Influences on Worship

Question: What do you know about Charismatic worship?

 Charismatic Renewal
      This movement emphasizes the power of God and the manifestation of miraculous and revelatory gifts of the Spirit; especially tongues and prophecy. It was described by many as a prayer movement in the early 1970's and 80's. The central purpose of the charismatic prayer meeting was worship. A distinctive feature was spontaneity, as there was often no prescribed agenda.

    The purpose is to recapture the lost element of praise in worship found both in the Old and New Testaments. 'Praise God first and foremost, then move on to other elements of worship' say  the charismatics.

  Characteristics of charismatic worship
       Singing, shouting, hand clapping, leaping and dancing before the Lord with sincere praise and thankfulness.

       There is an expectation by all to experience the presence of God in an  intimate and passionate way in worship. Believers respond to the powerful presence of God fully with the mind, heart and body in worship.

       Worship is usually informal and casual in dress.

       Emphasis on singing Scripture songs, reliance upon music for praise and worship, emphasis upon congregational singing with the use of worship leaders, use of dance and pageantry, both spontaneous and choreographed, use of drama, emphasis upon the prophetic role of the worship leaders and pastors.2

       The Praise and Worship movement that has spread through many traditional     churches has its roots in the charismatic movement.

  9 Elements of Charismatic Renewal
   1. Focus on Jesus: Encountering Jesus, deeper yielding to Jesus and a fuller acceptance of Jesus as Lord.
   2. Praise: the first result of coming into the presence of God is praise for who  He is.
   3. Love of God's Word: They have a love and thirst for God's Word.
   4. God speaks today: through prophecy, Scriptures, Holy Spirit
   5. Evangelism: Boldness through the Spirit to share their faith w/ others.
   6. Awareness of evil: sensitive to the work of Satan and God's power to  deliver them from his efforts.
   7. Spiritual gifts: Free use of all spiritual gifts mentioned in Scripture.
   8. Eschatological expectation: They are longing for the return of Jesus.
   9. Spiritual power: By the indwelling and anointing of the Holy Spirit.

Question: What does liturgical renewal mean?

 Liturgical Renewal3

    Weekly Communion
      Fixed Prayer: Planned, written out prayers rather than spontaneous.
      Creeds: Confessions of faith, Apostles and Nicene Creeds
      Litanies: Prayers or praises made up of a series of petitions said or sung by a worship leader to which the congregation
        has a fixed response.
      Traditional Hymns:
      Processions: Ceremonial walks by the ministers who wear vestments and carry  items such as crosses, candles,
        banners and the Bible.
      Church Calendar: Following the church year (Advent, Epiphany, Lent, Easter, Pentecost)
      Divine Office: The practice of saying fixed prayers at certain times of the day.
      Vestments, paraments: Vestments: special clothing worn by the minister during the service.
                                          Paraments:  fabric hangings covering the pulpit/communion table.

 Blended Worship
  We have three forms of  worship renewal in the Post-modern era. Charismatic, Liturgical and Blended.

Question: What type/period/paradigm of worship are they attempting to reform?

  Primarily that of the Modern paradigm with it's revivalistic, respectable and historical emphases.

Question: Is there is need for Blended Worship? Explain.

     Yes. Let's consider the options. The Traditionalists seems to be waiting for the Sovereign God to reveal Himself in worship while the Contemporaries seem determined to bang on heavens doors to be sure they got God's attention. Two very different expressions of personal theologies of worship.

     Yes, because the options are limited. We can wait till all the traditionalist die and move to a totally contemporary service. OR we can wait till the contemporaries mature in their faith and taste and return to a traditional service. Neither is legitimate.
Question: Why not just have two services: One Traditional and One Contemporary?

 Division
      The truth is when a church divides, neither group experiences full, healthy worship. We need to experience the company of every age group in worship. The contemporary services miss the serenity, history and order of the Traditional service. At the same time the Traditional services miss the power and intimacy of the Contemporary services.

      Contemporary worshippers need to be reminded that they did not invent worship. It has been around for over 2000 years. For the church, tradition can be a strength.

      Faithful traditional worshippers need to be reminded that time moves on and the church must move with it. A healthy church maintains its ties with the past but also revises and learns on a regular basis.

 1 Cor. 11:27-29

Question: What can we infer about worship from this passage?

      Is an important text on this subject because it's context is worship and it is speaking to the body of Christ. To eat and drink w/o discerning the body is a sin. To do this is to separate the body because of a lack of love and acceptance of each others as part of the body. It seems to me that these are important words which refer to the participation together of all the body in worship.

      The church is the church when it unites together to worship it's head, Christ. Two different services for two different tastes brings disunity and in my opinion is not properly discerning the body and is sin.

Gal. 3:28

Question: What can we infer about worship from this passage?

      I certainly do not want to add anything to what a Scripture text is saying, but I believe there is room in this text for unifying the body and not separating it.

Question: What can two different types or styles of worship services do to a local congregation?

     We are not a church of individuals who can have a Burger King mentality to worship (have it your way). We are one body, joined by one Spirit worshipping one Lord. The emphasis here is on the one-ness of the body of Christ.

     If we set up different kinds of worship at different times, this fosters the 'vender consumer' attitudes and promotes the idea that we are marketing church to tailor to any particular taste.

     The division into a 'traditional' and 'contemporary' services is destructive to community because the terms are so poorly defined.

Question: What is a traditional worship service? What is a Contemporary worship service?

     Which tradition do we mean? Baptist, Reformed, Catholic..What about 'contemporary? Do we mean choruses from Taize, pop songs, only songs from Vineyard or Hillsong, Maranatha?

     The division into 'traditional' and 'contemporary' seems to match the tensions of truth and love in the Scriptures.

Ex: Ephesus in Rev. 2 lost its love and Pergamum is rebuked for having false teachers.

     Older music, hymns, were written in a time where music was more objective in nature and most often stress content. New music, choruses, emphasize loving God. Both are needed and ought not be separated.

     Also, with taste in music being so varied, why stop at just 'traditional' and 'contemporary'? What about those who like country, jazz, operatic, rock. Which taste do we follow.

     Separating the services also tends to separate the generations. Young families will not benefit from the wisdom and experience of sitting next to older believers in worship. Older believers will miss out on the enthusiasm and energy of the younger Christians in worship. They will  miss out on opportunities for new expression of worship. Both will suffer.

     The community of faith is most truly the church when it participates together in worship. Going to the same church building for worship at different times and for different styles is not worshipping together as the body of Christ.

Question: So, what do we do then with those who like and prefer a traditional service and those who like and prefer a contemporary service of worship?

 Maturity and Growth
      Two services based on music style and taste promotes narcissism, to preferring ourselves, which in turn prevents witness, concern and outreach to your neighbor.

Rom. 12:10 'Be devoted to one another in love, give preference to one another in honor'

Question: What does this infer about maturity and growth of Believers in relation to worship?

     Some believe that blended worship does not work because in the end it merely frustrates everyone. Since no one is ever getting all of what they want. Most Christians are willing to accommodate the worship need and desires of others, when their worship needs and desires are taken seriously. Like a family, a congregation can learn to give and take in order to meet the needs of all its members. the end result is an enhanced worship experience for all.

Philippians 2:1-4 'If therefore there is any encouragement in Christ, if there is any consolation of love, if there is any fellowship of the Spirit, if any affection and compassion, make my joy complete by being of the same mind, maintaining the same love, united in spirit, intent on one purpose. Do nothing from selfishness or empty conceit, but with humility of mind let each of you regard one another as more important than himself; do not merely look out for your own personal interests, but also for the interests of others.'

John 17:20-23 'I do not ask in behalf of these alone, but for those also who believe in Me through their word; that they may all be one; even as Thou, Father, art in Me, and I in Thee, that they also may be in Us; that the world may believe that Thou didst send Me. And the glory which Thou hast given Me I have given to them; that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected in unity, that the world may know that Thou didst send Me, and didst love them, even as Thou didst love Me.'

      Author, Marva Dawn, believes it is important to learn new songs that you might not like for the sake of community, for the sake of the brother or sisters for whom it may especially edify. By such willingness the whole community learns to appreciate a wider diversity of musical styles for the sake of caring for each other in the body.

      She also believes that since Jesus wanted His church to be one, it is important that it be united and not divided according to anything, including taste and personal preference regarding worship style. It is by this unity that the world will know that Jesus is the Christ, sent by God for the salvation of the world.

Question: What is Blended Worship? What does it look like?

 1. It adds traditional hymns with contemporary choruses  in the same service.
  -It is often done in a  particular way. It is NOT adding a few choruses on to the beginning or end of the traditional service.
   That may be a start but that is not blended worship.

  -Contemporary worship takes contemporary songs and promotes a flow between the songs.
   This flow is an integral part of the contemporary style of worship. It is the  flow of song to song w/o interruption.

Question: Why might this be helpful?

      Many churches we grew up in and still continue to stop and introduce each song before it is sung. Or at least telling the people the hymn, page number and number of verse's to be sung. This can break up  the mood of worship. Contemporary worship puts the songs in a handout and they  go from one to another to tell a story with the songs about the worship experience before the Lord.

      -In Blended Worship we add traditional hymns to the contemporary songs in the flow from one to another.

 2. It is joining the cerebral with the emotive.
      -Traditional worship is sermon centered. Everything else done in worship are  preliminaries to hearing the sermon.
       Traditional worship can be very me centered. What did I get out of the service means, what did the sermon say to me.

      -Contemporary  worship is emotion oriented. While the sermon is central it is not more important than any other part of
       the service. Contemporary worship can be very God centered. It is not what did I get out of the service but what did I
       give to  God as an overflow of a heart of thanksgiving for what He has done for me.

      -Blended worship works to join the importance of biblical teaching with responding  to God with our hearts as well as
      our minds. It attempts to refocus the worship experience on God rather than on the worshipper. It promotes the free
      expression  of a heart of emotion to God within the parameters of the Truth of God's Word.

Question: Is there room for both the mind (cognitive content) and the heart (emotive expression)  in worship?

 3. It is the joining of the meditative/reflective and the participative.
      -Traditional worship is traditionally traditional. That is traditional worship is inward and individualistic.
       Traditional worship promotes personal mediation and reflection before the lord in silence. This type of worship lends
       itself to personal involvement with the Lord, where you are, in  your seat. Participation with the congregation is limited
       to hymn singing and sitting together to hear the message.

      -Contemporary worship is outward and communal. It is not just about your position before the Lord in worship but
       about the position of the body (congregation) in worship. Contemporary worship promotes personal meditation within
       the  community of the saints. There is great amounts of communal action and  participation in contemporary worship.

      -Blended worship attempts to unite both the personal reflective and the communal participative. The idea is to bring the
       person and the congregation to the throne of  grace and one people before God in worship.

Question: Is there room in worship for both personal reflection and corporate participation?

 4. It is the joining of the formal with the informal.
      -Traditional worship tends to be a formal exercise. All things done in proper sequence according to the Order of Worship.
       There is little or no humor or  spontaneity.  Reverence is the key word and attitude of the heart because we are coming
       into the holiness of God's presence. The emphasis is on God's holiness in worship.

      -Contemporary worship tends to be an informal meeting. Although there may be an Order of Worship there is great
       freedom to move as the Spirit directs. There is often appropriate humor and great spontaneity.

       -Celebration is the key word in contemporary worship because we are a forgiven and redeemed people who are
       promised the love of God. The emphasis is on the love of God to His children in worship.

      -Blended worship unites both. It realizes the necessity of recognizing the holiness of  God while at the same time
       remembering that we are a forgiven and redeemed     people wholly loved by God. And as His beloved children we
       can come boldly before the throne of God in celebration and praise.

Question: Is there room in worship for both formality and informality?

Summary

     Blended worship is the conscious decision to bring the entire body of Christ, in all its diversity, together in corporate worship. Rather than providing separate services to appeal to the tastes of different generations and individuals, all are encouraged to make concessions relative to their own personal preferences with the goal of a shared worship experience in to which all can enter. Since worship is not primarily for our benefit but for God's.

     The strongest argument for pursuing blended worship is the fact that the body of Christ is blended (Gal. 3:28) and it is in corporate worship that the truth of the body's unity (in diversity) can be most effectively lived out (Eph. 4:4-6; 1 Cor. 12:20)