What Do We Know
About
Contemporary Worship
And Other
Changes That
The highest obligation of mankind is
to worship and serve his Creator. It is therefore essential that we understand
what God says constitutes worship and what attitudes are involved in true
worship. In Revelation 14:7 we read, "Fear God, and give glory to him; for
the hour of his judgment is come: and worship him that made heaven, and earth,
and the sea, and the fountains of waters." We must worship God only and
our worship must follow His prescribed pattern. What is worship? Worship is the
glorification of God out of an attitude of submission to His authority and awe
at His grandeur. The term "worship" is found more than 100 times in
our King James Bible. Let us observe that not everything that we do in life is
worship and also let us learn that our worship must be that which pleases God. The
first use of the word worship is in Genesis 22:5. God had told Abraham to
sacrifice his son Isaac. "Abraham said unto his young men, Abide ye here
with the ass; and I and the lad will go yonder and worship, and come again to
you." (Genesis 22:5) The preparation was not worship. The going to the
correct place was not worship. What he did while he was there was worship. What
he did there was acceptable worship because he did exactly what God had
prescribed. Worship and service are two different things. "Thou shalt
worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve." (Matthew 4:10)
New Testament worship must be
spiritual worship and it must be according to truth. New Testament worship is
simple and spiritual. The main goal of our life should be to worship and serve
God acceptably. "Wherefore we receiving a kingdom which cannot be moved,
let us have grace, whereby we may serve God acceptably with reverence and godly
fear: For our God is a consuming fire." (Hebrews 12:28) True worship
involves both actions and words. "And the four beasts had each of them six
wings about him; and they were full of eyes within: and they rest not day and
night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty, which was, and is, and is
to come. And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks to him that sat
on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever, The four and twenty elders fall
down before him that sat on the throne, and worship him that liveth for ever
and ever, and cast their crowns before the throne, saying, Thou art worthy, O
Lord, to receive glory and honour and power: for thou hast created all things,
and for thy pleasure they are and were created." (Revelation 4:8-11) The
elders fell down and cast their crowns before Jehovah. They also worshipped
"saying." Worship is the conscious glorification of God. True worship
flows from an attitude of submission to God's authority. Worship looks at God
in awe because of His majesty.
Now in our day we are hearing
much about "contemporary worship." In an article titled
"Upgrading a
"Under the guidance of our
present worship minister, things have gotten pretty
good. I know this is true because – * No is complaining much about the worship,
* The numbers are up, and * Some people wish the service was longer!
Anyway, since we’re on the subject
of worship, and since I really think churches can do a lot better with their acappella
singing, I thought I’d address the topic of how to make things better– without
buying a guitar.
Get a great worship leader.
This is, of course, easier said than done. And I don’t have any solutions. Nor
am I aware that any of our colleges are seriously training worship leaders
(although they may be). If you don’t have one, train one. Send him to one of the
Zoe conferences held around the country each year, for starters. If you know
someone who is an excellent worship leader, ask if he’ll spend some time
coaching your leader. And, if you can, offer to pay for his time. “The worker
is worthy of his hire.” You see, excellent leadership is the most important key
to excellent acappella singing.
Singing during the Lord’s Supper
is an excellent move. We should do more of it. I know some people oppose
this, but it’s just not a Biblical issue. My church sings sometimes, and we
don’t other times — it’s a Romans 14 kind of thing, you know. And variety is
nice. And those who think it’s wrong are welcome to sit silently. They don’t
have to sing.
Nothing in the Bible requires that
communion time be meditation time. Nothing in the Gospels suggests that the apostles
meditated quietly while they ate and drank at the first communion meal...
Stamps Baxter has to go! I
grew up on this music. I actually enjoy it. Now, it doesn’t move me and help me
feel God’s presence, but I enjoy it. For me, it’s nostalgic. But no one who
grew up outside the Churches of Christ likes it. In fact, many young people
consider it so bad as to be hilarious. I’ve seen visiting college students
struggle to avoid laughing out loud! It might be a good idea to have the
occasional nostalgia Sunday (once a year, maybe). For the sake of the older
members, we could have a true country singing, with an outdoor, covered dish
dinner with homemade ice cream (nothing store-bought allowed)... A lot of kids
have never experienced anything like this. This would be enjoyed by those who
love the Stamps Baxter songs without messing with the other services. But,
please, PLEASE don’t sing these any other time...
Praise teams. I used to think
this idea was silly — sort of a worship minister
affectation. Just a bit of fashion among the ministerial class that would go away if I ignored it. I was
wrong. Nothing improves a congregation’s singing more than an excellent praise
team. Now, some get bent out of shape thinking there’s sin of some sort in
this. But it really should satisfy even the most conservative interpretation of
the scriptures. I mean, a female alto
is leading the female altos. I think it’s really okay.
And the old argument about this
being entertainment is just so wrong.
My church is quite conservative. We
have our team sit at the front of the auditorium, give them microphones, and they
just sing — like everyone else, but better...I also think you need at least 8
members. I can’t explain it. We’ve tried it both ways, and 8 is better...
Clap. I know this bothers
some people. I personally prefer not to clap. But it’s wrong to deny people the
joy of expressing themselves this way. And modern worshipers are just used to
having a rhythm section on upbeat tunes. And the song leader needs to lead the
clapping. Lots us have no rhythm. By the way, in the recent debate over
instrumental music at
Break with tradition. It’s a
struggle for an a cappella church to appeal to modern listeners. Many of our
children have never heard a cappella singing except at church. Therefore, to
sound halfway decent to their ears, we need to get out of our rut and be a little
artistic. Put an excellent soprano or tenor on the praise team to improvise a
countermelody or descant over the lead. Some hymns have these written. If so,
have someone sing them and mic up the singer. It’s not a solo. It’s really
okay.
Sometimes, have the praise team sing
while the congregation listens. This is called
a “meditation.” If the preacher or some college kid can talk before communion
while everyone else listens, why can’t we sing the meditation while everyone
else listens? This technique will also allow you to introduce some beautiful
music that’s too difficult for congregational singing. And let’s have some
solos and duets — if you have the voices. There is absolutely nothing
unscriptural about these forms
so long as you don’t eliminate congregational singing. We need to stop being
scared of our shadows and have the courage to enjoy the freedom Jesus died for
us to have. (Gal. 5:1a) It is for freedom that Christ has set us free. Be
creative! Let the solo illustrate the sermon right in the middle of it. Sing a
duet before or during communion.
If God has given your people the
gifts, use them. That’s why he gave them to you.
All of these changes promoted by Jay
Guin and those that share his thinking are a move in the wrong direction. They
take us away from God instead of strengthening our walk with Him. What we need
is to get back to Bible study, back to the God of the Bible, back to the Bible
Savior, back to Bible salvation, back to the Bible church, back to Bible worship
and back to Bible faithfulness. Getting "back" to these things is
what will get us "up" to heaven.
What has brought us to where
we are today? Much of what has brought us to the point where we find
ourselves today is a disrespect for God, a disrespect for things that are holy
and reverend, a disrespect for God's word, a desire to be entertained and a
desire to please self instead of God. Our day is a day of disrespect for both
reverence and headship. "But I would have you know, that the head of every
man is Christ; and the head of the woman is the man; and the head of Christ is
God." (1 Corinthians 11:3) The changing role of women in society has found
its way into the church. Many of our own brethren are now arguing that the
church would be better off if women were allowed to teach any class, preach,
lead singing, serve as elders or deacons, serve communion and do any other
service in the church. This line of reasoning is very foreign to the true teachings
of the Bible.
Many of the changes have come because
good young men have gone to denomination schools for higher education and have
been trained at the feet of men that have little or no respect for the Bible.
They come from those schools with Doctorate Degrees, but also with minds filled
with denominational practices. Many of our own "Christian colleges"
have given way to practices and teaching that have opened the doors to many of
the things happening in the church today. On our Christian campuses (1) A women
taught Greek to preacher students, (2) Many women are Deans or Heads of
departments with both men and women in submission to them, (3) Women teach
Religious Education courses with both men and women students, (4) Women speak
at chapel at Christian schools, and (5) Women serve on various boards at
Christian colleges and other organizations. In churches of Christ women now,
(1) Women teach classes with both men and women present, (2) Women speak on
conferences with mixed audiences, (3) A few churches even have women preachers,
(4) Women are serving as deacons, receiving the offering, reading scriptures,
leading prayers, leading singing, serving communion and serving as church
treasurer. Some congregations use entire family units to wait on the table and
serve communion.
Looking in the wrong place for
a cure. The church as a whole has not grown over the last few years. In
fact it has shrunk in the
Chris Kirby said: First- So much of
our "growth" in the 20th century was through the
"conversion" of Baptist, Methodist, etc... Now, we are reaping what we sowed. Is it surprising that a
movement which convinced others that things like acappella singing, not letting
women participate in worship, and having the Lord Supper in the exact same fashion
every week were a core part of salvation would be struggling now? Think about
it. We've had several generations of growth built on the little things, not
necessarily teaching the power of Jesus. So, now that the world is changing
around us, our churches aren't dynamic, creative, or focused on the power of
Christ to be relevant. Think about some of the things that we've argued about
and even split churches over:
-Small Groups vs "Sunday Night
Worship".
-Clapping in church
-Is it OK to listen the Christian
music
-Powerpoint versus hymnals
-"camp fire" songs in
Sunday worship
-Eating in the church building
-the list could go on and on.
Do you really think the hurting
people around us give a rip about any of these insignificant issues. Plus, why
would "church" remain important to our
young people if this is what they think it's all about. WE MUST WAKE UP!! God
can not be happy with the name we're giving to his body...I think that more of
our churches need to look like the Richland Hill's of the world. Not because
they have instrumental music, but because they are involving themselves in the
community around them, loving folks, and bringing people to Christ.
Does that New Testament contain a
divine pattern for worshipping God? The New Testament shows that Our God desires to be
worshiped through five avenues of worship today. The New Testament commands
each Christian to praise God in song. (Colossians 3:16) Every example of music
employed by the New Testament church is vocal music. Jesus instituted the
Lord's Supper or communion to be observed every Sunday. (Matthew 26:17-30, Acts 20:7) God desires
that we give cheerfully and proportionately every Sunday. (1 Corinthians
16:1-2) Praying to God will always be a part of New Testament worship. (1 John
5:14-15) Preaching is likewise a part of our worship. (Acts 20:7) Contemporary
churches long for a worship that is no where found in Scripture.
Just a word about deaconesses: Some say because Phebe was a servant of the
church that means that she was a deaconess in the church and therefore women
should be deacons today. (Romans 16:1-2) Some even say that 1 Timothy
Those
that serve God are blessed. It should be our desire to honor God by following
His teaching. Is it your desire to honor God? If so it is time to become a
Christian now! To become a Christian you must hear the gospel (Romans
By Charles Box,