Worship Myths | Rich Kirkpatrick's Weblog

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Worship Mythbuster: yes, worship leading is pastoring!

Tuesday, August 24th, 2010

Do we lead worship to impress or engage people to life change? Leading worship is actually part of any pastor’s heart if we look at it that way.

As worship leaders we provide a safe place to meet God. We design experiences that are based biblically on truth, decoding the culture while engaging people in drawing nearer to God.

What do you think: is worship leading pastoring or something else?

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Category Christian Life, Church Stuff, Worship Leading, Worship Myths, videos |

REPOST: Worship Mythbusters-10 Things That Hamper & Damage Worship in the Church

Thursday, July 8th, 2010

This is a repost from here…

Ten things that damage a worship ministry and hamper worship in a church

Church politics: not everyone can or will be “pleased” by the style of worship at a church, no matter how many services, styles, video venues or times for worship. Pleasing people in general is a bad idea, right?
Biblical illiteracy: a worship ministry that does not commit to biblically presenting a complete Jesus or filter song choice or content biblically will risk teaching the congregation a lessor picture of Jesus.
Utility over Artistry: a demand to see music, and other expressions of worship as utility and not understand art hurts the ability to actually authentically express. It makes worship a means to something rather than the end.
Church politics: not everyone has gifts to lead or can be in front all the time. The goal in worship leadership is to serve the church, not your own desire to be leading upfront or showcasing talent. When personalities clamor for the stage, it hurts our worship expression.
Not letting the kids take over: keeping worship for my generation and not giving the younger mentorship, exposure and leadership opportunities in worship means the church loses the future. Remember, they are not the church of the future, they are the church.
Worshiping excellence: pushing the worship team to be so non-inclusive that only a small elite become the musicians, singers and tech might hurt the church since losing one of these individuals means a huge hole and loss of excellence.
Lack of Excellence: if music, lighting, speaking and whatever is available is not done well, the church loses gifted people who would rather not subjugate their gifting to poor planning, execution or leadership. (So, with 6 & 7 there is a sweet spot each church has to find–value doing your best, while not making it a club!)
Christian subculture: when music selection is limited to only a small group of writers from a couple publishers and there is one radio station in town your veteran church members listen to, we live in a ghetto. The goal is not to keep our worship expression in a bubble but to reach the world. Make worship style indigenous to reach and reflect your community, not the choice of Christian publishers marketing to veteran Christians.
Church politics: song selection, use of drums, volume, personalities, who gets to play, friends, complaint cards…
Me, myself and I: the trinity of selfishness perhaps is the root cause of all of these. Worship in a local church is “us” worshiping our God. Even when we feel our personal need to worship is important, gathering with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of worshipers is something special and not about me or you in that moment.

Which of these is the worst offender, you think?

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Category Christian Life, Church Stuff, Worship Myths |

Worship Mythbusters: Social Justice is worship?

Tuesday, June 22nd, 2010

MYTH: Social Justice is Worship…

Amos 5:23-24
Away with the noise of your songs! I will not listen to the music of your harps.But let justice roll on like a river, righteousness like a never-failing stream!
Matthew 25:44-45
“They also will answer, ‘Lord, when did we see you hungry or thirsty or a stranger or needing clothes or sick or in prison, and did not help you?’
“He will reply, ‘I tell you the truth, whatever you did not do for one of the least of these, you did not do for me.’

It may seem like an open and shut case that “social justice” is what worship is. I would concur that if we as believers do not act as such there is obviously consequences we surely do not want to face in the after-life. Also, it is clear that worship without justice is meaningless and empty. But, is it worship? Is social justice our focus of worship? No.

The danger here is losing the centrality of Jesus in our worship by simply focusing almost in a pantheism-Jesus-is-the-poor mindset and miss that they are not Jesus. Jesus is Jesus. Jesus is our focus. By gazing at Jesus in worship the obvious sign of our love for him is poured out in being filled with justice and righteousness.

The real judgement I think is in the loss of our focus on the supremacy of Christ as our object of worship. We can turn to idols even the good things. Here is the premise I want to hear from you about: Good works are a result of worship. Not the other way around.

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Category Christian Life, Worship Myths |

Worship Mythbusters: Top 10 signs that your church worship music will suck

Friday, April 30th, 2010

Yes, at times we are caught of guard and our worship music suffers. Here are some signs your music is in trouble:

Singer says at beginning of service: “God gave me this song…”
You see your worship team as a cover band rather than artists who create
Guitarist says: “I forgot my capo…”
The pastor starts or changes the tempo of songs from the front row (true story!)
Asked in a worship planning meeting: “Have you heard the song ‘Pass It On’?”
Any discussion about using bagpipes in a worship service!
Your audio tech complains: “The electric guitar…its..its..distorting!”
The worship leader tags endlessly on the first song…well, any song.
There is NO COFFEE available in the worship team green room before service
The pastor or the pastor’s wife lives in the sound booth!

Any I missed on my list? Add your thoughts.

6 Comments

Category Church Stuff, Music, Worship Myths |

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