Biblical Worship

Dr. Don Hustad is a talented organist, composer, professor, choral director, music minister and writer.  Now retired, through the years he was the chairman of the Sacred Music Department at Moody Bible Institute, organist for a number of years in the Billy Graham Crusades, and music professor in the School of Church Music at Southern Baptist Seminary.  Dr. Hustad has made a great impact in the area of music ministry through his lectures, books, and music.  Dr. Hustad’s book, Jubilate II: Church Music in Worship and Renewal (Hope Publishers, 1993, ISBN 0-916642-17-8) takes an historical and philosophical look at music beginning in Bible times and continuing up to our present day.  The book also includes practical helps in the use of music in worship.

In Chapter 3 of Jubilate II Hustad gives helpful standards for music in the church.  He states – “These then are standards suggested to those who are concerned about maturity in the use of music in evangelical church life:

1.  It should express and communicate the Gospel in text and music languages that are richly understandable by the culture for which it is intended.

2.  It should offer a “sacrifice of praise,” for the individual and for the corporate body in worship experience.  It should be “their best” – their best performance of the most meaningful text and music that is shared by most of those present.  It should be offered in love, humility, gratitude, and grace without arrogance or shame in comparing it to the offering of other persons in the same culture or in other cultures.

3.  It should express and enhance the best Christian theology of each particular culture or subculture, supporting all tenets of the faith in proper balance.

4.  It should express and support all the activities of the church – worship, proclamation, education, pastoral care, and fellowship – with due consideration of the musical needs of each.

5.  It should speak from the whole person to the whole person, carefully balancing the physical, intellectual, and emotional, while avoiding the sentimental.

6.  It should be genuinely creative, shunning the hackneyed and trite as well as the elitist and abstruse.”  (Jubilate II, page 68-69)

Jubilate II is full of excellent biblical, historical and philosophical information on church music.  It is a rich reference book for any serious church musician.

As we take time this week to celebrate Thanksgiving, I am most thankful for Jesus Christ and the salvation I have in Him because of His redeeming work on the Cross.  My most serious problem has been solved because of the forgiveness of sins I have received through Him. 

What are you thankful for this special season?  Do you know about this great Savior and the eternal life He offers?

 A hymn we often sing at Thanksgiving services is “Now We Thank We All our God.”  This hymn was written in 1636 by Martin Rinkart, a Lutheran pastor, at the close of the Thirty Years’ War in Europe.  Rinkart lived in Eilenburg, Saxony, a town that had been surrounded by the Swiss army.  People were dying of starvation and disease.  The town was in crisis.  Rinkart was the only pastor in Eilenburg that survived this horrible experience.  At one point he was conducting 50 funerals a day.  The Swiss army was demanding a huge ransom to end the seige of the city.  Rinkart left the walled city and met the commander of the army pleading for mercy on the people of the city.  The commander lowered his demands and soon after the Thirty Years’ War ended.

Rinkart wrote this hymn for a celebration service to remember God’s faithfulness and mercy at this great time of sorrow and difficulty.  It was translated from German to English by Catherine Winkworth in 1856.  Below you will find the text of Rinkart’s hymn.  Take a moment to reflect on the grace and mercy we all receive daily from our great Lord and be thankful.

 A few years ago Thom Rainer and his research team did a study among 350 new Christians.  The main question posed to these newly converted believers was – “what drew you to attend a particular church.”  Since so many research projects about what attracts people to a particular church are focused on unbelievers who most likely would never attend a church, Rainer thought a study on new Christians would be a more accurate picture of what attracts people to one church over another.

This research project is unpacked in a book called ”Surprising Insights from the Unchurched and Proven Ways to Reach Them” by Thom Rainer. (Zondervan, 2001, ISBN 0-310-23648-7)  When the book was first published Rainer was Dean of the Billy Graham School of Evangelism and Church Growth at The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary in Louisville, KY  (www.sbts.edu).  He recently has become president of LifeWay Christian Resources, the publishing arm of the Southern Baptist Convention in Nashville, TN.

The book gives actual accounts of new believers but also includes charts showing the results of the study.  If you were to survey a large group of newly converted Christians, what do you think would be the top two or three things that drew them to their church?  You may be surprised to know that out of a list of 13 factors the top three factors that led these persons to a particular church were:  “Pastor/Preaching” (90%), “Doctrines” (88%), and “Friendliness of Members” (49%).  Other factors that followed were: “someone from church witnessed to me,” “family member attends,” and they “sensed God’s Presence/atmosphere of church.” (see page 21 in the book for full chart)

I was surprised to see that the last two factors on the list were “worship style/music,” and “location.”  There has been so much strife over music style in the church over the past decade or more and one of the main reasons often stated for making changes has been to attract more people to church.  The Rainer survey suggests that new believers are not drawn to a church by music style but for many other reasons.  Yet, isn’t one of the main reasons we change our music style is so that we will encourage church growth?  

I am not saying that we should stop making style changes in the worship music.  I believe our worship services need to reflect the culture around our churches and that the music style we use needs to be a good vehicle for communicating the Gospel.  What is troubling though are the methods we have used to make these changes and the fact that one of the main reasons for music style changes has been for church growth when this survey suggests that music style changes in established churches really do not attract new believers to a church.  Sometimes I think the efforts to change music style is really more of a cosmetic change when underneath there are more important changes that need to be made to help the church to grow.

I would encourage you to get a copy of this book.  It is a must read for Pastors who want to understand how their church can be more effective in sharing the Gospel in their communities.

In a pamphlet titled, “So You’ve Been Asked to Plan a Worship Service,” John Witvliet gives a list of virtues for those who plan worship. These are attributes that persons who put together a worship service each week should consider.  The worship planner should have:

1.  Compassion for the congregation’s needs.

2.  Wisdom about who should lead the worship service.

3.  Ability to work with a worship team.

4.  Wisdom to understand conflicts in worship.

5.  Patience with a congregation that is slow to participate in worship.

6.  Imagination – knowing songs, prayers, etc. that can give meaning to a scriptural theme.

7.  Discipline to avoid too much innovation.

I believe these are great principles worship leaders should model for their congregations.  The worship leader’s role is first a pastoral role.  How well do we know the people who attend the worship services of our church?  Do we have compassion and wisdom in dealing with worship issues?  How often have we been impatient with our congregation when they are slow to accept changes in worship or new songs?  Worship leader – we need to honor God in our worship planning and we need to care for our people.  Jesus said that the two great commandents are to love God and to love our neighbor.  We need to demonstrate this as we prayerfully and carefully plan the worship services for our church each week.

John Witvliet is director of the Calvin Institute of Worship and professor at Calvin College in the areas of worship and music.  His pamplet “So You’ve Been Asked to Plan a Worship Service” is one of a series of pamphlets along this line published by Faith Alive Christian Resources.  There are several other pamphlets in this series that I have found helpful for training worship leaders and others who are involved in worship leading:

So You’ve Been Asked to Develop a Worship Team (Castle)

So You’ve Been Asked to Lead a Worship Service (Witvliet)

So You’ve Been Asked to Lead in Prayer (Mulder)

So You’ve Been Asked to Read Scripture (Smit)

So You’ve Been Asked to Sing a Solo (Witvliet)

webpage for these resources: www.FaithAliveResources.org

A good portion of the worship service is focused on congregational singing.  This time is not just ‘filler’ before the sermon or a time of entertainment.  The congregational songs can communicate great biblical truths to the people in the service.  If we are not careful in our song selection we could select songs that can be vague or even communicate unbiblical principles.  What are some sound principles for selecting congregational songs in worship?

Biblical Principles

1. Our songs should be scripturally sound – 2 Timothy 2:15, 3:14-17

2. Our songs should be expressed in clear, intelligible language – 1 Corinthians 14:19

3. We should use a variety of songs – Colossians 3:16

4. Our songs should be sung to the Lord – Colossians 3:16

5. Our songs should also be sung to one another – songs of encouragement – Colossians 3:16, I Corinthians 14:26

6. Our songs should teach and admonish – Colossians 3:16

7. We sing our songs as a response to the objective truths of the Gospel – Colossians 3:16

Practical Principles

1. Choose songs that are easy to sing as a congregation (Simple rhythms, good keys -pitched not too high or too low)

2. Choose songs where the text and musical setting go well together

3. Choose songs that balance the objective and the subjective side of our faith

4. Choose songs that communicate the Gospel in the language of the people

5. Choose songs that have a purpose in your worship service

6. Balance familiar and unfamiliar songs – only one new song in a service

Thoughtful song selection is the responsibility of the worship leader.  How often do the people go out the door after the service reciting the points of the sermon?  How often do they go out singing one of the songs?  Our worship songs can carry great weight in the spiritual lives of our congregation.  Let’s give them songs that can carry them through the trials of the week.  As Randy Edwards in his book on Youth Choirs states – the songs we select give our people a “soundtrack for life.”