Kristen Gilles on clapping in church:

Have you ever given thought to why we clap our hands during or after we sing a song of praise in our gathered congregation? Have you ever wondered why some congregations are eager to clap their hands while others are reluctant during worship services?

I’ve thought much about this in the last few weeks and months, leading worship at my church. A recent conversation with Sojourn New Albany Worship Director Justin Shaffer encouraged me to ponder these things even more deeply. He and I were observing how at some service times, the congregation is exuberant and often claps their hands after we finish singing our praises and prayers to the Lord. And then there are other times when there’s hardly a peep of excitement after we just finished belting out our praises and acknowledgments of God’s extreme goodness and kindness to us in Christ.

It’s hard for us leaders not to attempt to measure our worth by the responsiveness of our congregation to each song. We should not be measuring “our” success as worship leaders in this way, but it’s a temptation every worship leader must confront. May the Lord help us keep our eyes fixed upon Him and our hearts fully in awe of HIS perfect success in making our praise beautiful and acceptable.

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Dr. Tom Lawson, professor of New Testament, Old Testament and Worship at Ozark Christian College, on the new generation’s move towards liturgy in worship:

Welcomed or not, the contemporary music-centered approach to worship that has been both dominant and effective most large and mega church worship service is being challenged. This challenge, however, does not come from traditionalists who are still demanding a return to the Hammond B3 and southern gospel. This challenge, which has been slowly growing over the past decade, is coming from the same age-group that once pioneered praise bands and raising hands: Teens and young adults.

Fortunately, the shift does not seem to be as sudden or as dramatic as when the college graduates who grew up in the 1970s and 80s entered into church leadership roles in the 1990s. That era was one in which two dramatically different approaches to worship, especially the style and role of music, came into direct conflict in the so-called worship wars.

As I have noted in several earlier posts,* there is strong anecdotal evidence points to an increasing number of young adults who have grown up in evangelical churches are drawn toward worship experiences that are more intimate, less polished, and often more liturgical than the worship of their home churches.

In a recent survey taken in our required (for all students) worship class, the results seem to demonstrate the shift is already at the point those leading worship need to at least make note of it. Admittedly, a sample of 30 students is too small to provide proof. But, since the class is made up of the general student population (as opposed to only those involved in worship leading), it does provide an opportunity to take the general pulse of where (at least our) college students are in regard to approaches to corporate worship. The average age in the class is about 20.

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Pastor Joe Thorn shares ideas on planning:

CHRISTOCENTRIC:
We have no interest in offering generic worship to a generic deity who only goes by the names “You,” “Him,” and “He.” As Christians we are worshipping our “great God and Savior Jesus Christ,” and everything in our worship gathering is leading the congregation to see and respond to the good news of Jesus’ life, death, and resurrection. Taken as a whole, the worship must exalt Jesus’ person and work.

BIBLICAL:
When we say that we work hard at being “biblical” in our worship we mean more than using biblical language. We really only want to do what Scripture prescribes for us in the gathered assembly. This is typically called the “regulative principle” in worship, but there is even debate among RP adherents. For us, we simply do not include anything as an essential element of corporate worship that isn’t given to us in the word. I don’t mean to make it sound like this is a simple issue, but this is how we try to operate. For us the essential elements are the public reading and faithful preaching of Scripture, prayers, song, offering, the sacraments.

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