conversation on worship #3

Calvary continued its ongoing conversation on the nature of worship per se and worship at Calvary this past Sunday. Dr. Terry York once again led us. Below are my notes.

Worship Conversation #3, Calvary, 3/27/11, Dr. Terry York.

Style & Application

Baptists have not talked about worship style for long, though it may seem much longer. City wide revivals (Sunday & Graham) got folks to ask why Sunday was not like Mon – Thurs. Also, in civil rights era new ideas arose. Sun night services were a response to these tendencies.

Worship is more than musical style. Preaching style, how scripture is read, congregational participation all impacts worship. When talking about changing styles, are we just talking about changing music?

Some worship styles don’t want silence. Adding more silence can scare people more than changing music. Radio and TV put in soundtracks; later churches did too. They call this seamless worship.

Worship style is not goal or tool, it is discovery: our voice, identity, personality. Worship can’t drive global or evangelical or missional endeavors; worship comes out of who we are. We must develop discerning ear to see what God is telling us through the congregation. God articulates through our worship.

God speaks in ways other than through the pulpit. No church has ever said no new songs; some churches say not those new songs.

York had us engage in group discussion: two theses: worship is not just music; worship is not a tool/goal.

Application

When do we decide to change things? How do we change? When do we know when it’s over? Answer these on front end. Not all worship problems are solved at 11:00am on Sunday and not all discussions on worship are discussions on worship.

Is our current worship style who we are? Getting close counts. Why do we do what we do? What development of our voice can there be? Is there more work to be done? Is transformation taking place? Hard part is how to measure that. York says we only know when we see it.

Keep making in-flight adjustments. Don’t create problems to have something to fix.

Work in application needs to further development of church voice. How to gauge that?

Communication from leadership as to why/application matters.