Alexander Green

What Does Biblically-Directed and Informed Public Worship Look Like?

Ligon Duncan encourages greater use of Scripture in our worship:

The congregation that aims to be biblically directed and informed in its approach to public worship will gather weekly on the Lord’s Day for Bible reading, Bible preaching, Bible praying, Bible singing and biblical observance of the sacraments. These things will be at the core of what they do in public worship. This means the following for biblically-directed congregational services of worship.

They will sing the Bible in public worship (Psalm 98:1, Revelation 5:9, Matthew 26:30, Nehemiah 12:27, 46; Acts 16:25; Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16). This doesn’t mean that we can only sing Psalms or only sing the language of scripture, though this tremendous doxological resource of the church should not be overlooked. What we mean by “sing the Bible” is that our singing ought to be biblical, shot through with the language, categories and theology of the Bible. It ought to reflect the themes and proportion of the Bible, as well as its substance and weightiness. Terry Johnson, again, provides this counsel: “Our songs should be rich with Biblical and theological content. The current divisions over music are at the heart of our worship wars. Yet some principles should be easy enough to identify. First, what does a Christian worship song look like? Answer, it looks like a Psalm. The Psalms provide the model for Christian hymnody. If the songs we sing in worship look like Psalms, they will develop themes over many lines with minimal repetition. They will be rich in theological and experiential content. They will tell us much about God, man, sin, salvation, and the Christian life. They will express the whole range of human experience and emotion. Second, what does a Christian worship song sound like? Many are quick to point out that God has not given us a book of tunes. No, but He has given us a book of lyrics (the Psalms) and their form will do much to determine the kinds of tunes that will be used. Put simply, the tunes will be suited to the words. They will be sophisticated enough to carry substantial content over several lines and stanzas. They will use minimal repetition. They will be appropriate to the emotional mood of the Psalm or Bible-based Christian hymn. Sing the Bible.”

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Four Growing Types of Church Revitalizations

Thom Rainer sees four major categories:

Organic revitalization. This terminology refers to a church turnaround with existing resources and persons. The current pastor and key laypersons and/or staff are part of the revitalization. The church remains in its current location. This category of revitalization is likely the greatest need. It is certainly my greatest passion.

Relocational revitalization. The church moves from one part of the community to another, or it moves to an entirely different community. Typically the new demographics are more conducive to growth, and the new facilities are better suited for a turnaround.

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The Beauty of Corporate Worship

Russ Hutto: God truly loves the praises of His people.

When we gather together to sing our songs of praise and worship to the Lord it is a wonderfully beautiful thing. God truly loves the praises of His people. The type of praise in this scripture is the HALAL (Hallel) which is a transliteration of a Hebrew word which means to shine; to boast; to celebrate in a clamorously foolish manner. It’s the type of praise that David exhibited when the ark was returned to Jerusalem. He celebrated with dance and it was even described as undignified.

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What Are Your Worship Team Standards?

I was in shock the moment I saw it.

There in the spotlight – a pack of cigarettes – protruding from the front pocket of our scheduled drummer.

I wasn’t leading worship, but I stood at the back and saw this happening right before my eyes.

This guy was new, for sure. He was a little rough around the edges with his personality. He had an older style. But we could deal with that because we were in need of drummers.

I wasn’t sure what to do. I pictured myself in the hot seat with my supervisor getting reprimanded for allowing this guy to play, let alone exposing his smoking habit for the whole church to see.

It’s not that I think smokers are demonic, evil people. It’s just the fact that there was a visible pack of cigarettes during worship. Awkward.

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When Worship Wasn’t Cool

I think of the days when hymn books lined the pews in our churches and were used in worship services every week. As a traditional ’80s minister of music, I would stand at the pulpit and say, “Please take your hymn books and turn to page number (fill in the blank) and sing verses one, two and five.” Remember?

I have always been a fan of guitar music, especially classic rock. I’d played my acoustic guitar in worship once in a while back in the day, but in church I was mostly accompanied by organ and piano. I dreamed of the day when my kind of music—rock and roll— would be accepted in the churches I served.

Since the days of Promise Keepers, and through the great worship experiences offered during those events, pastors began to desire “more of that” in their own churches, and slowly opened the flood gates for full bands to take their church stages. I saw this development before my own eyes.

In the days preceding all of this, worship wasn’t cool. I mean, for most churches, worship looked for the longest time like it had for two hundred years. This wasn’t a bad thing, since classical music had dominated church and sacred music literature, and people were reading music and passing on the wonderful, Bible-rich songs that were pervasive up to that point. Music literacy is a good thing and I hope over time we don’t lose it.

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3 Dangerous Assumptions for Worship Leaders

Worship leaders, in general, are artists. Artists, in general, tend to be emotionally invested in their own situation. Emotional investment, in general, results in assumptions which have varying degrees of truthiness.

And we all know what happens when we assume.

I’ve been leading worship for almost 20 years and I certainly fall into the category of emotionally invested artist. Time and time again I’m reminded that there are assumptions I make, there are assumptions I used to make and there will be assumptions I will make in the future which are wrong, unhealthy and potentially dangerous.

Not dangerous in the sense of “look both ways before you cross the street” or “don’t stick that fork in the electrical outlet” but dangerous in the sense that our hearts can become callous, our passion can fade and our sense of entitlement can grow over time. Dangerous, especially for those of us called to lead God’s people in worship.

So let me outline three of these dangerous assumptions that I have seen worship leaders (including myself) make and give some solutions which will be helpful for you.

Assuming the Crowd is Ready to Worship

This, for me, is the easiest trap to fall into. I’ve led worship with this assumption far too many times than I’m willing to admit but I’ve also been on the other side where I’m part of the congregation where the worship leader simply assumed from the very beginning of the service that I and the rest of the crowd were ready to worship.

Sure, I’ve shown up to church. I’m in my seat. I saw the countdown video. I heard your opening line.

That doesn’t mean I’m ready to worship.

My mind is running. My day has been rushed. My wife and I had an airing of grievances last night. My boss is a jerk. My kids have three birthday parties this afternoon. My doctor called on Friday.

Don’t assume I’m ready to worship.

Tweet this: Worship leaders – how do you avoid the assumption that people are ready to worship?
We sing songs of sacrifice and surrender, songs that celebrate God’s work throughout history, songs that tell the sweet story of the life of Jesus but they’re just words, just songs, just sounds filling the room if they’re not being poured at as a response to the greatest sacrifice, the greatest surrender, the greatest work, the greatest life.

Point me to that story, just like you did last Sunday. Just like you’ve done every Sunday for the last year after year. Keep inviting me back in and calling me to worship.

Worship leaders, we need to invite people, remind them, call them to worship. Tell me again how great God is. Open the Bible and read some of the majestic, beautiful, powerful poetry that speaks of the majesty, beauty and power of my God. Take me away from my distractions and point me to Jesus. Call me to worship.

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