Doxologue Moving

We've decided to move Doxologue to our own server after recent server problems at blogger and the fact that David has modified Reformed Praise to make it one giant blog.

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Thoughts on Leading Worship

I wrote up a very quick and very rough draft of a document on leading worship to share with a worship leader who will be leading in my absence in a few weeks. What do you think of the following excerpt?

The role of worship leader at Redeemer is extremely important. His task can be summarized as aiding the Holy Spirit in putting Jesus on display in the thoughts and affections of His people. The fact that God would even allow men to be used in this way should deeply humble and amaze his soul. This is done by example (both in how worship leadership is executed and in his life outside of worship), and by spoken word through exhortations and prayers. He should strive to maintain an atmosphere of comfort and security during the worship service and should strive to avoid at all costs the awkward feeling of not knowing what is coming next or being unsure of what to do or say next. This awkwardness tends to pull our attention away from the Savior onto people.


How the worship leader aids the Spirit
  First, the worship leader aids the Spirit by example during the service. He should be adequately to worship God privately during the corporate gathering. This is accomplished by having intimate times with the Lord in His word and prayer during the week and especially on Saturday night or Sunday morning. He should worship God authentically even while in front of the congregation and avoid the temptation to be more expressive or express His worship in particular ways so that people will think or know He is "really" worshipping.
  Second, he leads by example through the ministry of his daily life. He has relationships with the body and models the gospel by not hiding behind a veil of godliness but rather sharing his concrete sinfulness to magnify God's grace.
  Third, the worship leader aids the Spirit by spoken word. He should put into practice the command in Ephesians 4 to speak what is helpful for edification. The right words spoken at the right time can do wonders to lead the hearts and minds of God's people from one song or reading to the next. Worshippers have the tendency to tune their minds out during readings and songs and words of explanation or reminders to pay attention (put tactfully) can be a great help. He can also model how he is responding to God's truth by spontaneous prayers and reactions to songs or readings.

Christian Radio Jewel

I heard a quote from a Christian radio announcer this morning (one of those positive, uplifting music stations…) that I just had to share. After a song came on about God being there for us during the storms of our lives, she said something like (I'm horrible at remembering conversations, but hopefully this is close) "isn't it great that we can listen to songs like this that really lift us up when we are in the midst of life's storms. It's not about us, it's about these songwriters. They have truly been anointed by God…"

As a songwriter, I was horrified by this remark. Being comforted by God's faithfulness and loving care for us is not about anyone, especially the songwriters (who are particularly prone to taking pride in their craft, I know from experience!). It's not about us, it's about God.

Teaching Doctrine Through Song: David

Thanks for reminding us of the importance of what our songs are teaching. It's often said that songs can be more effective vehicles for truth-delivery than sermons! (We must not despise the fact that God has ordained preaching, not singing, as the means by which people are saved - see Romans 10) Your post reminded me of a chapter in a John Witvliet book called Worship Seeking Understanding titled "Soul Food for the People of God." In it, Witvliet compares the choice of songs for a congregation to our diets. Like the maxim "we are what we eat" he says "we are what we sing." Going even further, he says "What more soul-shaping force can we imagine than the songs we sing?"

He gives us seven dimensions of this metaphor:

Congregational song is a means of spiritual nourishment.

A great couple of quotes from this heading are "Consider the prominent spiritual disease of sentimentality: religious experience as candy-coated happiness and bliss. If we feed our souls a steady diet of musical candy, we will have little spiritual protein to sustain us." and "[Music] is more than a shell for the text. The music we sing shapes the affections of our souls. It gives emotional content to the text."

This nourishment comes to us through patterns and habits of reception: We all have a discernable liturgical-musical diet

Witvliet discusses variety in our services and not overwhelming our people with constant innovation but forming routines and habits and identifying those that already exist.

Just like eating is more than an event, singing is more than simply "an event."

Just like the point of a business lunch is the business deal, so the point of singing is to worship God. Worship, he says, does not exist for the sake of music. He also refers to the community aspect of singing.

Liturgical and Musical taste/etiquette

In this section Witvliet compares singing to cultivating an appreciation for a wide variety of foods. We should seek to become worship music connoisseurs, not intolerant, selfish wielders of our favorite kind of music regardless of how it affects the spiritual state of the church or is conducive to worship.

The nature of those we are serving makes all the difference for how we cook

Witvliet teaches that we should prepare music for a wide variety of people. I would add that it should be for our people. Those who plan worship should have an eye toward the particular edification of the people in their specific local churches. When I'm planning I routinely make choices based on the lives and predilections of specific people.

Music is powerfully uniting

Just like food is powerful at uniting and creating community, so is the music of a church

Liturgical music as spiritual chef

"Congregational music requires a cantor (song leader), church musician, a chief facilitator, and an enlivener." "A good cantor always helps us have good encounters with new things and comfortable experiences with well-loved things."

A closing thought from Witvliet

In the last section of this chapter he says " the church needs most is discerning, prayerful, joyous people who treat their work as worship planners and leaders as a holy, pastoral calling." AMEN!

Re: Grace Gathering, 5/21/06 (David)

Kevin,

Thanks for posting your service orders. I hope that it will help readers think critically about how they plan their own services. One way in which we differ in our planning is how you structure your service into groups or functions. For example, you give each song or group of songs a section heading like "Songs of Meditation." While I might have the function of songs in mind when I plan, I like to leave this out b/c service items can fulfill multiple functions, which can change based on how the Spirit is moving on our hearts and minds as the service goes along. Another reason I don't add functions to items is that my people don't have a service order. We use the overhead projector and most people seem to feel comfortable just following along. We do make a music/lyric booklet available for those that want it, so those that need that sense of security that comes from knowing what's next can satisfy their desire.

The opening song is a great choice. It presents God's character and asks for help worshipping Him. I often use a great hymn that describes God and our approach to Him as our first song. A great next step is to confess our sin, which you accomplish with a read prayer. I will use either the worship leader's prayer, a time of silence or a song (and sometimes an instrumental verse during a song) to accomplish this. I think it's very important that we regularly come before God as repentant sinners - this is sorely lacking in today's worship services by and large.

The next two songs represent songs that I wouldn't use in congregational worship, at least here at Redeemer. Thy Mercy, while being a great text and catchy tune, suffers from what I call "disjointed prosody." That is, the verses actually sing differently from one another rhythmically, making it very difficult to learn unless you have listened to the recording many times or have sung it many times. Goodgame's tune to Wesley's hymn has always seemed disjointed with the lyrics to me. I get the sense that I'm sitting on a country fence swinging my legs in the breeze while I sing "I have long withstood His grace, long provoked Him to His face." Maybe it's just me, or maybe it's because I wrote another tune to that hymn in '99 which is much different.

So thanks again for leading your people in worship with thought and care and giving them God's Word and songs full of God's Word. When there is so much truth in our services I find the job of leading worship much easier - all I need to do is emphasize and point out various aspects of the truth that are affecting me, modeling how to respond to all this truth, and believers respond in true worship!

Re: Key Worship Convictions of Grace Church (David)

Kevin,

Thanks for thinking so deeply about your church's approach to worship and identifying key goals. For many of these I can simply say "amen," and for the others I'll try to add something meaningful below.

Theological Richness: Songs should not only be doctrinally true, but theologically rich. Preference will be shown to modern hymns, and shallow, repetitive songs will be avoided.

I wouldn't write off shallow, repetitive songs completely. I occasionally use very simple songs (but don't repeat them too many times) particularly for those who can't fully grasp the complex theological ideas in the larger songs, like children or mentally slow adults.

Historical Connection: The great hymns of the faith should be sung, either with their original tunes or with modern revisions of them, allowing today’s worshippers to be connected to their brothers and sisters of the past and their depth of expression.

I completely agree that we need to connect our people to the past and give them a sense of the history of worship songs, particularly for congregations that haven't grown up with a hymn background. And I think it's important that they learn the original tunes to some of the best hymns.

Indigenous Style: The “feel” of worship music should suit the place in which the church is found, allowing the people of that community to give appropriate voice to their praises.

I normally call this identifying the local church's stylistic center. I believe that we should seek to be ever expanding the stylistic center of the styles of music people can connect with. That expansion should happen slowly in most cases, and can greatly benefit God's people as it helps them to have a broad palette of musical ideas that they enjoy. As Harold Best says, "the mature believer is easily edified." If we stick to the same style of music each week we'll box our people's musical tastes into a small corner of comfort and when they worship anywhere else around the world (or even around the corner) they may have a hard time being edified by the music.

Liturgical Flow: The structure of the worship gathering should have a certain flow, ushering people through the gospel to the throne of God. To say the gathering is liturgical speaks more of the thought put into the service than the feel produced by it.

I want to clarify what I think you are saying. A structure in itself doesn't usher people through the gospel to the throne of God. Structure refers to how the service is put together, readings followed by songs, etc. When I speak of flow I first speak about the flow of truth - what the worshipper should be thinking and doing with truth as they move from item to item in a service. This should be our primary concern, how items in the service relate to one another. Then we can speak about more mechanical things like when it sit/stand, how many songs in a row to sing, etc. Too many worship planners get caught up in the mechanics and think that the right physical structure, lights, seating, etc. will create worship or "take us to the throne." I normally avoid connecting the throne room of God with an intensity of worship or emotion. We enter the throne room of God not by the depth of our passion, but by faith in our union with Christ. And when we first "draw near to the throne" (Heb. 4:16) then we will find mercy and grace (our response).

Multi-Generational Appeal: A diversity of songs should be sung that appeal to all of God’s saints, not just a certain age group. However, a congregational “center” should be ascertained, enabling for an indigenous expression of worship by the bulk of the congregation.

I want to point out that groups of people who have different musical heart languages are often not defined by generations. We have young people who don't like pop music, and older people who don't like traditional music. It's more about the background and learned associations that people have developed over their life. Sometimes the hymn vs. chorus gets stereotyped as old vs. young Christians.

Corporate Emphasis: Believers should be encouraged to worship God primarily as a corporate body, not as individuals, during the weekly corporate worship gathering. This will affect songs chosen (preference for “we” songs over those “I”) and prayers uttered (“God, forgive us,” over “God, forgive me.”), as well as numerous other aspects of the meeting.

In the corporate gathering, there is a sense in which when we sing "I love you" we are also saying "We love you." I'm not sure that simply using the plural pronouns will help believers to see themselves as worshipping with the community. Additionally, using personal pronouns can sometimes help people appropriate the response they are singing and help them make it "their own." The psalms show us this balance of first person vs. second person.

Grace Gathering: 6.04.06

Grace Church of Columbia - Grace Gathering
Sunday, June 4th, 2006 10:00 am

Call to Worship
Isaiah 40:21-26

Opening Song
The Glories of Calvary Grace Church (Steve & Vikki Cook)

Confession of Sin/Assurance of Pardon
Silent Prayer of Confession
And Can It Be? (v. 4, read)

Song of Prayer
Lift Up Thy Bleeding Hand (Cecil Alexander, Andrew Osenga)

Confession of Our Common Faith
The Eternal Purposes of God (Bethlehem Elder Affirmation) God’s Eternal Purpose and Election
We believe that God, from all eternity, in order to display the full extent of His glory for the eternal and ever-increasing enjoyment of all who love Him, did, by the most wise and holy counsel of His will, freely and unchangeably ordain and foreknow whatever comes to pass.
We believe that God upholds and governs all things – from galaxies to subatomic particles, from the forces of nature to the movements of nations, and from the public plans of politicians to the secret acts of solitary persons – all in accord with His eternal, all-wise purposes to glorify Himself, yet in such a way that He never sins, nor ever condemns a person unjustly; but that His ordaining and governing all things is compatible with the moral accountability of all persons created in His image.
We believe that God’s election is an unconditional act of free grace which was given through His Son Christ Jesus before the world began. By this act God chose, before the foundation of the world, those who would be delivered from bondage to sin and brought to repentance and saving faith in His Son Christ Jesus.

Song of Thanksgiving
Father, Long Before Creation (Francis Jones, Andrew Osenga)

Song of Prayer
One Pure and Holy Passion (Mark Altrogge)

Scripture Reading
Exodus 14:30-15:21

Song of Prayer
Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing (Robert Robinson)

Offering
Offering Prayer
Receiving the Offering
Lift Up Thy Bleeding Hand (Cecil Alexander, Andrew Osenga)

Message
Grace Church at One Year: Grabbing On and Not Letting Go of the Rope

Lord's Supper
Invitation to the Table of our Lord
How Deep the Father’s Love for Us (Stuart Townend)
Serving the Bread and the Cup
The Bread and the Cup

Community Life
Announcements
Sharing and Praying

Song of Thanksgiving
See What A Morning (Resurrection Hymn) (Stuart Townend, Keith Getty)

Benediction
Benediction: Exodus
Now may the God that rescued His people Israel in the Exodus and has saved us, His new Israel, through the New Exodus in Christ, make us a people who will profoundly experience and passionately proclaim the freedom of our Lord's grace here in our great city. Amen.

I'm Still Alive, If Only a Little Distracted

Hey brothers, I apologize for my failure to post for awhile. I've been a little distracted by some big changes. You know this, but our readers don't--On June 1, I officially began as pastor of Northbrook Baptist Church in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. My first Sunday preaching will be June 11 (this coming Sunday). I'd appreciate you prayers during this busy summer as I begin a new ministry, look to sell and buy a house, and as Jenny gives birth to our third child in August.

Teaching Doctrine Through Song

There was a heretic in church history who taught that Christ was a created being. He spread his error through song. The children would skip through the city streets singing, "There once was was when he was not."

I was reminded of the power of song to teach (and defend) right doctrine yesterday when I received this e-mail regarding my text, He is Altogether Lovely:

Mr. Schumacher,
I just wanted to encourage you to keep writing. Just the other day I was talking with 2 Morman missionary girls about the deity of Christ and how the person they call "Jesus Christ" is not at all the Jesus Christ of the Holy Scriptures . The words you penned (scripture shining through song) quickly came to mind and aided me as I proclaimed to them the deity of Christ. After a short conversation, they insisted that they could no longer stay and talk about this any longer as scripture clearly revealed Christ's deity. All that said, I just wanted to say thank you for your service to the kingdom.

Grace Gathering: 5/28/06

Grace Church of Columbia - Grace Gathering
Sunday, May 28th, 2006 10:00 am

Call to Worship
Psalm 96

Opening Song
And Can it Be? (Scott Roley/Charles Wesley)

Confession of Sin/Assurance of Pardon
Confession of Sin 2.2.68 from The Worship Sourcebook
Leader: God blesses those whose hearts are pure, for they will see God.
God's People: But we have defiled our hearts with idols of our own choosing, doubting thatGod will keep his Word and his promises. We continually compromise the truth by trying to find meaning and security in our jobs, our friends, our pleasures, our projects—but not in God.
Leader: Lord, please show us your mercy.
God's People: Lord, have mercy upon us in the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. Amen.
1 John 1:9

Songs of Worship
I Will Glory in My Redeemer (Steve & Vikki Cook)
Better is One Day (Matt Redman)

Confession of Our Common Faith
Westminster Shorter Catechism Q37 & 38
Leader: Q. 37. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at death?
God's People: A. The souls of believers are at their death made perfect in holiness, and do immediately pass into glory; and their bodies, being still united in Christ, do rest in their graves, till the resurrection.
Leader: Q. 38. What benefits do believers receive from Christ at the resurrection?
God's People: A. At the resurrection, believers, being raised up in glory, shall be openly acknowledged and acquitted in the day of judgment, and made perfectly blessed in the full enjoying of God to all eternity.

Song of Prayer
Give Us Clean Hands (Charlie Hall)

Scripture Reading
Hebrews 10:1-25

Song of Meditation
The Gospel Song (Drew Jones and Bob Kauflin)

Offering
Offering Prayer
Give Us Clean Hands (instrumental)

Message: Matthew 5:8
Lord's Supper
Invitation to the Table of our Lord
Jesus, Cast a Look On Me (John Berridge, Matthew Perryman Jones)
The Bread and the Cup

Community Life
Announcements
Sharing and Praying

Song of Thanksgiving
How Great Thou Art (Stuart K. Hine)

Benediction
Jude 24-25

Key Worship Convictions of Grace Church

I put this together sometime ago, when I was sharing my vision for worship with Luke. Tell me what you think. I would love to read documents of some of you out there that have tried to do a similar thing.

Key Worship Music Convictions: Grace Church of Columbia

God-Centered Orientation: The service in general, and the songs in particular, should point people to God, not self.

Gospel Focus: The service and songs should remind participants of the gospel—that they are sinners saved by the life, death, and resurrection of Christ.

Theological Richness: Songs should not only be doctrinally true, but theologically rich. Preference will be shown to modern hymns, and shallow, repetitive songs will be avoided.

Historical Connection: The great hymns of the faith should be sung, either with their original tunes or with modern revisions of them, allowing today’s worshippers to be connected to their brothers and sisters of the past and their depth of expression.

Modern Expression: The best of today’s worship songs should also be used, allowing for modern expression of ancient truths, while still preferring God-centered, gospel-focused, and theologically rich songs.

Indigenous Style: The “feel” of worship music should suit the place in which the church is found, allowing the people of that community to give appropriate voice to their praises.

Liturgical Flow: The structure of the worship gathering should have a certain flow, ushering people through the gospel to the throne of God. To say the gathering is liturgical speaks more of the thought put into the service than the feel produced by it.

Diverse Instrumentation and Involvement: Diverse instruments and different believers (ethnically, generationally, etc.) should be utilized to lead all the saints in praise, while keeping a stylistic “center” to the gathering.

Participative Nature: The goal of worship music is to engage and lead the saints in worship. Therefore, arranging, playing, and mixing of music that encourages a performance-spectator mentality will be avoided. The voices in a worship gathering should be the main instruments.

God-Glorifying Excellence: The music leader and team will strive to lead in such a way that God is glorified, and that the saints will not be distracted either by their mastery or by their inability. This will be accomplished partially through weekly rehearsals.

Musical Beauty: God-glorifying lyrics must be matched with fitting, beautiful music that images the beauty of the Creator God who invented music.

Non-Negotiable Importance: As singing is commanded throughout the Bible and serves as the most supreme voice of amazing truths, its importance must be taught and modeled by church leadership. “I don’t like to sing” is an unacceptable statement for a believer of Christ.

Lifestyle Understanding: Worship encompasses all of life—certainly more than Sunday morning, and especially the Sunday singing time. Singing is just one aspect of a worship service, and calling it “worship” confuses the people of God.

Gifted Leadership: As the song leader sets the tone for the gathering of God’s people, he must be a gifted musician, passionate worshipper, and loving servant who can plan and lead God-glorifying singing times.

Elder Involvement: The final responsibility for the songs sung during the worship gathering falls to the elders, so they must be involved closely with the planning of services. They must not completely delegate this responsibility due to the critical teaching component of corporate singing.

Believer Orientation: Singing in corporate worship gatherings should be geared to facilitate the worship of believers, not appeal to “seekers.” Worship can only be truly done by believers in Christ.

Multi-Generational Appeal: A diversity of songs should be sung that appeal to all of God’s saints, not just a certain age group. However, a congregational “center” should be ascertained, enabling for an indigenous expression of worship by the bulk of the congregation.

Multiple Settings: Small groups, family devotions, and youth groups, just to name a few, are other venues that should encourage musical worship.

Corporate Emphasis: Believers should be encouraged to worship God primarily as a corporate body, not as individuals, during the weekly corporate worship gathering. This will affect songs chosen (preference for “we” songs over those “I”) and prayers uttered (“God, forgive us,” over “God, forgive me.”), as well as numerous other aspects of the meeting.

Passionate Expression: Christians must be taught to desire strong affections in worship. Hypocritical, heartless singing is to be avoided, while heartfelt passion is to be pursued.

Loving Deference: Church members must put the desires of others above themselves, not fighting to see that their musical preferences are honored as best.

Unified Praise: The unity of the local body must be pursued in worship gatherings. This is achieved, first of all, by having all the believers gathered in one room, with one voice. Multiple worship gatherings, and multiple, different-styled worship gatherings will be avoided.