The preamble here is definitely worth a listen in order to provide some context but if you just want to skip to the mashup go to around 9 minutes in.
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Category Archives: Worship
Do you think that people going through a divorce should be allowed on a worship team?
That’s the question we were emailed recently and my heart went out to the person who had sent the email. I certainly don’t think there is a straight forward answer to this and my hunch was that our Musicademy community would have a lot more experience on the topic between them than I. So with that in mind I posted the question on our Facebook Page and sat amazed as loads of comments came flooding in. It’s not great reading the comments here out of context with “Likes” awarded to each, but I thought I’d post them for the benefit of those who don’t use Facebook (actually even if you don’t use it you can click through and read the comments – just not comment yourself)
Nick Sadler – a local decision…
Adrian Higgs – Yes. Next?
Susan Ruth Mueller – No.
Dave Jones – I’m guessing it would depend on the reason. If it was a accepted Biblical reason then why not? They could probably do with the help, support, fellowship and prayers of the team.
Cody Patterson – Musicademy Do you think God can use people that are struggling? Everyone has things going on in their life at all times, sometimes really bad sometimes life is easier. If the person on the team is trying to keep focused on Christ then yes of course. Divorce is wrong Biblically but that doesn’t mean that the person on the team initiated it, or even that they wanted it. People always make mistakes, if we took everyone off the team that made any mistake then we would have no team, not even a leader.
Jane Gould – Why not? If they want to , that is. Do you think they are not in terrible pain anyway?
Tim Ashburner – “Let he who is without sin cast the first stone” Read More
Also posted in Administration 8 Comments
How to maintain a flow of worship
Keeping the worship momentum going and enabling the congregation to focus on God rather than the muscians as they fumble for the next song sheet and muff a chord change, is a considerable challenge for most volunteer worship bands.
Worship culture
To unpack the problem we need to consider how different churches approach this – it can be a very “culturally created” approach. For instance, the Vineyard and Soul Survivor will typically have an intensive worship time where the musicians will flow fairly seamlessly from one song to the next with very little in terms of spoken word or discernable gaps. Contrast this with a Baptist church where we were recently teaching. The (non musician) worship leader would introduce a song with almost a mini sermon, or certainly a verbal reflection on the lyrics. The band would then play and the worship leader would then verbally reflect again on the words, perhaps within a prayer before introducing the next song.
Either approach, and the many options within that spectrum can be equally helpful or unhelpful. It depends on what works culturally, and what is helpful to your congregation in drawing them closer to God, much of which will depend on what they are used to. We all tend to fall back on the familiar so it might be helpful for worship leaders to deliberately try a different approach from time to time perhaps learning from other church styles. Remember that people take time to adjust to change so you may need to try it a few times for people to get used to. Read More
Wonderful national newspaper coverage for Christian project
You may remember an article we wrote 18 months ago True worship – and its nothing to do with music. We are still involved with this wonderful project which houses destitute women (asylum seekers on appeal who have no government benefits). Back then we were helping fundraise for a home for women and babies. This is the only home in England for asylum seeking women who would otherwise see their children taken into care.
I was delighted to see the project profiled in The Guardian newspaper this weekend. Amidst a winter of truly terrible news, so good to see a national newspaper picking this up.
The article begins:
Haven for the homeless
It’s 20 years since the Albrechts first invited a homeless person to stay. Since then, more than 300 have found a safe haven with the couple and their four children – they even moved to a bigger house to take in more and now they’re adding on extra space.
Maria Albrecht has only hazy memories of the first homeless person she and her husband, Scott, invited into their home to stay. But he was almost certainly an alcoholic, in his 50s or 60s, and he wouldn’t have had a shower in a long time. He slept on a camp bed in the couple’s sitting room: the family, with two small children at the time, were living in a two-bedroom semi.
That was about 20 years ago: since then, the Albrechts have welcomed approximately 300 homeless people into their home – some straight off the streets, others referred by the British Red Cross. “I know people think it sounds impossible, to just take in homeless people,” says Maria, “but the motivating factor for me is this: if I was sleeping on a park bench, I would hope someone would do this for me. So I do it for others. Read More
