Comments on: they’re not dead yet

By: bradruggles

bradruggles — Tue, 12 Aug 2008 13:56:59 +0000

Interesting post. And one that has sparked some good discussion. While the music definitely matters, it is not what SOLELY constitutes “good” worship. The heart of the leader and the spirit in the congregation are also important. I think we can all give and take a little more than we do.

By: pastorsteve

pastorsteve — Wed, 06 Aug 2008 16:47:51 +0000

NO! NO! NO!
There. I feel better.
1. Worship is for God, it is not for evangelism. His worship and His glory alone are what should govern our music.
2. If we pick songs to make people happy, we just screwed up #1.
3. “Speaking to one another with Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs…” (Col 3:16)
- Psalms: Scriptures set to music
- Hymns – formulations of Christian doctrine
- Spiritual Songs – expressions of personal experience
Take any of the above three away and you impoverish worship. If all the old ladies were gone, you must not abandon hymns. And if there are no “youngsters”, contemporary Psalms and spiritual songs still have a place.

Some other post, I’ll reflect on the congregational inaccessibility of most contemporary Christian music (look around during worship – how many aren’t singing because of asymetrical lyric and music?). How I yearn for a new generation of Biblically sound songs that the whole congregation can sing! I say htis as a Christian leader in a college community.

By: dave8

dave8 — Wed, 30 Jul 2008 19:30:41 +0000

great post!

I’m getting married in a couple of weeks – we’re starting the service by singing How Great Thou Art, and finishing it with How Great Is Our God

By: thejonmorris

thejonmorris — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:22:59 +0000

oh yeah, i added you to my blogroll. i like your thoughts.

By: thejonmorris

thejonmorris — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 15:22:38 +0000

great stuff i just wrote a blog about this not to long ago….http://thejonmorris.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/worship-and-connection/ I believe successful worship is people connecting to God…it’s that simple. what does it take for your congregation to do that? that’s the question we should all ask ourselves about worship leading at our church home.

By: Daniel

Daniel — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 13:09:33 +0000

“although i’d be the first to admit that a more contemporized worship service would do wonders for church growth”

Church growth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The point is not the number of bums on seats, it’s the number of lives which are ‘being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory’. I.e. we care about making disciples who are worshippers.

Ultimately no musical style produces that. All we can do as worship leaders is serve the people by providing opportunities to respond to God that we can all join in with. Ideally this is in the way that most closely fits how we’d personally naturally respond but we should also never lose sight of the fact that worship is God-focussed and God-centred. It’s about pleasing Him, not us.

Your passion to serve the whole congregation is commendable. Too often the younger generations forget those who’ve gone before and already given years of worship and service to God. Corporate worship should always be a rich expression that reflects the diversity of the worshippers present.

Final thought: If we’re just people who only worship when we get together on Sundays then style is really important. If we’re worshippers who live a daily life of worship in Spirit and truth then style isn’t quite so important.

Biggest problem is when people who feel they’ve been robbed because the style hasn’t fit them, the songs didn’t work for them, and the right buttons haven’t been pressed. As if our worship was ever about pleasing them! Worshippers know that worship is always for God and is about pleasing Him.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Tue, 22 Jul 2008 20:03:18 +0000

Hi. I’m totally new to this blog. Found you by Google’s Blog Search. I’m a worship leader at a medium-sized SBC in Florida and I can totally relate to what you’re facing with Hymns and more contemporary songs. All you have to do is incorporate them together as a worship package. We do it all the time. What I enjoy doing even more, is rearranging older hymns to a contemporary rythm or doing something totally unexpected. For example, I’ve used the song, “blessed be the name” and combined it with a very slow version of the refrain to “Take the Name of Jesus With You.” It’s quite easy. All you have to do is find songs that work together, play with thier tempos and rythms, and you’ve made yourself a completely different worship experience.

By: Blake

Blake — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 16:42:35 +0000

You are right on track, Mandy. As a worship leader, your job is to inspire your worshipers to turn their hearts toward God. How could you possibly do that without speaking their language? And why in the world would you try to force them to worship using a language they don’t understand?

Inspire them in whatever language they speak. And teach them to come to the throne of grace TOGETHER.

Thanks for your heart.

By: Peter Park

Peter Park — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 13:31:36 +0000

The worship service should reflect the heart of God and his people. If there are people in the congregation who worship better with hymns. Awesome. If there are people in the congregation who worship better with contemporary music. Awesome. Our preferences don’t matter as much as our hearts. I know we try to remind ourselves of that quite often.

By: saintlewis

saintlewis — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 11:48:07 +0000

I personally believe the PRIMARY purpose of a church service is the training and encouragement of believers, empowering them to go out and BE Jesus to the world around them. If that is it’s purpose, we should indeed minister to those of all ages, and all stages of spiritual growth. Good post, Mandy!