Church services are otherwise labeled "Corporate Worship".
Therefore, when one goes to a church service, they are expecting certain
things... mainly, the Praise and Worship of the Eternal King of kings.
So, what is Praise and Worship? Praise is singing songs about God...
His grace, wonderful works, mighty power... songs of thanksgiving for
what He has done and/or promised to do. Worship would also include
songs of thanksgiving because true worship songs would be songs singing
to God. So, if praise songs sing about God and worship songs sing to
God, how do secular songs fit in with praise and worship in a corporate
worship setting? Granted, there are some that may work but with so many
true praise and worship songs, why would we need to delve into that
gray territory?
Today's
worshipper has so much rich music to choose from... there are classic
praise and worship songs such as, "Great is Thy Faithfulness", "It is
Well with My Soul", "Crown Him with Many Crowns", "Count Your
Blessings", etc. and then, over the years, these songs have been added
to with music from great songwriters like Andre Crouch ("Through it
All"), Rich Mullins ("Awesome God"), and Bill Gaither ("Because He
Lives"). And, as many of you will recognize, I've only used one song
per person but they each have such a rich history of songs from which to
select.
To further add to our repertoire, we've now got songwriters such as Matt Redman, Chris Tomlin, and David Crowder... again, each with so many songs from which to select.
If
you are a worship leader at a local assembly, please prayerfully
consider... will the songs that I'm selecting for this week truly usher
our congregation into the presence of God? Will they be inviting God
into our assembly? Will they be preparing hearts, as soil, to accept
the Word of God? Or will they be a distraction from the purpose of our
time together. Are these songs laid on my heart by God for a particular
purpose for this week's message?
