, as much as it is built by our worship bringing conviction to those who are already believers.

The clearest Biblical example of this type of conversion is in 1 Corinthians 14:21-25.  Paul is arguing in this chapter that prophesy is more useful in the church than tongues, since the unintelligibility of tongues usually only enables a person to have an individual communication with God, whereas prophesy enables shared communication which can strengthen others.  In verse 21-22 he even suggests that tongues are a sign of judgement for the unbeliever… yet prophesy is a sign for the believers.  But although prophesy is for believers, there is a circumstance in which it can be for unbelievers, and this is when they witness it happening among Christians.

I won’t go into the discussion of precisely what Paul means by prophesy, other than to say that it is words prompted by God for the uplifting of believers.

But an unbeliever enters our meeting, hears the word of God intended to make strong the believer, and is personally convicted and called to account.  “The secrets of his heart are disclosed, and so, falling on his face, he will worship God and declare that God is really among you”.

So, through our edification can come evangelism.  I think this happens every Sunday in every city, although some definitions of prophesy would lead some to disagree in relation to prophesy… but perhaps agree in the general sense that powerful edifying words lead outsiders who are listening in to join us in worship.

That is, a person becoming a Christian is joining the worshipping activity that the church is already engaged in.  I don’t think Paul is implying that the brand new believer is the only person in the room who is worshipping and falling on his face.  He (or she) is joining in the worship undertaken by God’s people.  We get a glimpse of the church at worship in a passing reference in Acts 13:2.

This bringing to worship through edification is helpful as we plan and lead our gatherings.  I think we feel like we need to jazz it up at church.  We do get bored… sometimes just because of our flesh.  But is it possible that we are feeling an urge to use whatever techniques we can to make our meetings count, week by week?  Are we unwittingly drawing techniques and methods from the creation rather than from the creator?

God is after all the life of the party.  The church is the place to which the world can come to meet this God.  But sometimes I feel that, rather than inviting him to the party, we’re just skyping him in.

Biblically speaking, wherever people encounter God in his glory, worship follows.  Think of Moses told to remove his sandals whilst standing on holy ground – an act of submission and awe that God required of this not-yet-ready saviour for Israel.  Think of Isaiah’s vision of God in which he calls out “woe is me for I am lost; I am a man of unclean lips… and my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts”.  God’s presence demands his utmost humbling.  Think of the disciples who when they saw the risen Christ on the mountain worshipped him, “although some doubted”, reminding us that worship is not some triumphant act of super-spirituality.  In each of these instances, worship is the humble surrender to God in the acknowledgement that he is all in all.

This is the God whom we present to the world when we meet for our church services.  Yes, people will see us during the week showing a Godlike love.  But when they visit us on a Sunday, it must all become clear to them!  They should encounter God as he is, hearing his word powerfully proclaimed in speech and song, seeing people’s response of worship in their engagement, humility and deep love of God.  And they should smell the aroma of this beautiful message about Christ.  And so through our worship, they can meet God.

I hope to spell out a bit more detail of what I think Biblically edifying services can look like over the next 3 blogs.  In the next one, I want to look at the idea of drama or gravitas and how God uses this to draw us to himself.

*****

Extended Footnote: a definition of worship (and some key texts)

Although the doctrine of worship is not simple, I do think it can be described simply as the expression of our humble submission to God.

But a bit more detail: Jesus preached “the Kingdom of God is at hand, repent and believe the gospel” (Mark 1:15).  This message is foundational to understanding worship: Jesus’ coming was about the establishment of a kingdom.  A kingdom means a king and worshipping subjects.  The particular response to that news of a kingdom was about how to become one of these worshipping subjects: turn from sin to God and believe the gospel about Jesus.

In John’s Gospel, Jesus fills this out a little more when he says that true worshippers will worship in Spirit and in Truth (John 4:23-24), indicating that it is through the work of the Spirit of God and the Son of God that people would be enabled to worship.

In summary, to be one of the worshipping subjects of the King, you need to repent and believe: you need salvation that God has brought us through Christ and implanted in our hearts by his Holy Spirit.  And worship is living out that salvation daily, in reverence, submission and service.

It’s really important to see that true worship isn’t initiated by human beings.  It is made possible by God himself, through the gospel of Jesus Christ.  So worship is one of the very characteristics of being a Christian.

One of the places Paul refers to worship in the Christian life is in Romans 12:1, where he says that the presenting of our bodies as living sacrifices, holy and acceptable to God, is our spiritual worship.  This underlines the manner in which our whole life is submitted to him in service as an act of worship.  He makes reference to the old system of worship – the official sacrificial system of the Mosaic Law – and shows how for Christians this is fulfilled by presenting our bodies for service.

Whilst Romans 12:1 is a key text, it is not an exhaustive text.  For example, we shouldn’t assume that the sacrificial system was the only aspect of Old Testament worship – worship was all-of-life for Israel too.  Many sections of the New Testament are devoted to clarifying how the Law was relevant and not relevant under the new covenant, and this is one of them.

Hebrews 12:18-29 particularly helps to show how worship now focuses on the heavenly Jerusalem, rather than around Mt Sinai or on the earthly Mt Zion.  Our orientation should now be the heavenly glory of Christ, rather than the glory seen on earth by Moses.  So the kingdom that Jesus was proclaiming in Mark’s Gospel has now been established, since the king has been enthroned and there are thousands of worshipping subjects, referred to as the “assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven”.

God is described as a “consuming fire” and therefore we are to “offer to God acceptable worship, with reverence and awe”.

It’s important to note that the words that follow on immediately after this are about love, respect and church life in general.  So the writer wants us to maintain both the heavenly view of Christ’s exalted glory and the earthly view of day-to-day life in the church.  I think it’s fair to say that it is this vision of the glory of the exalted Christ that empowers us to serve in the seemingly less glorious ways of respecting leaders and remaining pure.

Finally, the New Testament’s picture of worship is shaped by John’s vision in Revelation.  Several texts outline the eternal worship of the church as it gathers to offer reverence, submission and service to God, such as Rev 5:8-10, 5:11-14, 7:9-12, 15:2-4, 19:6-8.

This is the picture of the end – the shaking of all things that will finally establish the unfettered rule of Christ the King.  And our doctrine of Church today should affirm that we manifest this reality now, even though it is a future reality.  The New Testament writers are at pains to state that we are with Christ in heaven, “seated with him” and so on.

In particular, as I’ve stated above, when people see our good deeds and come seeking God, it is in the church that they will find him.  They should find a worshipping community.  But fundamentally, where they find a worshipping community, they should indeed find… God!

Now although worship involves a horizontal component (e.g. Rom 12:1, Heb 13:1), it must also involve a vertical component by definition.  There is no such thing as worship without a vertical component.

Peter actually makes this point very clearly in 1 Peter 4:10-11, where he says that whoever serves should do so in the strength that God supplies “in order that, in everything, God may be glorified through Jesus Christ”.  That is, the reason we serve others is because we worship God.  Worship, or bringing glory to God through Christ, is the driving motivation for all godliness.

So the church is the open community of worshipping subjects in the Kingdom of God.  It is most visibly the dwelling place of God when we gather together physically.  We seek to display the glorified Christ through our worship, which both strengthens the believer and draws into eternal life the unbeliever.

 

Music Ministry: Trellis or Vine?

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I was recently asked whether music ministry is a “ministry of the word” or a “ministry that supports the ministry of the word”.  Interesting question!  There’s quite a bit behind the question, which I’ll get to.  But I should clarify at the outset that by “the word”, the questioner was referring to the Bible and the message of salvation contained within it, not just to a general sense of word versus musical note, or visual image.

Ever since I started as Music Minister at my church (Holy Trinity Adelaide) I’ve been encouraging people to think of music as a ministry of the word.  In particular, one of the key New Testament verses that shapes our ministry is Colossians 3:16, which every church musician should memorise:

Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts.  (NIV 2011)

The idea is that the congregation sings the word, and sings in response to the word.  This message of Christ is the key topic and the key driver and shaper of our singing.  So in one sense, the answer is obvious.  Yes, music is a ministry of the word.

But if someone is thinking of getting involved in music ministry, are they getting involved in a ministry of the word?  Let me put it more sharply: if someone has gifts of being able to lead a Bible study as well as being an accomplished musician, should they choose Bible study leading at the expense of the musical blessing they can be to the congregation?  Let’s face it, we yearn for our music to sound good!

A few years ago, I came across a book called The Trellis and the Vine by Colin Marshall and Tony Payne.  It challenged some of my thinking around ministry, particularly by showing the priority of word ministry.  The word is the vine… it lives and grows.  The book of Acts talks about the word as if it is a character in the story (e.g. Acts 19:20).

But a vine needs the support of a trellis to grow properly.  In ministry, trellises are those supporting activities that open doors for word ministry, make it happen more efficiently and effectively.  Think accounting, plumbing, and electrical.  Or think strategy and vision meetings, or in a gathering itself, think counting attendees, welcoming visitors, operating the sound desk and lighting… the list could be very long.

These things are all essential for word ministry to happen.  In Acts 6, the Apostles were set aside from having to wait on tables specifically so they could devote themselves to the ministry of the word and prayer.  Then, 7 men known to be full of the Spirit and wisdom were appointed to manage the logistics of life in church.  The first Christian martyr (Stephen) was of course one of these 7.

One of the arguments of The Trellis and the Vine is that we should follow this priority of the ministry of the word over its supporting activities.  The reality is, a lot of Christians get very distracted by the supporting activities… there are so many things to keep in mind.

There is a real temptation for churches to lose their way.  We can even find ourselves thinking that trellises create growth in our churches.  We see business strategy, marketing or restructuring working in the secular world, and we assume that we could expect the same results within the church.  We hear extraordinary music played at a concert and we feel that we could impact lives for Christ by trying to emulate the same powerful performances and high production values in the church.

We are well advised not to fall into this trap.  I’m not saying that we should ignore the wisdom that we can glean from the world.  I’m not saying we shouldn’t have music that is even higher in quality than what you would hear in a concert hall or rock music venue.  I’m just agreeing with the writers of The Trellis and the Vine that it isn’t these things that grow the church… it is the gospel: the message that Jesus is alive and that he brings eternal life.

We need constantly to let that message be the engine room of all church activities.  If we’re going to do strategy, let it be gospel strategy.  If we’re going to do marketing, let’s market the gospel.  If we’re going to do music well, let it be music driven by, and seeking to make known, the message of Christ.

So is music ministry trellis ministry or vine ministry?

I think like many other activities, it’s a bit of both.  Bible study leading for example involves emailing people to organise things, buying food, making tea and coffee.  These are all trellis activities.

But it also involves the crucial task of opening the Bible, both in preparation and in the study time itself, and seeking to bring it to bear on the lives of the people in the group.  Sometimes the study itself will be sufficient to teach and admonish.  Other times one-to-one follow up might be needed to help people to apply the Bible to their lives.

Music ministry similarly has both vine and trellis aspects.  If you’re involved in arranging scores, planning or running rehearsals, tuning, fixing or even playing instruments, you may be in trellis ministry alone, depending on the approach.

But there are 3 key aspects of music ministry that are vine ministry, and potentially a 4th.  They are: song writing, song choosing, and song leading.  The possible 4th is band leading, if the manner in which you lead your band involves opening up the word for the band.  Let’s look at them in turn.

1. Song writing – we have a group of budding song writers in my church network.  Whenever they write a song, they are deeply buried in the Bible.  They’re trying to understand things, apply things to everyday life, and re-express things in their own words.  When I’m writing a song at the piano, the music stand becomes my Bible stand.

2. Song choosing – when I get together with band leaders, one of the things we regularly do is choose the songs for the next time they will lead.  This involves usually a half hour or more of me asking searching questions of the text, trying to determine the big idea, key ways to apply the text, and the response that a passage demands of a congregation.

I do this with my music interns on a weekly basis.  As a result, they are receiving training in Biblical exegesis that is not widely available in our church: weekly one-to-one Bible coaching by a senior staff member.

It shouldn’t be a surprise that music leaders often make great Bible study leaders.

3. Song leading – when I’m leading singing at a conference or in church, I see myself as being in a role very similar to that of the preacher.  I’m on the platform, throwing my heart, soul, mind and voice into the task of urging, persuading, encouraging and admonishing people through the message of Christ.  They are often not words I’ve written myself, but they are words that I own personally when I’m up the front.

Different churches have different models of song leading.  On some platforms, the song leader is given the opportunity to introduce the songs verbally, using ideas from the song, a verse or two from a relevant part of the Bible, or prayer or word of encouragement.  In other churches, song leaders lead by simply singing the lyrics of the song.

But regardless of the distinctions, it’s pretty clear that they are in the job of communicating the message of Jesus.

4. Band leading – I believe rehearsals should be times of Christian growth.  In our AM church band rehearsals, which I’ve been running in a fairly consistent format for most of the last 12 months, we always talk about the message of Christ in the songs.  I ask everyone to place aside their instrument or microphone and come and sing around the piano.  We have a simple process:

  1. Choose a song to sing through (often a less familiar one, which has additional benefits!)
  2. Sing it once
  3. I ask the group what the song is about… we talk about it, I summarise the thoughts and try to persuade everyone how significant the content is.
  4. We sing it again, this time with far deeper connection with the ideas
  5. We launch straight into prayers of praise, thanks and appealing to God to bring these same truths home for the people who will gather in the services we’re rehearsing for.

Only then do we get into rehearsing the songs as a band.

So in my music ministry, I’m trying to increase the number of people involved with the word/vine aspects of what we do.  For me this means developing what it means to be a song leader or band leader.  There are plenty of players whose chief area is trellis work, but a growing number of people directly involved in vine work.

I generally work towards music ministry constituting a part time involvement for people, unless they’re doing an internship or some other intense program.  I am keen for everyone in our ministry to be involved in a range of other ministries, both vine and trellis ministries.  In particular, I believe that if people have the gifts to be involved in the ministry of the word, then the best training is diverse training.

Perhaps this next statement is controversial for some, but the logic is hard to beat: Someone who develops Biblical understanding through song choosing and through Bible study leading will be better equipped than someone who only develops understanding through Bible study leading.  There is just so much to learn by choosing songs.

Most of our music ministry members are also either Bible study group leaders, youth group leaders, children’s ministry workers, preachers, members of young adults groups, and members of all sorts of other groups in which they serve.  I work hard not to over-schedule people, because burn-out is always a risk with people giving loads of their time.

But I need to finish with what I think is a really important point.  There is a real tendency to de-value trellis work.  And I think this is just as unbiblical as it is not to set aside vine workers for vine work.  In 1 Corinthians 12 & 13, Paul speaks about a range of gifts, including those that we should eagerly desire.  But love is to be the driving characteristic of how any gift should be exercised.

The distinction between trellis and vine is not about one person’s work being more valuable than another’s, but about the fact that neither should be jeopardised by everything being blurred into one category.

It is appropriate that ministers be set aside for preaching and praying, just as the Apostles were in Acts.  But it is also appropriate for us to have high standards that we expect of those we recruit into trellis work, just as was applied to the wise and Spirit-filled 7 in Acts.

So in music, I am deeply grateful for gifted musicians!  And I know our congregations are too.  Their trellises enable the vine aspects of our work to be presented clearly and strongly, without distractions, appropriately carrying the lofty content of the word of God.

We often talk about the PRIORITY of preaching… perhaps this is a good way to think about the distinction in music too, without saying that some people are greater than others.   Let’s try to see the gospel as the great gift, and our skill-gifts as means to honour the gospel gift.

Everyone in the church should be seeking to make sure the preaching of the word is happening as the primary activity, both those who support it with wide-ranging trellis type gifts, and those who are given that unique Biblical insight and communication ability.  All of us in the church should pray for that deep yearning from within the soul to see the church and its visitors dwelling richly on the message of Christ.

 

 

 

 

How to plan music for a service (Part 4 Final: Step-by-step song selection)

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So, this is part 4.  Do you need to read parts 1-3 before actually choosing the songs for a service?

No, I suppose.  Every generation makes a contribution.

But I think we make an infinitely more valuable contribution if we humbly stand on the shoulders of those who’ve come before us.  It helps us to see what we’re trying to do.

In fact, try asking yourself that very question: what exactly ARE you trying to do when you pick songs for church?  Common responses:

  • Satisfy congregational music preferences?
  • Satisfy your own music preferences?
  • Connect with people emotionally?
  • Re-state the Bible text for the sermon musically?
  • Maintain the particular musical characteristics of your church?

I think each of these are actually valid: if a congregation’s preferences are ignored, they won’t enjoy it; your preferences are often as good a benchmark as anyone else’s; songs that are not emotionally connecting might as well just be spoken rather than sung; restating scripture musically opens it to a new fresh hearing; a church that changes its traditions continually and suddenly will run the risk of losing its congregation.

In parts 1-3 however, I have tried to demonstrate that singing in church is an activity for which we can draw a great deal of wise guidance both from history and from the Bible itself.

In part 1, I suggested that music is the new liturgy.  That is, in place of the formal prayers, readings and other liturgical content of the prayer book services of the past, we have inserted songs.  Often up to a third or even half a service can be singing.  So the big question is: does our music feed our people with a weekly diet of gospel re-expression the way the old liturgies used to?

In part 2, from some of the basic ideas of the old liturgy, I outlined a 4-part service structure into which we can slot our song choices to try to achieve some of the things we might otherwise lose:

1. Approaching – is the part of the service in which we draw near to God in faith and confidence on the basis of the gospel.  As such, it is a time for spelling out in no uncertain terms what the gospel is, particularly if the teaching on that day is not expected to cover it explicitly.

2. Hearing – is the part of the service in which we hear and reflect on a part of God’s word, and where it is expounded for us.  You don’t actually need to sing at this point, unless you have something to reinforce the text.

3. Responding – is the part of the service in which the congregation specifically responds to the word that has been heard.

3. Sending – is the part of the service in which the people of God prepare to return into the world in which we are witnesses for Christ.  So songs that challenge us to have an outward focus are suitable.

In part 3, we turned to the Bible, and saw how we are exhorted to a particular approach to singing in Colossians 3:16 – that of a 3-way conversation between God, you, and the rest of the gathering around you.  God is the initiator of that conversation, and we need to make sure we are willing and enthusiastic listeners, as well as those who re-express his word enthusiastically to each other.

So that’s a summary of parts 1-3… maybe you don’t need to read them after all!

But what difference does this context make?  Is it really that significant?

Well, if I’m honest, I think we’re often up against pride in this discussion.  I remember many, many occasions when I have sat in a dreamy state at my keyboard and imagined the perfect musical moments in church.  Perhaps this is what has taken me into music ministry… I have imagined a passionate congregation singing vibrantly, completely unashamed to lift their voices and their eyes to heaven and belt out a deafening chorus of praise.

I’ve tried to imagine writing the songs that would lead to that kind of spiritual and emotional engagement… I’ve seen myself as the leader of that moment of devotion… the selector of the songs, and then the model of music ministry that people would want to flock to in order experience the same things.

I think a lot of people involved in music ministry have this sense of what it could be.  We think it’s worth the effort, not only because Christ is honoured, but also because people are switched on to him, they are empowered for Christian living, and they are an extraordinarily powerful witness of the realness of faith to any in the gathering who are not Christians.

But nearly 25 years of involvement in music ministry has taught me that I’m not the answer to this.  And I don’t mean to be irreverent, but I have also learned that… it’s not my problem.

It’s certainly my concern, it’s my plea and challenge to the congregations I’m involved with, my area of faithful service, and of course, my prayer, in the same way that it’s my concern that many of my friends do not know Christ.  But God himself is the one whose Spirit needs to work to bring this result.

I believe strongly that my responsibility is to be faithful. For me to be fruitful is God’s responsibility.

This is liberating.  It means that my priority is not pleasing people, impressing people, persuading people, even impacting them emotionally through my song choices.  My priority is faithfulness to God’s word and his people.  But please note: I’m not saying that faithfulness doesn’t involve appropriate persuasion and emotional challenge.

So, I believe that following the patterns of the Bible and the history of the church are essential to my ministry in the present.  They are the vehicles used by God for his work amongst his people.  And be sure of this, his Spirit WILL bear fruit.  People who are exposed to the properly and faithfully expressed gospel WILL respond in joyful, passionate worship.  Not all of them, of course.

Ok, so having laid a detailed foundation, here is the process I use:

1. Read the passage that will be preached on – I’m assuming a model of Bible expounding in which the preachers will attempt to say nothing more or less than what they believe God is saying through a passage.  The passage won’t be used as a springboard for what the preacher thinks is the more important issue of the day.  I’m also assuming that the preacher will adequately put the passage into the context of the unfolding revelation of the whole Bible.

2. Identify the main point of the passage – i.e. finish the sentence, “This passage is saying that …” or “This passage is about …”  It involves considering the context of the section of the Bible.  Some examples:

  • Gen 22 (Abraham being challenged to sacrifice Isaac): “This passage is saying that God commended Abraham for his supreme act of faith”
  • Mark 4 (Parable of the sower): “This passage is saying that there is a variety of responses as people hear the word of God”
  • Eph 6 (Armour of God): “This passage is saying that the elements of the Gospel itself are the means God uses to help people to persevere.”

3. Identify the main application of the passage – i.e. finish the sentence, “This passage is telling us …”  This involves moving from the specific context of the Bible passage to life today and the circumstances of our people.  Some examples:

  • Gen 22 (Abraham): “This passage is telling us to have faith that God will fulfil his promises”.
  • Mark 4 (Sower): “This passage is telling us to be aware of the things that may make us fail to hear God properly”
  • Eph 6 (Armour): “This passage is telling us to remember the key elements of the gospel when we feel under attack”.

4. Identify phrases that a congregation could say in response to this main application – i.e. finish this sentence, “The congregation could respond to this by saying …”.  Examples:

  • Gen 22: “Your promises are trustworthy” or “You will always achieve your purposes” or “Lord, I will put my faith in you”.
  • Mark 4: “Thank you Lord for speaking to us” or “Help us to hear you clearly” or “Lord I turn away from idols and distractions”.
  • Eph 6: “Thank you for saving us and protecting us” or “We rejoice in our righteousness, our salvation, the truth that saves us, and the word that has power”.

5. Identify a “response song” that says a similar thing to these phrases – i.e. get to know all your song lyrics well!  Titles of songs are sometimes a helpful clue, but not always.  Here are some thoughts about a few well known songs:

  • The song “Indescribable” is saying, “Your creation shows us that you are amazing”.  It does use the word “indescribable” in the chorus, but that’s only part of the picture of the song.
  • The song “Blessed be your name” is saying, “Even when times are tough, the Lord is worthy of praise”.  That is, it’s not necessarily a happy song, but it is a song that points us to God even when we’re not happy.  It is about the Lord’s name being special, but particularly about how this is true regardless of our circumstances.
  • The song “Mighty to save” is saying, “We need salvation and God is totally up to the task”.
  • The song “In Christ alone” actually is saying exactly what its title suggests.  This little phrase comes up surprisingly often for me as a phrase of response.

Please note, I’ve only listed these songs because they’re well known on just about every corner of the planet.  In my experience, there needs to be a fair amount of topical breadth in my repertoire to choose response songs well.  You may find it difficult to find the perfect song every Sunday that puts into the mouths of the congregation the response that a specific part of God’s word is calling for.  But it’s worth spending time on this.  When you do find that right song, it can be a powerful moment of the Holy Spirit at work.  People will be given EMOTIVE, CORPORATE VOICE in their response to the word of God.

6. Identify a “sending song” that helps people to take the gospel out the door – i.e. develop a group of songs relating to “out-the-door” type topics, such as:

  • Evangelism and mission
  • Implications of the gospel for holy Christian living
  • Hope of the Lord’s return, and readiness

I think sending songs should instil confidence, have a positive tone, and leave people with a song ringing in their ears.  Some songs that I find work well for sending (as long as you don’t use them all the time!):

  • I cannot tell
  • See him coming
  • Song for the nations
  • Let your kingdom come
  • Live for the kingdom
  • Be thou my vision
  • Stand up, stand up for Jesus
  • O the mercy of God
  • Living for your glory

7. Considering the theme of the Bible passage (and appropriate response), choose “Approaching songs” that pick up any core gospel ideas not yet expressed in the songs you’ve chosen.  Please note, I believe that our music should always tell the gospel in the same way that our liturgy used to in days gone by.  Every Sunday we need to proclaim the basic message of God reaching out to sinners through Christ, declaring them righteous through his blood, and raising them up with the resurrected Christ to bring eternal reconciliation.  This is the message that makes us the church.  And yet it will often not be specifically covered by the sermon, even if the preacher is competent and faithful.

This is why I choose “Approaching songs” last.  If the response to the message is best conveyed through a song like “In Christ Alone”, then the gospel is thoroughly covered in that selection.  But if the response is to devote ourselves to serving Christ, then the gospel has not necessarily been expounded.  We must not assume that people can manage without this weekly repeating of the gospel message, using the array of songs available to us.

8. Organise Approaching songs around a “theologic” – ok I made this word up.  But it simply means trying to use gospel logic.  The structure of the song list can then be part of the teaching provided by our music ministry.  Some examples:

  • We are only forgiven if we repent of our sins; we repent because we know we cannot face God unrepentant.  The logic in this can be spelled out as follows: 1. God is holy; 2. Sinners must repent (or confess sin) before him; 3. God forgives through the gospel.  So you could choose songs that allow you to tell that story to the congregation.
  • 1. God’s word created the universe; 2. God’s word (Christ) also redeemed the universe; 3. God’s word therefore gives us hope for the future
  • 1. God is revealed through creation as mighty, glorious; 2. God is revealed through the gospel as also being merciful, faithful, righteous, holy and wise.

Use creativity!  But always within the context of being faithful to the message.  It might be a good idea to run some of these ideas past your pastor and get some input as to how we can tell the gospel story through our song choices.

9. Provide rationales – if you’re going to put this work into song choice, you might as well let people know what is behind your choices.  In particular, if a person other than yourself is going to introduce them (e.g. a song leader, a service leader or a preacher) then let them know why you’ve picked the songs you’ve picked.  Our church uses an online service planning tool so that everyone involved in planning and running the service can see the same document.  It has a “description” field, where I try to put these rationales.  They then get seen by everyone, and picked up as appropriate in the running of the service.

Thanks for reading… this is a pretty detailed process.  I’m sure there are shortcuts.  And of course there are other ways of doing it.  However you approach this, remember that singing is a ministry of the word and Spirit of God.  Let’s pray that our song choices make the most of the opportunity to share God’s gospel with his people.

 

How to plan music for a service (Part 1 – The new liturgy)

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I’m yet to work out how many parts this post will have.  Planning music for services is such an important topic for churches today, and my own thinking is constantly evolving.  What I do know is that I need to start with some background.

The thing I want to say today is that music is the new liturgy.  And to show you what I mean, let me briefly tell a bit of historical background.

I’m from the Anglican tradition, which traces its roots back to the English Reformation in the 1500s.  Aside from the fact that prior to the Reformation, your local English parish church had the Catholic mass said entirely in Latin, additionally the services and the ministry had theological problems that the reformers needed to address.  Basically, the people weren’t being taught Biblical truths on a Sunday, and they couldn’t understand it anyway, because it was in a language that the average person didn’t know.

So Archbishop Cranmer’s strategy was to implement the English Prayer Book.  The best known of these was the 1662 Book of Common Prayer, which although introduced long after Cranmer’s death, was substantially based on the prayer books instituted by Cranmer in the mid 1500s.  The advantage of implementing a prayer book was that it didn’t matter how bad the preacher was, people would still hear the gospel every Sunday.

The prayer book gave intelligible, memorable, Biblically-rich, personally engaging content to every single church service.  To many people today, prayer book services can seem anything but engaging.  But at the time, this was truly revolutionary.

There were two aspects of Cranmer’s prayer books that made a great impact:

  1. A gospel logic with lots of Bible content
  2. Congregational participation

1. A gospel logic –  The communion services are a great example of what I mean.  The services would begin with prayers and readings reminding the people of their need to repent of sin.  This would then lead to a general confession of sin, followed by words of assurance of salvation, drawn from the Scriptures.  This would lead into words of thanks and praise, and then to the communion itself.  The point is, through using the prayer book regularly, the people would have that logic of God’s holiness requiring people to repent, followed by God’s forgiveness, leading to the people’s thanks and praise.  You would learn these truths if you went to prayer book services frequently.

2. Congregational participation – It helped that the services were in English.  But it also helped that there were large swathes of the service that the people said with their own mouths.  It didn’t matter if they couldn’t read, because you would learn them off by heart by joining in with the congregation around you.  So throughout your daily work and family life, you would have the words of the gospel ringing in your ears because you knew the prayers and verses off by heart.

Perhaps just as significant as saying the creeds, the Lord’s Prayer, and numerous other Biblically rich prayers and readings, there were the physical actions that went along with the various sections of the service that would reinforce them.  The people said confessions on their knees, they would often stand for words of praise, and of course they would receive the elements of communion by standing up, walking to the front, reaching out their hands and consuming the bread and wine with their mouths.  People were physically acting out their response to the gospel.

There is much about this historical tradition that was a powerful testimony to the gospel in the lives of the regular gatherings of God’s people.  People came to know God through the prayer books, even if the preacher was dull or theologically suspect.

However, in the modern church, we’ve thrown out the prayer book.

There are a number of reasons why this was a good move: today’s church prefers informality, a post-Christian society needs to build bridges rather than erect barriers for the outsider, etc.

But we have lost a great deal.  And not only should we consider what we’ve lost by removing that regular, Biblically-rich, congregationally-oriented service content, we need to consider what we’ve replaced it with… singing.  Lots of singing.

So my question is simple: Is the singing in your church up to the task of replacing what we once had with the prayer book?

Yes, singing is congregational… yes, it’s memorable and personally engaging.  But is it Biblically rich, capturing the glory of God, the depravity of sin and the wonder of the gospel?  Is it Biblically balanced, not only telling God how much we love him, but also reflecting the breadth of topics in the Bible, ranging from God’s righteous wrath and judgement, his holiness, wisdom and love right through to the bountiful provisions of God to human kind, especially in giving us the revelation of his Son and of his work for us on the cross and in the resurrection?

Plumbing the depth and surveying the breadth of the Bible in our services is one of the great challenges of planning music.  It is a task often given to those in the congregation with musical skills.  But the selection of songs must also have the input of those in the congregation with deep Biblical insight.

Think of the opportunity to minister to the congregation like the prayer book would have ministered in days of old.  Regardless of the preacher or the service leader, the singing can deeply implant the things of God in our hearts and minds, giving people tunes and lyrics to sing for their whole life, and in the gathering itself to lift each other’s spirits continually by singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God.

Yes I think music can fill these shoes.  But I want to encourage both musical and pastoral leaders to rise to the challenge.  Music that is faithful to the Bible doesn’t have to be boring or complex.  After all, there’s nothing boring or complex about the gospel.

 

Why singing in church is nothing like the footy

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Often, in answer to the accusation that Aussies don’t sing, we say that they do sing at the footy.  It’s true… we often throw caution to the wind, not caring about what the people around us think, and belt out our team song.

Well some people do.  Perhaps it’s proof that there is a place in society where Aussies sing, and so therefore we shouldn’t shy away from doing it in church.  But to be honest, I never sing if I go to the footy.  I’m more likely to be annoyed at what a racket the small groups of enthusiasts around me are making than encouraged to join in without regard for what people around me think.

Perhaps this shows us a potential danger with being overenthusiastic about our singing in church too…  maybe there are those like me at the footy who are actually annoyed, and frankly disengaged, by the enthusiasm of others around them who are singing their worship songs lustily.  After all, just because in church we’re all on the same team doesn’t mean there isn’t vast variation amongst us in terms of how we express ourselves.

Well, no, I don’t think there is a danger of being over-enthusiastic in church, because church is nothing like footy.  Here is a quote from Harold Best’s “Unceasing Worship” (p57), which I was reading this morning:

Christ comes to us; Christ redeems us; Christ is in us; we are in each other; God is our sanctuary; Christ is the everlasting Temple; the body of Christ is a living temple; Christ is knit into it as chief cornerstone; each believer is a living stone and yet a temple; each believer indwells all other believers; and Christ is all in all.  It is with this full promise that we are to go to the place called church and to the necessary times of corporate gathering. We take these unshakable verities with us.  They are ours to keep, just as they keep us sheltered within the Almighty’s shadow and equipped with the full armor of God.

It’s the conclusion of a stunning chapter on the extraordinary word “in”, which so powerfully says things about the nature of relationship with God and with each other.  We dwell in Christ, as he dwells in us, as the Father dwells in the Son, and so also in us.

What God has done for us is not simply revealed characteristics about himself or descriptions of things he’s done so that we may know about him.  In fact he has done even more than enable us to know him (which would be extraordinary in itself).  He has done things that enable us to dwell IN him, and enable him to dwell IN us, and we IN each other.

We are in some unbreakable way connected with God, and therefore also connected with each other.  This is so much more than simply connection through a common interest, such as a football team.  This is connection into a new body; almost a new organism in its own right, except that it’s an invisible connection, which we know about because of his promise.  Best calls them the “unshakable verities” (truths).

Our dwelling in each other and in God means that our times together will look very different from a football match:

  1. We don’t go to church: we are the church.  It’s what it is to be Christian.  The church meets physically because of this spiritual dwelling in each other and in God.  Considering yourself part of the church if you don’t meet with other Christians is theoretically possible, but hard to demonstrate in reality.
  2. The things we do when we’re together will outwork the realities that we know from the promise.  That is, we’ll be on the one team, yes.  But more than this: we’ll actually BE ONE with each other.  This shows the tragedy of division amongst Christians, of not carrying each other through life: it’s like a deadly virus in a physical organism, threatening to do serious damage or take away life itself.
  3. When there are group activities like praising or thanking God through singing, the very thing we should expect is oneness.  This is not to say that the body isn’t made up of many parts, each of which has its own distinct characteristics and role.  But it is to say that we all act together, according to the prompting and leading of the Spirit through the word of God.

Some of this sounds quite theoretical.  But I’m basically saying that when we’re at church, we need to be super careful not to look around at others with an individualistic, critical spirit, waiting until I feel personally comfortable before I participate in any way.  When the Scripture urges us to sing and dance and clap and rejoice, it’s an exhortation to the whole body of which each of us desperately needs to be a part.  

We sing because we’re united in this ministry of praise and thanks to God.  Let’s embrace it together as a way of embracing each other.