I'm firing off some thoughts quickly here before I go to bed because I'll have lost my train of thought by morning.
For some quick background, I've spent the last couple of years feeling reasonably despondent toward church. It's not that I've felt distant from God or fallen out with anyone in my church family...it's just been a feeling of vague disconnection from church life. I tried going around other churches for a while (a year in fact) and ended up back at my home church having not really found what I was looking for. That all led up to tonight where I met up with a couple of guys who I've had a prayer cell with for years. And I left feeling more encouraged, passionate and enthusiastic about my spiritual life than I have in a long time.
And all that happened was we talked.
We were having a chat about things we would like prayer for, and I explained that I felt this disconnection, and for the next hour we talked about it.
I know this sounds very simple, but I think a lot of people don't have access to open discussion about where they're at.
A few years ago I did a bit of a 180 regarding my views on homosexuality. I was brought up in a church environment and was taught that it was sinful. The Bible backed it up and I never questioned it. But like many Christians, I reached a point where I had to assess why I really believed it, and without going into the details, I ended up on the other side of the fence. When that happens, you are in a strange place in church life. There are a lot of people you feel you shouldn't mention that to. And over the last couple of years the more things I've started to question, the more I found myself struggling with the inability to say certain things and express certain views in church. Not to say that nobody within the church is willing to have a discussion, but I sometimes feel like churches are akin to country clubs. If you're the right type of person who acts the right way, you're welcome into the club. But if you don't fit in perfectly you'll find it difficult to be a part of the group.
This can be pretty devastating to people's faith. If someone's not free to work out what they believe and why, then they don't really believe anything. If people believe what they believe purely because that's what it takes to be part of church, then they don't have a faith. And that's why whenever I was able to have a totally honest and open conversation about what's been on my mind spiritually it was such a relief.
Churches should be the place where people are able to open up and be honest. We should be fostering an environment where people are able to build a concrete relationship with God that they are confident in. And if you feel defensive whenever someone expresses a different opinion or asks a question you feel is dangerous, then I'd implore you to ask whether your reaction is going to help or hurt. Experience new things. Listen to the opposition to your views. I've known a fair few people who have chosen to drift away from their faith rather than talk to someone about it, and if we were a church that allowed people to ask questions and share their opinions I don't think that would be the case...
Tuesday, 17 April 2018
Thursday, 16 January 2014
Keeping a church happy?
Haven't written on here in over a year, but I feel like tossing some thought out and trying to put them in a somewhat coherent order.
In my home church I lead the praise in the morning and evening service once a month, and I also take part in a team of people (the heroically named Worship Action Team) who are in a sense responsible for the ongoing worship life of the church. We organize the praise times, manage the different areas of worship in various aspects of the church etc. And if truth be told, it's incredibly easy to become complacent and forget what that responsibility really means. The members of that team have stood up and said that we each believe God is calling us to take on a role in ensuring that the members of the congregation can comfortably meet with and experience the presence of God when they enter into a communal time of worship in our church. Not something to be taken lightly!
Now I see no reason to not throw this out there right at the beginning: I frequently find myself unsatisfied with many aspects of our worship services.
There.
I said it.
I'm often told I'm much too cynical but the truth is I know many other people who are finding themselves in the same boat. And I should make it clear, I am fully aware that this isn't the forum for rambling on about how I or anyone else thinks a church should be run, and that is not what I'm looking to do here. But at the same time, why not get some thoughts out there before we become the sort of people who spend Sunday afternoon bitching about Sunday morning? The kind of people who use the order of service just to figure out in advance what they're not going to enjoy over the next hour?
You see, our church is blessed with a large congregation the range of which is enormous. We are not a young church with a few old folks, nor vica versa. Nor are we particular traditional or modern, and it is a wonderful thing in many ways. I believe that young and old can learn a massive amount from each other, and to see people of such different backgrounds and characters within the one family is an incredible thing. And yet, among the blessings, tensions exist.
Every year a group of our young people head out to Summer Madness and outreach teams and other such events, and experience worship much more suited to them, and while it inspires and encourages and challenges them in amazing ways (I am convinced this is why we have so many leaders in organizations who are in their late teens and early twenties), it hits them like a ton of bricks to come back to a typical church service. And likewise, we have people who have been coming to Orangefield and offering up their time and their services for years and years, and perhaps resent the idea that the worship which they have enjoyed should be altered or changed to something they don't relate so easily with. Piled onto this we have people who have come from other churches, and they have joined us because they find us to be a welcoming and friendly place (I have genuinely never been to a church that does the 'family' thing quite like Orangefield) and yet they struggle with how we do worship because they have come from something very different. And this isn't speculation, I know people who have said they're in this situation!
And so we have the current situation, whereby we try and throw a little bit in for everyone. We make sure we have at least one hymn per service, we tend to open up with a more modern upbeat number, we make sure we do a new song every now and then, we have a youth service every once in a while, we have a couple of services that we routinely keep very traditional, and we make sure that we stick to the same service layout each week so that all of these things are kept in check.
But my issue is this: By trying to keep everyone happy, we keep no-one happy.
People don't leave thinking of the little bit of the service that was for them, they leave thinking about the 90% that wasn't. Now, I used to be very much of the opinion that this was down to the attitude of the individual, that the style of worship or the layout of the church service shouldn't really matter if we are there to meet with God. Should our ability to meet with God really rely on what's going on at the front of the church? Surely our relationship with God should be beyond the mechanics of a service? And I still think there's truth in that (slightly hippy-ish) argument. But over the last while I've come to thing that perhaps that is ignoring the responsibility of someone who says they want to lead worship. If what's going on at the front doesn't matter then why would anyone be called to lead? Moreover, if it is completely down to the attitude of the individual then why would we meet as a church?
Nowadays I find myself looking at it a different way, which was greatly inspired by a young chap the past summer. At the end of our outreach week we had an evening of worship and the opportunity was given for anyone to come up to the mic and share a little encouragement or thankfulness or anything they felt God putting on their heart, and Phil Douglas came up and acknowledged that we were all bowled over by what God had done in the past week, but then pointed out that we shouldn't be surprised when God responds to His people doing His work. We should always look to Him, and we should always be expectant that when we do He will get involved. I'm paraphrasing and he put it much better, but it's an incredibly important thought, and one that I think is of paramount importance to the worship-life of a church. I fear that we have become too heavily focused on what the various different opinions and personal preferences in the congregation think we should be doing as a church, rather than what God is calling us to do.
Let me give an example. Each of our four worship team leaders have experimented in services over the years with things a little out of the church's comfort zone; things like open times of prayer, or getting people to pray with the people around them. But because there is always that initial air of awkwardness or because some people let it be known afterwards that they don't like such things, it happens very rarely. Now, if all four of the people who lead our worship have felt called to try things like this out, it would seem to me pretty clear that God is telling us there is a place for this in our communal worship. So it seems crazy, and if I'm honest a little infuriating, that we wouldn't push for it.
Again, let me make it clear, this is all just thoughts being poured out and nothing more. So I guess what I'm trying to say is it makes far more sense to me to become a church that can be united by its worship, as opposed to one whose attitude of worship takes on different personalities at different times and welcomes people in one moment before alienating them the next. And here's the really uncomfortable bit...to do this, people will probably leave. AND THAT'S OK. To go back to the earlier example, if the church decided that they were going to be a church that prayed together and in front of others during their services, I have no doubt that some people would decide they weren't comfortable with that and would find another church more suited to their personal tastes. This is a good thing! We are all one church, one body, it shouldn't be a terrible tragedy if someone goes to a church that allows them to worship comfortably! We seem to be worried that if we don't cater to everyone's needs then someone might leave, but as far as I'm concerned one of the few benefits of having a church with so many denominations and styles is that regardless of how you want to worship God or involve yourself you are certain to find somewhere that fits you! And if our church was to decide that they want to return to a strict traditional style of worship then I like to think that while I would almost certainly go elsewhere, that I would still feel they had made a massive step forward and there would be no ill feeling whatsoever.
This is a bit of a mess, I know, and I should probably say, I'm not trying to speak on behalf of anyone, but a lot of these thoughts have been influenced by conversations with fellow Christians. Hopefully it resonates with some people or at least gets some thoughts stirring.
I'll leave you with this:
In my home church I lead the praise in the morning and evening service once a month, and I also take part in a team of people (the heroically named Worship Action Team) who are in a sense responsible for the ongoing worship life of the church. We organize the praise times, manage the different areas of worship in various aspects of the church etc. And if truth be told, it's incredibly easy to become complacent and forget what that responsibility really means. The members of that team have stood up and said that we each believe God is calling us to take on a role in ensuring that the members of the congregation can comfortably meet with and experience the presence of God when they enter into a communal time of worship in our church. Not something to be taken lightly!
Now I see no reason to not throw this out there right at the beginning: I frequently find myself unsatisfied with many aspects of our worship services.
There.
I said it.
I'm often told I'm much too cynical but the truth is I know many other people who are finding themselves in the same boat. And I should make it clear, I am fully aware that this isn't the forum for rambling on about how I or anyone else thinks a church should be run, and that is not what I'm looking to do here. But at the same time, why not get some thoughts out there before we become the sort of people who spend Sunday afternoon bitching about Sunday morning? The kind of people who use the order of service just to figure out in advance what they're not going to enjoy over the next hour?
You see, our church is blessed with a large congregation the range of which is enormous. We are not a young church with a few old folks, nor vica versa. Nor are we particular traditional or modern, and it is a wonderful thing in many ways. I believe that young and old can learn a massive amount from each other, and to see people of such different backgrounds and characters within the one family is an incredible thing. And yet, among the blessings, tensions exist.
Every year a group of our young people head out to Summer Madness and outreach teams and other such events, and experience worship much more suited to them, and while it inspires and encourages and challenges them in amazing ways (I am convinced this is why we have so many leaders in organizations who are in their late teens and early twenties), it hits them like a ton of bricks to come back to a typical church service. And likewise, we have people who have been coming to Orangefield and offering up their time and their services for years and years, and perhaps resent the idea that the worship which they have enjoyed should be altered or changed to something they don't relate so easily with. Piled onto this we have people who have come from other churches, and they have joined us because they find us to be a welcoming and friendly place (I have genuinely never been to a church that does the 'family' thing quite like Orangefield) and yet they struggle with how we do worship because they have come from something very different. And this isn't speculation, I know people who have said they're in this situation!
And so we have the current situation, whereby we try and throw a little bit in for everyone. We make sure we have at least one hymn per service, we tend to open up with a more modern upbeat number, we make sure we do a new song every now and then, we have a youth service every once in a while, we have a couple of services that we routinely keep very traditional, and we make sure that we stick to the same service layout each week so that all of these things are kept in check.
But my issue is this: By trying to keep everyone happy, we keep no-one happy.
People don't leave thinking of the little bit of the service that was for them, they leave thinking about the 90% that wasn't. Now, I used to be very much of the opinion that this was down to the attitude of the individual, that the style of worship or the layout of the church service shouldn't really matter if we are there to meet with God. Should our ability to meet with God really rely on what's going on at the front of the church? Surely our relationship with God should be beyond the mechanics of a service? And I still think there's truth in that (slightly hippy-ish) argument. But over the last while I've come to thing that perhaps that is ignoring the responsibility of someone who says they want to lead worship. If what's going on at the front doesn't matter then why would anyone be called to lead? Moreover, if it is completely down to the attitude of the individual then why would we meet as a church?
Nowadays I find myself looking at it a different way, which was greatly inspired by a young chap the past summer. At the end of our outreach week we had an evening of worship and the opportunity was given for anyone to come up to the mic and share a little encouragement or thankfulness or anything they felt God putting on their heart, and Phil Douglas came up and acknowledged that we were all bowled over by what God had done in the past week, but then pointed out that we shouldn't be surprised when God responds to His people doing His work. We should always look to Him, and we should always be expectant that when we do He will get involved. I'm paraphrasing and he put it much better, but it's an incredibly important thought, and one that I think is of paramount importance to the worship-life of a church. I fear that we have become too heavily focused on what the various different opinions and personal preferences in the congregation think we should be doing as a church, rather than what God is calling us to do.
Let me give an example. Each of our four worship team leaders have experimented in services over the years with things a little out of the church's comfort zone; things like open times of prayer, or getting people to pray with the people around them. But because there is always that initial air of awkwardness or because some people let it be known afterwards that they don't like such things, it happens very rarely. Now, if all four of the people who lead our worship have felt called to try things like this out, it would seem to me pretty clear that God is telling us there is a place for this in our communal worship. So it seems crazy, and if I'm honest a little infuriating, that we wouldn't push for it.
Again, let me make it clear, this is all just thoughts being poured out and nothing more. So I guess what I'm trying to say is it makes far more sense to me to become a church that can be united by its worship, as opposed to one whose attitude of worship takes on different personalities at different times and welcomes people in one moment before alienating them the next. And here's the really uncomfortable bit...to do this, people will probably leave. AND THAT'S OK. To go back to the earlier example, if the church decided that they were going to be a church that prayed together and in front of others during their services, I have no doubt that some people would decide they weren't comfortable with that and would find another church more suited to their personal tastes. This is a good thing! We are all one church, one body, it shouldn't be a terrible tragedy if someone goes to a church that allows them to worship comfortably! We seem to be worried that if we don't cater to everyone's needs then someone might leave, but as far as I'm concerned one of the few benefits of having a church with so many denominations and styles is that regardless of how you want to worship God or involve yourself you are certain to find somewhere that fits you! And if our church was to decide that they want to return to a strict traditional style of worship then I like to think that while I would almost certainly go elsewhere, that I would still feel they had made a massive step forward and there would be no ill feeling whatsoever.
This is a bit of a mess, I know, and I should probably say, I'm not trying to speak on behalf of anyone, but a lot of these thoughts have been influenced by conversations with fellow Christians. Hopefully it resonates with some people or at least gets some thoughts stirring.
I'll leave you with this:
"Day by day continuing with one mind in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they were taking their meals together with gladness and sincerity of heart, praising God and having favour with all the people. And the Lord was adding to their number day by day those who were being saved."
Acts 2:46-47
Monday, 8 October 2012
What God are we worshipping?
I mentioned some of this thinking on Sunday morning in church, but I've been pondering it a little more so figured I'd finally getting round to putting something new up here.
I've been re-reading Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis' lately and there is a point in it where he says:
I've been re-reading Rob Bell's 'Velvet Elvis' lately and there is a point in it where he says:
If there is a divine being who made everything, including us, what would our experiences
with this being look like? The moment God is figured out with nice neat lines and definitions,
we are no longer dealing with God. We are dealing with somebody we made up.
And if we made him up, then we are in control. And so in passage after passage,
we find God reminding people that he is beyond and bigger and more.
Between Bible College and church services (which take up a fair portion of my time) I have quite a few people telling me about God; His character, His will and what He wants, and of course this is beneficial. But I wonder at what point do we become complacent by assuming we know all about God?
A while ago, I was part of a discussion with a few people about a very touchy subject, that of whether babies who die automatically go to heaven. As you would expect it was quite emotionally charged, and at one point a girl adamantly insisted: "Well the God I know would not send a baby to Hell." I like to think that through our prayer lives, through our worship, and through our study of the scriptures that we gain an understanding of God. The fact that He is a relational God implies that He wants us to know Him intimately and vica versa. But can we really base a conclusion which (as far as I'm aware) has no scriptural basis entirely on who we think God is? To me that seems dangerously close to moulding God that He might fit our needs and beliefs.
Try thinking about this...
God is a perfect being. He cannot be near sin, or even look upon it Habakkuk 1:13a. We, on the other hand, are gold medallists in screwing up. We defy the commands of God every day in a thousand different ways, and it is only by the power of Christ's sacrifice that we have any hope of being in unity with Him.
Now, given those two statements, ask this: When was the last time you felt challenged in church? It stands to reason that when we come before God, we are doing so having fallen far short of what He requires. We should be coming to Him, hat-in-hand, needing forgiveness and the strength to change our lives, the passion to become more like the example Christ sets in the gospels. And yet (and I don't think I'm the only one) I go to church ever week, sing the nice songs (all of which seem to revolve around forgiveness, unconditional love and the happy God...not the angst, desperation or the suffering that populates so many of the Psalms) and leave with the warm, fuzzy feeling of having been in God's presence. Surely if I was truly coming into the presence of God, I would be ashamed! I would struggle to stand His holiness in light of my own misgivings. I would leave church with the thirst to do better, not leave every week with 'it's all going to be okay' tattooed on my heart.
If I am honest, I am guilty of dumbing God down and ensuring that He fits comfortably around my own failings, rather than washing over them. I have made up a version of God who drives me, but not too hard. Who loves me, but not so much that He changes me. And this keeps me happy. But the thing I want to remind myself of is the belief that there is far more joy to be had when in total communion with God than when blissfully ignorant of His call.
A while ago, I was part of a discussion with a few people about a very touchy subject, that of whether babies who die automatically go to heaven. As you would expect it was quite emotionally charged, and at one point a girl adamantly insisted: "Well the God I know would not send a baby to Hell." I like to think that through our prayer lives, through our worship, and through our study of the scriptures that we gain an understanding of God. The fact that He is a relational God implies that He wants us to know Him intimately and vica versa. But can we really base a conclusion which (as far as I'm aware) has no scriptural basis entirely on who we think God is? To me that seems dangerously close to moulding God that He might fit our needs and beliefs.
Try thinking about this...
God is a perfect being. He cannot be near sin, or even look upon it Habakkuk 1:13a. We, on the other hand, are gold medallists in screwing up. We defy the commands of God every day in a thousand different ways, and it is only by the power of Christ's sacrifice that we have any hope of being in unity with Him.
Now, given those two statements, ask this: When was the last time you felt challenged in church? It stands to reason that when we come before God, we are doing so having fallen far short of what He requires. We should be coming to Him, hat-in-hand, needing forgiveness and the strength to change our lives, the passion to become more like the example Christ sets in the gospels. And yet (and I don't think I'm the only one) I go to church ever week, sing the nice songs (all of which seem to revolve around forgiveness, unconditional love and the happy God...not the angst, desperation or the suffering that populates so many of the Psalms) and leave with the warm, fuzzy feeling of having been in God's presence. Surely if I was truly coming into the presence of God, I would be ashamed! I would struggle to stand His holiness in light of my own misgivings. I would leave church with the thirst to do better, not leave every week with 'it's all going to be okay' tattooed on my heart.
If I am honest, I am guilty of dumbing God down and ensuring that He fits comfortably around my own failings, rather than washing over them. I have made up a version of God who drives me, but not too hard. Who loves me, but not so much that He changes me. And this keeps me happy. But the thing I want to remind myself of is the belief that there is far more joy to be had when in total communion with God than when blissfully ignorant of His call.
But small is the gate and narrow the road that leads to life, and only a few find it.
Matt 7:13
Many of us find the happiness that comes with complacence and comfort, but I want to be one of the few striving for the greater joy of a life lived with God. The God who is beyond and bigger and more.
Wednesday, 4 July 2012
Smartphones
About three years ago, I bought my first iPhone. It was the 3G model and I was very excited about it, drowning in the Apple hysteria that has held the world hostage ever since. And up until about a month ago when the phone packed it in I was very happy with it. I used it for Twitter, did all my emailing with it and had the Bible on it which is always handy.
Now, when it broke I was gutted, I mean, how do you exist in the modern world without all these things and much more in your pocket at all times?
Well, I am currently using the phone I had previously, a Sony Ericsson which does none of the things previously mentioned. It texts, it phones and it has a reasonable camera, but this is about it (except for a truly addictive mini golf game). And I have to say that I haven't missed the other things one bit. Not only that, but on Saturday night I decided that I was done with smartphones for the foreseeable future.
You see, I have just returned from Summer Madness (tenth year...depressing thought, no?) with over fifty young people from our church, and it was an incredible time of fellowship together. There was incredible worship to take part in, some wonderfully gifted preachers brought challenging and through-provoking messages, and most importantly God sent His Spirit down and touched a lot of people. Lives were changed. Brilliant, yeah? And yet, people didn't get as much as they could have. Why? Because of smartphones. Over the four days spent at Glenarm Castle there were eight main meetings. Each of these meetings lasted maybe two hours. Within this time there was a talk, probably thirty to forty minutes long. In every one of those talks I looked round at different points and saw at least half of the young people in our group sitting with their iPhone or their BlackBerry in between their knees trying to be discreet, checking FaceBook or something else. And as you looked over the rest of the crowd of people there, it was exactly the same. I stood up at one point and there was a sea of little lights, a couple of inches in size, as people sat on their phone while the person on the stage tried to reach them with scriptural message.
Does this not worry us? Is it not a horrifying thought that we cannot focus for half an hour in today's society without caving into the need to check our phone? Worse still we readily give the phone a priority over the Word of God.
The irony of it was that the theme of the week was Fashion Gods, with focuses on consumerism and being countercultural. And yet almost every member of our group had paid the high cost to have one of these phones in their possession, just the way society tells them they must. And don't get me wrong, I had one for years, but this week has changed my view on them in a big way.
As usual, all opinions welcome!
Monday, 14 May 2012
Old versus New
Going into overdrive with these posts here...I'll make this a quick one though.
A few weeks ago when I was leading worship in church we were singing Before the Throne of God Above. I asked our powerpoint guy to put up the original words instead of the new updated ones. You know, 'graven on His hands' instead of 'written', 'bid me thence depart' instead of 'force me to depart' and all that caper. This led to a debate with a team member as to whether we should update songs lyrics and the Aaronic blessing etc.
I always like to strike a balance when planning a service between modern songs and older tunes/hymns, and this isn't for any congregational reasons (keeping the peace between younger and older members), it is because of the lyrics. First of all, as Graham and I were discussing recently, the words of hymns like Before the Throne are incredibly deep and powerful. They paint pictures with a descriptive quality that is largely absent in modern contemporary worship. For example, 'graven on His hands' is a far more striking image that 'written ion His hands'. Graven is a permanent mark, carved forever leaving a scar, whereas as to write something is temporary or removable. It sits in harmony with the pain and sacrifice that was made for us. This is true of many hymns. Not that I don't think there is a place for simpler expressions of worship; one of my favourite modern worship songs is David Crowder's 'Rain Down' which contains only fifteen words. I love that worship is deeper than lyrics and so much can be expressed without relying on language the way everything else in our life does, but there is certainly much to be said for the way hymns move us by their words.
The other reason behind a wide range of songs is that we worship a God who is outside of time. The God who we will worship this Sunday morning is the same God who met with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. He remains unchanging, and I like that our congregational worship can reflect this through the words we sing. Older language speaks of a time that has past, yet the words that were written then speak of the same God we now serve. I think by modernizing everything we can lose this aspect of God from our services.
Give me thees, thous and thys any day :)
A few weeks ago when I was leading worship in church we were singing Before the Throne of God Above. I asked our powerpoint guy to put up the original words instead of the new updated ones. You know, 'graven on His hands' instead of 'written', 'bid me thence depart' instead of 'force me to depart' and all that caper. This led to a debate with a team member as to whether we should update songs lyrics and the Aaronic blessing etc.
I always like to strike a balance when planning a service between modern songs and older tunes/hymns, and this isn't for any congregational reasons (keeping the peace between younger and older members), it is because of the lyrics. First of all, as Graham and I were discussing recently, the words of hymns like Before the Throne are incredibly deep and powerful. They paint pictures with a descriptive quality that is largely absent in modern contemporary worship. For example, 'graven on His hands' is a far more striking image that 'written ion His hands'. Graven is a permanent mark, carved forever leaving a scar, whereas as to write something is temporary or removable. It sits in harmony with the pain and sacrifice that was made for us. This is true of many hymns. Not that I don't think there is a place for simpler expressions of worship; one of my favourite modern worship songs is David Crowder's 'Rain Down' which contains only fifteen words. I love that worship is deeper than lyrics and so much can be expressed without relying on language the way everything else in our life does, but there is certainly much to be said for the way hymns move us by their words.
The other reason behind a wide range of songs is that we worship a God who is outside of time. The God who we will worship this Sunday morning is the same God who met with Moses on the top of Mount Sinai. He remains unchanging, and I like that our congregational worship can reflect this through the words we sing. Older language speaks of a time that has past, yet the words that were written then speak of the same God we now serve. I think by modernizing everything we can lose this aspect of God from our services.
Give me thees, thous and thys any day :)
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
A Continuation...
Okay, following on from the post I put up a couple of days ago. Our prayer cell met up last night and we spent a little time on the subject of worship, and some more thoughts are brewing which lead on nicely from the last ones.
A while ago I had a chat with someone who questioned me as to the amount church has moved forwards over the last number of years. Now, this is an interesting question. In my time at Orangefield things immediately seem to have moved on in a huge way. I have been there for twenty-four years, taken part in the leading of worship for eleven years and been leading worship for about six years. Jump back with me to the turn of the millenium...
There is a set team of musicians who lead every service, along with a praise group (choir) of around twenty-five singers. The songs we sing are from the Presbyterian hymn book with some additions from the Mission Praise collection. These books are found in the pew in front of you and most of them are simply led by piano/organ and voices.
Now we move forward through time and things begin to change. We jump from one set group to four different worship teams, people happily sign up to take part in the leading of the congregational worship. Each team is bursting with eleven or twelve participants. We move into our new building where instead of hymn books or acetate sheets we have powerpoint and cameras on screens the whole way through the service. We have a hugely updated repertoire of music, with filing cabinets full of modern worship songs including the latest tunes from the CCM charts. Our worship on a Sunday is louder, more energetic and freer than ever before.
Things have come a long way, right?
Well, I'm beginning to wonder if our attitude of worship has come the same distance that our exterior aesthetic has. All of these changes, while important and exciting, are much more to do with the way our worship looks and sounds than to do with the heart behind it. And it begs the question, if that is all that changes then is it worth anything? Don't get me wrong, I think steps are being taken. We are starting to include times of corporate prayer and lead in a more personally focused way; things which would not have been present in the past and which encourage a greater focus upon God during our time gathered together. But this small step forward is miles from where we could be.
When you lead from the front of the church you spend a great deal of time looking out at people during the worship. Sadly, like every church, there are people you see whose minds are totally elsewhere. They don't sing, they don't get involved, they stand up and sit down when they are told and stare blankly ahead the entire time. That is a separate issue down to the individual needing to make the effort to come to church prepared. However, you also see people who are genuine worshipers. You can easily tell when someone is singing the songs not just as words but from their heart. They understand what they are proclaiming, and they are honest as they proclaim it. This is wonderful, but it is scratching the surface of what worship should be. By this I mean that it is all one-way. They pour out their praise to God and make a joyous noise, but absolutely no time is given to allowing God to respond and meet with His people. As soon as the last chorus is sung we are to sit down and something else in our programme immediately starts up. Instead of a time where we meet with God, we write Him a letter and don't bother with the reply.
This strikes me as the major change we need to make but have not yet pushed for.
A while ago I had a chat with someone who questioned me as to the amount church has moved forwards over the last number of years. Now, this is an interesting question. In my time at Orangefield things immediately seem to have moved on in a huge way. I have been there for twenty-four years, taken part in the leading of worship for eleven years and been leading worship for about six years. Jump back with me to the turn of the millenium...
There is a set team of musicians who lead every service, along with a praise group (choir) of around twenty-five singers. The songs we sing are from the Presbyterian hymn book with some additions from the Mission Praise collection. These books are found in the pew in front of you and most of them are simply led by piano/organ and voices.
Now we move forward through time and things begin to change. We jump from one set group to four different worship teams, people happily sign up to take part in the leading of the congregational worship. Each team is bursting with eleven or twelve participants. We move into our new building where instead of hymn books or acetate sheets we have powerpoint and cameras on screens the whole way through the service. We have a hugely updated repertoire of music, with filing cabinets full of modern worship songs including the latest tunes from the CCM charts. Our worship on a Sunday is louder, more energetic and freer than ever before.
Things have come a long way, right?
Well, I'm beginning to wonder if our attitude of worship has come the same distance that our exterior aesthetic has. All of these changes, while important and exciting, are much more to do with the way our worship looks and sounds than to do with the heart behind it. And it begs the question, if that is all that changes then is it worth anything? Don't get me wrong, I think steps are being taken. We are starting to include times of corporate prayer and lead in a more personally focused way; things which would not have been present in the past and which encourage a greater focus upon God during our time gathered together. But this small step forward is miles from where we could be.
When you lead from the front of the church you spend a great deal of time looking out at people during the worship. Sadly, like every church, there are people you see whose minds are totally elsewhere. They don't sing, they don't get involved, they stand up and sit down when they are told and stare blankly ahead the entire time. That is a separate issue down to the individual needing to make the effort to come to church prepared. However, you also see people who are genuine worshipers. You can easily tell when someone is singing the songs not just as words but from their heart. They understand what they are proclaiming, and they are honest as they proclaim it. This is wonderful, but it is scratching the surface of what worship should be. By this I mean that it is all one-way. They pour out their praise to God and make a joyous noise, but absolutely no time is given to allowing God to respond and meet with His people. As soon as the last chorus is sung we are to sit down and something else in our programme immediately starts up. Instead of a time where we meet with God, we write Him a letter and don't bother with the reply.
This strikes me as the major change we need to make but have not yet pushed for.
Sunday, 6 May 2012
Yet more worship stuff...
So there's no real singular point to this post, I'm just kind of pouring out a load of stuff that's been in my head over the last wee while and seeing if anyone has any thoughts on it.
Something which has been on my mind quite a bit of late is the issue of how we can gather an entire congregation of people into an attitude of worship. One thing which I find a bit bothersome in my church is the rigid structure most of our services are cumbered with. We would rarely have more than two songs in a row, things are dotted with short prayers, offerings and other such bits and pieces and rather than a smooth flow it always seems very compartmentalised to me. The main reason for this is that I feel much more at home when there is half an hour or so devoted to praise, when you can get lost in it and have time to do business with God. Now, on the other hand there are people in my church who can't stand that. I've heard people say that their focus wanders if we spend too much time on one thing, or that they don't like standing for such a length of time.
For example, a few months ago I led a service slightly differently, in that we didn't pick or practise the songs beforehand. We just began to play and had an extended time of praise where we just played the songs as they came. Now, after this service several people approached myself or other members of the team and said that they had loved it, while others said they felt no sense of worship at all. Fairly polarized results!
So if a church service is meant to be a body of people coming together to worship God with one voice, what do we do? How do we get past the physical things that we like or dislike?
At the risk of sounding like a naive hippy, if we are truly in an attitude of worship, intent on focusing upon only God, then these things should be in the background. The songs we sing and the way we play them shouldn't be a decisive issue on whether or not we will feel able to worship.
After that unplanned service one of the things mentioned was that people struggled to worship because the words were not coming up on the screen fast enough (obviously because there was no list of songs). My immediate reaction to this was to ask why we are okay with the fact that people are rendered unable to worship if they are not given some words on a screen to sing? But in actual fact nothing hinders my own attitude of worship more than when people lead a song differently to the way I know it. If the tune is tweaked slightly or a different word used it totally jolts me out of any form of worship. We all have comforts in our churches which have become crutches.
It seems incredibly clear to me that we must get to a point where we are able to meet with God without relying on computers, tuners and fancy resources. People all over the world rejoice in the name of God with their voices alone as this is all they have. We have been blessed with much more but we must get out of the habit of relying on them, making them the primary element of our worship.
But how do we get there? What is the first step toward letting go of earthly things and allowing God a central place in our service?
Something which has been on my mind quite a bit of late is the issue of how we can gather an entire congregation of people into an attitude of worship. One thing which I find a bit bothersome in my church is the rigid structure most of our services are cumbered with. We would rarely have more than two songs in a row, things are dotted with short prayers, offerings and other such bits and pieces and rather than a smooth flow it always seems very compartmentalised to me. The main reason for this is that I feel much more at home when there is half an hour or so devoted to praise, when you can get lost in it and have time to do business with God. Now, on the other hand there are people in my church who can't stand that. I've heard people say that their focus wanders if we spend too much time on one thing, or that they don't like standing for such a length of time.
For example, a few months ago I led a service slightly differently, in that we didn't pick or practise the songs beforehand. We just began to play and had an extended time of praise where we just played the songs as they came. Now, after this service several people approached myself or other members of the team and said that they had loved it, while others said they felt no sense of worship at all. Fairly polarized results!
So if a church service is meant to be a body of people coming together to worship God with one voice, what do we do? How do we get past the physical things that we like or dislike?
At the risk of sounding like a naive hippy, if we are truly in an attitude of worship, intent on focusing upon only God, then these things should be in the background. The songs we sing and the way we play them shouldn't be a decisive issue on whether or not we will feel able to worship.
After that unplanned service one of the things mentioned was that people struggled to worship because the words were not coming up on the screen fast enough (obviously because there was no list of songs). My immediate reaction to this was to ask why we are okay with the fact that people are rendered unable to worship if they are not given some words on a screen to sing? But in actual fact nothing hinders my own attitude of worship more than when people lead a song differently to the way I know it. If the tune is tweaked slightly or a different word used it totally jolts me out of any form of worship. We all have comforts in our churches which have become crutches.
It seems incredibly clear to me that we must get to a point where we are able to meet with God without relying on computers, tuners and fancy resources. People all over the world rejoice in the name of God with their voices alone as this is all they have. We have been blessed with much more but we must get out of the habit of relying on them, making them the primary element of our worship.
But how do we get there? What is the first step toward letting go of earthly things and allowing God a central place in our service?
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