What Is Leadership?

On Modern Worship Choruses

Meme Sunday

True Worship

This book just arrived in the mail. I hope to find time later today to read much of it (it's only about 100 pages long). I prefer short books; most seem unnecessarily long.

Worship is both a key component of life and one that is misunderstood by many Christians. This is clear based on how many believers think that worship is limited to worship services in worship centers. The church is in desperate need of a greater understanding of what true worship is.

Dave Black highly recommended this book on his blog. That was all I needed to inspire me to order it. If you want to read what Dave said about about, then click here and scroll down to October 11th.

Click here to order the book.

Linking: The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music

I have no interest in the ongoing evangelical "worship wars." However, the older I get the more I prefer the great hymns of the faith to modern praise and worship choruses. While the hymns generally have both beautiful tunes and theological depth, the choruses seem designed to whip the audience into some sort of warm fuzzy through repetition. This difference does not always hold true; I'm speaking in generalities. Churches ought to sing a variety of songs of differing styles, all with sound theology.

The church would do well to reconsider its current love affair with praise and worship choruses. Frankly, it may just be the latest fad. Twenty years from now most of today's popular choruses will be long forgotten.

About a year ago T. David Gordon wrote an interesting piece entitled The Imminent Decline of Contemporary Worship Music: Eight Reasons. Gordon offers some solid insights into why modern worship music is already fading. While I don't agree with some of his views on church life, I do believe this article is worth reading.

Speaking of music, a few years ago I wrote a post named (not too creatively) My Top Ten Favorite Hymns. While I do not know whether or not all the links still function correctly, the hymns I've listed remain my favorites.

You Don't Need...

You don't need a worship leader, a worship center, or a worship service to worship Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior.

Unavoidable: Mutual Edification

According to scripture, why does the church come together?

I challenge you to ask your Christian friends the above question. How do you think they will answer? My guess is that the vast majority will answer with the same response: to worship. This is fascinating and disheartening because their answer is wrong.

Why, then, does the body meet? According to the bible the purpose is mutual edification.

In I Corinthians 14:26 Paul writes,"How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification."

As the church comes together as a family, meeting simply, the goal is the edification (some translations use the term "building up") of the entire church. The end goal is the maturation in Christ of the whole group. Everyone benefits through interaction with everyone else.

The I Corinthians 14 passage as a whole deals with the issue of spiritual gifts (actually, that is the topic of chapters 12-14). In chapter 14, one of Paul's main points is that use of spiritual gifts is specifically for the purpose of the upbuilding of the body. Gifts are not for personal aggrandizement; rather, they exist to help others grow closer to Christ.

So then, why does the church gather? What's the point? It's an unavoidable truth that according to the bible the purpose is mutual edification. It's a sad thing that so few Christians know this.

Meme Sunday

Why Do So Many Christians Gather for "Worship"?

If you ask most Christians why they gather together (usually on Sundays), they will tell you that it's for worship. If you then ask them why they get together for the purpose of worship you will likely receive a blank stare. This is because most Christians have never pondered this before. It's also because the bible gives no indication that the body of Christ comes together for worship.

In the New Testament we see the church meet for a different purpose: edification. I Corinthians 14:26 says, "How is it then, brethren? Whenever you come together, each of you has a psalm, has a teaching, has a tongue, has a revelation, has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification." The point of the gathering was the building up of the members. No confusion there.

However, there is plenty of confusion today. How did we get into this mess? In order to find out we must look back at church history (in fact, we'll find many of the answers to these fifteen church-related questions by searching through church history).

Not long after the first century a clergy system began to form. Specialists emerged who did the bulk of the stuff as the church gathered. This gradually morphed into the priesthood of the Roman Catholic Church. The priests led the Mass, which became the primary gathering of the people of God.

Enter the Reformers. Men like Luther, Calvin, Zwingli, etc. rejected the Mass for the heresy that it was (and still is). They recognized that when churches came together something other than "another sacrifice of Christ" must occur. The Reformers did a good thing by jettisoning the Mass. However, they failed to follow the biblical model when they replaced it. The Reformation saw the rise of preaching as the center point of body meetings.

Fast forward to today. The Catholic Church still performs its Mass. Protestant churches focus their gatherings on music (now known to many as "worship") and preaching. Neither group gathers specifically for edification. Over the years the Protestant versions have become known as "worship services." This is fascinating because the worship is poorly defined and no actual service takes place. Regardless, because the gatherings are known as worship services, many of the people think that they gather for worship.

The biggest problem with this situation is that it leaves the church largely unedified and spiritually immature. Gatherings are supposed to build up the body. However, in worship service ceremonies very little communication occurs or is encouraged among the people present. Edification happens mainly through the carrying out of the one anothers; this cannot happen during a ceremony. Thus, the body does not grow spiritually.

Many, many Christians think they gather for worship because they know little else. It's what they have always done. It does not stem from scriptural teachings, but rather church history. The church suffers because of it.

We do well to challenge this way of thinking.

Let's tell and show our brothers and sisters in Christ that edification occurs best in simple gatherings.

Reason #21 - Professional Pastors Turn Church Family Gatherings Into "Worship" Ceremonies

It's Sunday morning right now. Many church bodies in this country will gather today. A small percentage will get together like big families. The vast majority, however, will spend much of their time in a repetitious ceremony.

I'm not sure where the term "worship service" originated (if you know please leave your answer in the comments section). A more appropriate term would be "Christianesque ceremony." Instead of churches gathering to strengthen the body through mutual edification, they meet to perform basically the same ceremony week after week. Professional pastors stand at the epicenter of this phenomenon.

Salaried pastors receive their salary in large part because they preach. Monologue style preaching does not work as part of family get-togethers. Instead, this type of pastoral performance only works in ceremonies. Thus worship services rule the day in most churches.

When we look in the bible we don't find anything that looks like modern worship services. Instead, we see the body of Christ come together informally for the mutual upbuilding of the whole. The individual parts carry out the one anothers and use their areas of gifting to strengthen the entire family. It is a beautiful picture. This is what the church needs much more of today.

Professional pastors stand in the way of mutual edification. The reason is that they have to preach in order to get paid, and preaching only fits with a ceremonial atmosphere. Therefore, salaried pastors must resign. They must resign now.


(This is part twenty-one of 25 Reasons Professional Pastors Should Resign.)

A Great Quote

I saw this on Twitter a few days ago:

"The greatest distraction to discipleship in church history is trying to pull off an amazing Sunday service."


Thanks to Seth McBee (@sdmcbee) and Kathleen Ward (@ChurchInACircle).

I Love This Hymn!

Praise to the Lord, the Almighty is one of my favorite hymns. It takes a little while to get going, but it is wonderful. My wife Alice and I like it so much that we had everyone sing it at our wedding. What a powerful piece of music this is!

How to Write a Worship Song (in 5 Minutes or Less)

Official Worship Signals

This has been around for a while, but I've posted it just in case you still need some help. Please note that Baptists should not attempt the expert level signals. We wouldn't want anyone to get hurt.

Hallelujah!

Click and enjoy.

A Visit with Christ Church Anglican

Most of our church family traveled about two hours away this past Sunday to spend time together at a lake in South Carolina. Although this sounded very nice to Alice and me, I am both exhausted by work and in chronic pain. Therefore, we decided to stay close to home and rest.

Since we had nothing scheduled, I decided to visit an Anglican church here in Savannah. The reason for my visit is that Christ Church Anglican has taken a strong stance for the gospel. A few years back they departed from the Episcopal Church in the USA. Christ Church left, quite simply, because the Episcopal denomination has drifted from the true gospel of Jesus Christ. Last year Christ Church was forced by the courts to surrender their building to the Episcopal Church. It is their stand for the gospel that made a visit worth it.

Another reason for my visit (our daughter Mary decided to come along with me) is that I had never been to an Anglican worship service. I knew going into it that it would be very "high churchish" and based in the Book of Common Prayer.  Although worship services are not my preferred manner of gathering with the church, I desired to express Christian unity by meeting together.

I knew I was in for something different when a number of folks walked down the aisle in robes to begin the service. It felt more Catholic than Baptistic. However, the themes were Protestant in content, focusing on the gospel of grace in Christ. In particular I loved the music. We were treated to singing "Praise to the Lord, the Almighty," "Amazing Grace," and "O for a Thousand Tongues to Sing." The recessional was to the tune of "Crown Him with Many Crowns." These are some of my favorites.

The teaching was excellent. The rector preached on the topic of the Kingdom of God. I appreciated his willingness to tackle a subject that many Christians know little about. I wish we had been able to dialog, but this was a worship service after all (no talking allowed out of turn). I was pleased that there was a time of prayer when anyone present could voice whatever prayers they had.

The entire service had an atmosphere of reverence, awe, solemnity, and majesty. There was clearly deep respect for who God is and what our place is before him. I respect the effort the staff put into arranging the service.

That said, I struggle with the very concept of worship services. I've written on this before so I won't go down that path here. Suffice it to say that this service was like any other in that it was led by the clergy, the laity were generally passive, it was scripted, and preaching was the biggest single component. There was little interaction between the people until the ceremony was concluded.

My biggest struggle was with the celebration of communion. Instead of being a full meal, it was the typical wafer and drink. The people lined up in a row, received the cracker from a rector, then handed it to another rector who dipped it in wine and then stuck it into their mouths. This reminded me way too much of a Catholic Mass. Worse than that, it looked nothing at all like what we see in the bible. Because of these issues, Mary and I abstained from taking part.

Despite these differences, I am very glad that we attended on Sunday. The people we talked to before and after the service were very kind. They are my brothers and sisters in Christ; therefore, I desire to be united with them. The folks of Christ Church have a love for the same Christ Jesus that I do. Spending time with them was a joy.

The worship service is something that I enjoyed, but would not want to take part in every week. It might, however, turn into something we do occasionally. The music is tremendous, the teaching solid, and the atmosphere one of awe. These are edifying aspects of their gathering.

I'm thankful for any church body that stands for the gospel of Jesus Christ. We may have significant differences in secondary doctrines, but we remain united in our head, King Jesus.

What About Musical Instruments?

A few days ago I wrote a post entitled Hymns and Simple Church: Not a Simple Fit. Scott left an interesting comment to that post, asking, "I was curious do you know of any NT passages that prescribe or describe instruments being used to accompany singing in Christian worship gatherings?"

It's a great question because it's one that most of us never think about. We automatically assume that the use of musical instruments in church gatherings is fine. I grew up going to worship services that had beautiful organ music. Questioning that never came to mind.

Let's ask the question. What about musical instruments?

When we look at NT church gatherings we see singing. The most well-known passage describing this is Ephesians 5:18-20. Paul writes, "And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart, giving thanks always and for everything to God the Father in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ."

What about instrumental accompaniment? We don't see it anywhere in the NT that I know of (please correct me if I'm wrong on this one.)

What about the Old Testament? Interestingly, we find plenty of examples of musical instruments when we look there. The book of Psalms in particular is full of references to the use of instruments. For example, the final Psalm (150) says, "Praise the Lord! Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in his mighty heavens! Praise him for his mighty deeds; praise him according to his excellent greatness! Praise him with trumpet sound; praise him with lute and harp! Praise him with tambourine and dance; praise him with strings and pipe! Praise him with sounding cymbals; praise him with loud clashing cymbals! Let everything that has breath praise the Lord! Praise the Lord!"

This is an interesting situation. We see instruments in the OT but not the NT.

Let's ask a related question. What is the purpose of the church gathering? The NT's answer is clear: body edification. In light of that, we should ask whether or not musical instruments help or hinder edification. There is no easy answer to this question. On the one hand, many Christians truly enjoy listening to instruments as part of the gathering. However, these same instruments can be loud and dominating. They also have a tendency to create passivity on the part of the people. The active gathering can slip into a passive show of sorts. When church families sing with no musical accompaniment, more people tend to actually sing. Also, more folks feel free to bring songs to sing because no one has to know how to play the music that goes along with them.

What then is a good answer to all this?

It seems that musical instruments could be used some of the time when the church sings together. However, the biblical evidence suggests that this should be the exception rather than the rule. For example, during a gathering the body might sing four songs. Maybe one of those could be accompanied by an instrument. If a musically gifted person desired to share that gift, he or she could always sing a solo along with playing. The key is that the instrument(s) not take over the gathering.

Of course, there are all types of church gatherings. Some may be much more appropriate for instrumental usage than others. In the end, we should be careful to avoid the usual default of using instruments all the time in gatherings without even asking whether or not it is beneficial.

It's a question worth asking.

What do you think?

Psalms, Hymns, and Spiritual Songs: A Great Variety

"And do not get drunk with wine, for that is debauchery, but be filled with the Spirit, addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart." Ephesians 5:18-19

"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God." Colossians 3:16


I love the fact that God provides us with a variety of songs to sing His praises. He did not command us, "You shall sing the psalms and the psalms alone!" God never said, "Those hymns have deep theology. Sing only those and no others." He also did not demand, "I like those modern, hip choruses. That's all I want to hear."

God cares for what is in the hearts of His people. That's why He's provided us with a wide-range of acceptable music. If He limited us to one narrow form, it would be very easy for us to slip into an outward, works-based form of singing. Instead, God enjoys all sorts of singing from all cultures around the world.

The bible verses above show us that God has provided us with a variety of song types. He seems to desire this variety. After all, He created it. If we could travel the globe we would see Christians singing all sorts of praises to the King. While the words we use must be orthodox in nature, the music seems to be able to take on just about any form.

It is fascinating and sad that some churches continue to fight the so-called "worship wars." These wars are based on selfish preferences as opposed to anything in scripture. God likes variety; why wouldn't we embrace this as well?

Hymns: A Gift from God to His People

What a wonderful gift from God that we can sing. God did not have to make it this way. Singing did not have to be part of His creation at all. However, God is a God of beauty. I believe He created music because it reflects His infinite splendor and majesty. It provides insignificant us with a means (among others) to voice His praises.

Hymns are by no means the only type of songs. Like you - I'm guessing - I enjoy a variety. What I enjoy best about hymns in particular is the deep theology. The wording of the best hymns is simply wonderful. Most of the hymns on my top ten list are stunning in their depth and grandeur.

Hymns connect us with church history since so many of the best ones were written over 100 years ago. I admit to having a sort of "love-hate" relationship with church history. However, my relationship with the great hymns is simply love. They stir my soul like no other form of music. They often voice what I'm feeling but cannot adequately put into words.

As for the music itself, some hymns are great, some are adequate, and others are stinkers. I suppose this is true of any type of music. It is the great ones that contain both deep theology and wonderful music. I'm saddened that so much of the church in this country is abandoning hymns. Many folks my age and younger have little to no knowledge of hymns. I'd like to see all churches embrace both high quality hymns and high quality modern choruses. My opinion is that churches miss out when their music is lop-sided in any one direction (including those that sing only hymns).

When we look in scripture, we see singing throughout. God has implanted in His people a desire to praise Him in song. He has provided us with gifted song writers to help with this. Amazingly, God enjoys listening to His church sing. His gift brings joy to us and praise to Him. I thank Him for it.

My Top Ten Favorite Hymns

Yesterday I briefly posted about one of my favorite hymns. That got me thinking about other hymns that I love. After a moderate amount of time and effort, I've come up with a top ten list of my favorites. Each is in link form to a youtube video of it being sung.

Here's the list, from tenth to first:


10. Amazing Grace

9. Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing

8. Crown Him With Many Crowns

7. When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

6. It is Well With My Soul

5. For All the Saints

4. There is a Fountain

3. A Mighty Fortress is Our God

2. Praise to the Lord, the Almighty

1. And Can it Be?


I suppose it is appropriate in some way that my favorite hymn, And Can it Be?, was written by Charles Wesley. I was raised in the Wesleyan denomination and frequently attended church services in a college chapel named after John and Charles Wesley. Even through I now reject the Arminian bent of Wesleyan theology, I am thankful for the Wesleys' work for the Kingdom.

What do you think? What are your favorite hymns?