The Establishment

Lots of thoughts today.  I considered splitting this up, but for now will keep together. I know it is long.

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This pandemic has been disheartening for all of us in one way or another, I imagine.  Stay at home orders keeping us mostly stuck at our houses or job locations, loneliness has likely either set in or grown to frightening levels.  The future of community interaction, government control, job security and educational campus learning is very uncertain. However, we are certainly not hopeless or alone.  Most of us, when we get down to the basic foundations of our being, could probably realize we have more in common than ever before. We may be divided on how we think things should be accomplished and WHAT should be accomplished, but we all desire to be satisfied, feel freedom, experience kinship, and fulfill our basic needs.

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I believe Christ is fully God and fully human. I believe in eternity with our Creator. And I also believe in the Bible as truth, wisdom, and prophecy. My heart knows that God is with us, God is working through all this to bring all to the trusting of His heart and following of His way, and that He does all things with loving faithfulness.  I do not view the heartache, violence, and calamity as God’s punishment or ignorance of His creation.  I view it through my own imperfect eyes:  as the groaning of a creation that needs God’s redemption while we continue to fail and fall into the traps of our enemy Satan. God sees every possibility and knows every moment of our past, and He is working through all of the chaotic decisions and consequences to draw all into His arms.  It may seem reckless. It may even seem confusing while heartache and senselessness abound, but God proves time and time again that at the heart of His intention is our ultimate well-being.  We are not alone, though we may feel lonely.

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With in-door church services being canceled for the most part over the last few months, I have watched and experienced many churches pursue ways to reach their congregations and continue to serve their communities with the love of Christ. Over the last couple of years, I have been really contemplating about the church and its purpose from the perspective of a follower of Christ but also as a worship leader.   The craziness going on in the world has fueled a fire in my heart about all of my mullings.  I have thought it better to just keep to myself, until recently.  You may not agree with my perspective, and that is okay.  My goal is to offer perspective, and sometimes we need to consider other perspectives. Especially when so much is on the line.

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What is on the line right now?  Souls.   Bottom line.  How many souls are in this world right now?   How many already have a relationship with Christ?  How many are doubting that relationship right now?   And how many have yet to learn about the possibility or truly consider it a possibility?  Life is but a moment, and though it can seem like an eternity, we have only a few years to make the most of it and serve a purpose.   I believe every life has a purpose and a possibility.  Every soul needs restoration and every soul fills the void of that restoration with something.  Sometimes we even have that restoration in our grasp but do not allow it to fill the void for one reason or another….so yeah. Souls are on the line.

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I have been thinking a lot about the purpose of the church. A lot of us have recently, I think.  The church is given so many encouragements and disciplines in the scriptures, but when it comes down to it’s main purpose, the Great Commission and Greatest Commandment seem to be at the heart.  Matthew 29:19-20 “Go therefore and make disciples of all nations….” and Matthew 22:35-40 “Love the Lord with all you heart, soul and mine and the second Love your neighbor as yourself.”  We are to share about hope through Christ, love God, and love each other while we do the rest.  Easy?  Nope.  Because we all have so many different perspectives, needs, hopes, dreams, aspirations and experiences.  We need that diverse variety, though, so that we can accomplish the great commandment.  Every person on earth is an individual with unique make-up. Scripture even tells as that though we are one body, we have many parts (1 Corinthians 12:12-27.) We each have different purposes for a reason….to create a strong body that can be effective.

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As a worship leader, I heard a lot of grumbling about what I consider “shallow stuff.”   I felt pulled in a hundred directions in regards to technology, methodology, repertory and style.  Shallow stuff.  It became disheartening to so passionately and intentionally create music for congregational worship while the masses would criticize instead of use the musical opportunity to worship our amazing God.  Some days I would just sit and cry to God at a loss for how to proceed.  I prayed for His peace to keep me close to His heart while I planned music, knowing that no matter what I planned, someone was going to be unhappy or unpleasant.

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Truly, I could accept that not everyone would be satisfied or pleased. What grieved me the most was that it felt like the church had veered so far away from its purpose with these opportunities.  I mean, we live in a country where we are PRIVILEGED to worship freely, so why would we waste these chances to give glory to God and instead grumble about it? 

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Which leads on to my next pondering. What is the purpose of congregational worship?   Sure, songs can be sung to challenge, inspire, share an experience or share a message of victory/hope.   The music does not always need to be congregational.   BUT, when there is a congregational music opportunity, what purpose does it serve?   Of course, it is an opportunity to praise/worship the Lord.  This should go without saying.  As an opportunity for the entire congregation to praise and worship, what should that music be like?  Well, I am not going to get into style, because that is an entire musical theory exposition that I doubt you want to read.  Let’s talk about the main points.   👉Lyrics, Key, & Accessibility.  Those are the 3 main points that  matter the most for congregation singing.  #1 the lyrics should be Biblically supported and church edifying.   #2 the key should be placed in such that the MAJORITY could be able to sing along.  #3 the songs should be easy to sing, easy to learn, or some that likely most of the CONGREGATION are already familiar with.  It is for the congregation to have an opportunity to sing in praise/worship.   If the congregation cannot sing it, what is the point?  Why would we make these opportunities so exclusive, too? I could spend a lot of time on this. Maybe another day….

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What would inspire you more?

Being in a crowd where everyone around you is passionately working together?

Or being in a crowd where everyone is staring at someone else who is passionately working?

Which would inspire you to join in the work more?

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I know I said work instead of sing.  Because I wanted you to step out of musical worship tunnel vision.  It is so easy to get in a pattern of thought or accept/get used to a way of doing things.  Just because “everyone else is doing it that way” does not mean that it is effective. I am gonna be honest with you.  I made a lot mistakes as a worship leader, especially as I was learning the ropes.  Maybe to be expected, but I learned what not to do and what was more effective. I am still in a learning process. I do not have all of the answers or have a solution for every challenge.  But I am open to learning and my end goal is always that when planning music for a congregation, that they can sing it or learn to sing it.  The Lord gave me a part and a purpose in this church and in the kingdom.  He wants me to encourage everyone to rejoice. My heart wants to see EVERYONE lift their voice in gratitude and offer praise to the lover of our souls.  As you can probably tell….I have a lot of thoughts brewing.  They may not all smoothly connect right now.

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Some trends I have seen over the last few years in churches is a movement towards attraction-based evangelism with a decline in spiritual discipleship.  I keep seeing this move towards using MOSTLY if not ONLY the attractive people, the best singers/musicians, in our “new and improved” stream-lined performance-based services. So many services feels like a show now.  I totally believe we should give our best to the Lord and prepare/plan so the presentation of the gospel is clear and so the music is effective and not distracting. I get behind that. We want people to be open to the gospel, which IS important. However, it feels like we want people to be captivated or attracted by the people in the ways church services are presented instead of drawn by the Holy Spirit.

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At times it seems the consequences of how we go about accomplishing that do not matter.  👉When you know who your congregation is and ignore most or all of them to create a captivating experience that is designed to attract mostly one group of people…why?👈And what is the outcome with this?   How is this edifying the CHURCH so that they can be inspired to shine a light about Jesus? How does this create a foundation for the church to utilize mentoring and discipling?   There are ways to effectively plan music for the multiple generations where the majority can sing out.  The end goal must be kept in mind during the planning though. Whenever a church SERVICE is designed to evangelize…with no priority given to disciple and facilitate worship music opportunities for those within the church, the bend tends to lean towards being attractive. (I could truly spend a lot more time on this entire topic, but I will not today.)

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So, we have these goals to share about Christ but also to love God and others.  How do we work together the best? How do we accomplish the most?  We need to know our part. We need to have clearly defined roles. We need to know our strengths and feel free to use them. We must have a unified main goal. No ulterior motives. This is a time for revival in our purpose and our passion.  If we believe the lie that things are just going to go back to normal, then we will lose our fuel to prepare and disciple….passing the torch to the next generation so that they are prepared for what is coming.  If we deny what is coming, then we miss out on a huge opportunity. There have already been TOO MANY missed and wasted opportunities within the church.

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There is change on the horizon for the church.  It is coming along with the ways policies are changing and our communities are being affected by the virus and other chaotic things.  Caring for one another and edifying one another always matters.

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My big goals are to bring up my kids to discern truth and love the people around them while serving Christ. And to serve in the Kingdom of God as He guides me to do.  Those are weighty priorities for me.  It has been difficult to be motivated while so disconnected during this pandemic. I know I am not alone.  So many are experiencing it right now.  I doubt we will ever go “back to normal”.   We are moving forward, and the world is changing around us. Our end goals don’t change, but our procedures should.  When considering the goals for the future, I am sure churches are scrambling to keep the pieces together and maintain an effective ministry for each unique community.

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When the world is facing so much uncertainty with signs of considerable change on the horizon, why would we put off preparing for this until the change is at our doorstep?  People matter. And yes, people will always find something to complain about. That is life. Sometimes we need to ignore the shallow stuff so we can keep our eyes on the souls in need.  But the church still stands and has GREAT purpose.  So much heartache and so many souls in need of restoration.  Revive our passions, Lord.   Renew our fire.  Restore our hearts.   Redeem our failures.   We are in great need.   The church was established to build up and grow STRONG.  Help us, Lord. Guide us in your ways, O Yahweh.