Early in ministry, a mentor of mine pointed out that, regardless of size, churches tend to excel in only one of the two main aspects of the typical worship service: music or preaching. (Some, according to one of my non-Christian friends, excel at neither and therefore will never be attended by him or any other unchurched person.) I didn’t know if I agreed with my mentor, so I started to pay attention. I looked around our community. I even checked things out online. In general, he was right.
I remember listening to a sermon by the pastor of one of the most popular worship teams in the world and wondering how he had a job. Then I went to an event and heard the worship team of my favorite Internet preacher and wondered how much he got paid, because they obviously didn’t have enough left over to pay a decent musician. Think about it: Most people choose their church based on one of these two factors. Some people I know want good preaching and feel like the songs are just commercials before and after the sermon. Other people have told me they could never attend a different church than they currently attend because no other church but theirs even comes close in the area of music.
So when God called me to plant a church, one of the first decisions I made was that this church would be an exception to this rule. I wanted to lead a church that worked for God’s glory to have both good preaching and good worship. I think most pastors and church planters want this as well; I’m just not sure they are putting enough emphasis on it. So, for what it’s worth, I have three suggestions for improving the level of the worship music in your church. Sure, a lot of it has to do with getting the right type of people involved and using their gifts, but I am convinced there are small steps that a lead pastor can take to help the process along. Read More
Also See:
The Gospel Work of Song
No comments:
Post a Comment