![\"Worship-Beyond\"](\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2009\/12\/08123627\/Worship-Beyond.jpg\")
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"I just got off the phone with a friend, who is a passionate worship leader and yet at the same time has been struggling lately because she finds areas of what we call \u2018worship\u2019 so inward looking.\u00a0 She said “At my most cynical moments I have felt like I am just there to make church more comfortable for the members.”\u00a0 She has started exploring other areas of ministry, particularly to do with God\u2019s heart for justice. Its not that she lost her heart for worship, its just that her worship has led her out of the building…<\/p>\n
Do you recognise that in your worship ministry?\u00a0 Do you sometimes share her frustrations?\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Does it have to be this way?\u00a0 Whilst we must never under-value the immense privileged and joy of helping people glorify God through our songs, and building up the believers Sunday by Sunday, is it true to say that often the worship team is the most inward looking of all departments in a church?\u00a0 I sometimes jokingly mis-quote the well known worship chorus as \u201cit\u2019s all about me…\u201d – but how often is that too close to the truth?<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
The late hymn writer, Fred Pratt Green, wrote these words which challenge me and the worship I lead at a deep level every time I read them:<\/p>\n
When the Church of Jesus
\nShuts its outer door,
\nLest the roar of traffic
\nDrown the voice of prayer:
\nMay our prayers, Lord, make us
\nTen times more aware
\nThat the world we banish
\nIs our Christian care.<\/p>\n
If our hearts are lifted
\nWhere devotion soars
\nHigh above this hungry
\nSuffering world of ours:
\nLest our hymns should drug us
\nTo forget its needs,
\nForge our Christian worship
\nInto Christian deeds.<\/p>\n
Lest the gifts we offer,
\nMoney, talents, time,
\nServe to salve our conscience
\nTo our secret shame:
\nLord, reprove, inspire us
\nBy the way you give;
\nTeach us, dying Saviour,
\nHow true Christians live.<\/p>\n
The Old Testament prophets, the apostles and Jesus himself all show a hard-wired link between our worship and the way we treat the world outside.\u00a0 We can\u2019t choose whether we are \u2018sung-worship Christians\u2019 or \u2018social-action Christians\u2019; these are two sides of the same coin.\u00a0 God requires both our corporate, sung devotion, and our 24\/7 lives-of-worship.\u00a0 As the Message paraphrases Hebrews 13:
\n\u201cLet’s take our place outside with Jesus, no longer pouring out the sacrificial blood \u00a0of animals but pouring out sacrificial praises from our lips to God in Jesus’ name… \u00a0Share what you have with others. God takes particular pleasure in acts of worship – \u00a0a different kind of “sacrifice” – that take place in kitchen and workplace and on the \u00a0streets.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently I\u2019ve been trying to be intentional in my worship leading about including things like creative intercession for world situations as part of our sung worship times; using songs of the world church to help us connect with those who worship God in far-off lands and sometimes harsh situations; and connecting with people\u2019s daily lives in sung worship by mentioning things like work, schools and home life as part of prayers or songs.\u00a0 Have you got ideas or experience of how we can involve \u2018everyday life\u2019 in our worship, rather than seeing Sunday praise as merely an escape from the realities of the week?<\/p>\n
On the flip-side, we\u2019ve also been trying to engage our music and worship team with our local community.\u00a0 Last night our choir and musicians were part of a village concert, organised by non-Christians in the village and with all proceeds going to an Alzheimers charity.\u00a0 Our guys set up the PA, helped with refreshments, performed in the concert, sang carols during the interval, and were generally a positive presence in this community event.\u00a0 This morning we hosted the local school at our church for a Christmas service; with the music and tech team serving the school with relevant music and visuals.\u00a0 We\u2019ve worshipped God in our serving, and may have even led non-Christians in worship, if we believe what Jesus says in Matthew 5: \u00a0\u201clet your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your \u00a0Father in heaven.\u201d<\/p>\n
Does this stuff challenge you?\u00a0 Have you got stories of engaging your community through music and creativity?\u00a0 Do your services engage with the needs of this broken world, and equip people to take their worship into \u2018everyday life\u2019?\u00a0 Would you like to explore this further?<\/p>\n
Worship Beyond is a day conference we\u2019re involved in; an opportunity to explore all of these issues with others, including people like worship leader Geraldine Latty, DJ Steve Leach and cafechurch network director Cid Latty.\u00a0 In itself the conference will be a community-reaching event because a team will be going into a local school the week before, and putting on a concert with the school to close the Saturday.\u00a0 If you can make it to Wolverhapton, UK on 13th March 2010, please visit www.mwf.org.uk\/worshipbeyond and join us!<\/p>\n
We think that its possible these issues could be the most pressing questions for church worship in 2010; that if we can keep the best of our current worship models but push into these issues of worship and mission, justice, intercession, evangelism, community action… that maybe it could transform our churches, and more importantly change the world.\u00a0 As the song says;
\n\u201cLet justice and praise become my embrace – to love you from the inside out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sam Hargreaves
\nCo-leader of engageworship.org<\/p>\n
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<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I just got off the phone with a friend, who is a passionate worship leader and yet at the same time has been struggling lately because she finds areas of what we call \u2018worship\u2019 so inward looking.\u00a0 She said “At my most cynical moments I have felt like I am just there to make church […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5303,"featured_media":3209,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[148,147,893],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n