Hey everyone!
I hijacked the blog this week - and for a few more weeks – to teach our church family a little bit about worship. I’ll be talking about what worship is, why we do it, and some of the deep theology behind the methods we use for corporate worship in our church. In addition, each week I will break down a section of a song that we sing together at Skyland, and explain the importance and function of the words. I hope you enjoy, share, and come back each week as we continue to grow in our understanding of this integral part of the function of the body.
As a sort of guide to this series of posts, I’ll be using the book True Worshippers by Bob Kauflin. It is an EXCELLENT resource, and I can’t recommend it highly enough. If you’d like a few more resources on biblical worship, head over to our website. There is a portion of the “Books” page where several volumes may be found!
At Skyland Baptist Church, we are tremendously blessed to have an intergenerational body of believers. This means, for better or worse (but mostly better), we do things together. Each of us give up preferences for the sake of unity and health in the body as whole, and our worship service is one of the many avenues in which we see this reality being played out. For example, if one were to ask any member of our fellowship what type of music they liked, the answers would vary drastically. From southern gospel and bluegrass, all the way to classical or rap, there are a plethora of stylistic preferences to be found. How then are we to proceed in unity, knowing that each member might choose differently? The answer is found not in compromise (a blended style, in which everyone is a little bit uncomfortable), nor exclusivity (separate services), but in humility.
It can be very tempting to take the easy way out – just separate the services! Everyone gets what they like, and we don’t have to worry about the so-called “worship wars”. What could possibly be wrong with that? Unfortunately, dividing ourselves over preference just opens the door for division over doctrine. We must hold fast to the truth, and we must hold fast to each other.
The reality is that a focus on the flesh will lead to unfortunate consequences. The enemy likes nothing better than to divide the body over the unimportant details surrounding highly important topics as a whole. What is important – inescapable and scriptural – is the fact that we must worship. Other than a few scattered references to culturally appropriate instrumentation (mostly found in the book of Psalms), the guidelines we have been given leave much room for stylistic interpretation: we are to sing together (Eph. 5:19; Col. 3:16; Ps. 104:33), and we are to do so in such a manner as to be fully engaged and truthful (John 4:23; Rom. 12:1; 1 Chron. 16:29).
At Skyland, we believe that the unity of our body is essential to the mission of our church. So the next time we sing a song that you may not like or be familiar with, remember that your presence and voice are a testament to the unifying power of Christ, and sing all the louder as we join together in worship.