Don't let worship become a noun

It's very exciting to see the explosion of worship in the church at large. We get a taste of heaven when we experience powerful corporate worship. And once we have a taste, we can't forget the sweetness.

As musical worship has erupted over the last 25 years, it has become a main ingredient for most churches and there is an entire industry that has developed to support it. This is not a bad thing, but we must be careful not to let worship become a noun - this thing that we program and build our services around. Instead let the noun be who we are (worshipers) instead of something we plan.

Worship is something we will do for eternity in heaven. There, it will be only a verb.

Comments

[jeramy]

amen!

[Christian Steffen]

Well put. It seems like, as trends go, there was a time when the musical portion of any corporate gathering was viewed pretty lowly. It was often referred to as "the song service." There wasn't a high value placed on participation or any great spiritual emphasis. It seemed very much like the "warmup" to the headliner...the sermon.

I think there was a Spirit-fueled redirection that happened where the emphasis was again placed on interacting with God during the worship time. For creating experiences and environments that were fresh, relevant and pregnant with transformation. Yet somehow, we forgot that all of the gathering, indeed all of life, was meant to be worship.

I think as worship leaders, we have an incredible opportunity to create some balance and perhaps, with the Spirit's leading, get it right. To see properly the role of corporate, musical worship in our gatherings without creating something it isn't meant to be.

Christian

[Sarah]

This may be a small tool but it may help prepare your congregation for worship: If you want one of those stylish countdown videos before church worship starts, here is a good quality one without a sountrack so you can just play your own music over it. You can find and download it over at www.summitlectern.com/promotions.html at zero cost.

[Louise]

I find using silence as part of a worship a useful antidote to this.

Have others found good ideas to counteract the 'noun' type thinking?