For many churches certain worship services or seasons look very similar from year to year: Advent and Christmas, Maundy Thursday and Good Friday, Easter, Ascension Sunday, Pentecost, etc. To this short list we could add Reformation Sunday and Thanksgiving. In our context all this is very intentional, and not simply traditional. Christmas Carols become old …
Here’s an old song recorded with my family. We like to take it in a quasi-bluegrass vein, but it would be a great congregational song too. Enjoy! 1 I’m not ashamed to own my Lord,or to defend his cause,maintain the honor of his Word,the glory of his cross. 2 Jesus, my God! I know his …
A biblical worship service should reflect good news, tell good news, and propels us toward gospel service. Neither the service nor the Christian life should be static. This week Kevin DeYoung’s sermon series takes us to Acts 13:1-12 in which Barnabas and Saul/Paul are sent out – they are on the move. Here’s a link …
*The following is copied from our bulletin at Christ Covenant Church, which we call “In Preparation.” I write these notes off and on in order to help our flock train their eyes and hearts for worship. I don’t write them every week, in part due to space and in part because it’s good for us …
Colossians 3:16 (ESV) Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God. This is an incredibly familiar passage. Equally familiar are the debates about the use of traditional versus contemporary music in worship. …
On the cover page of our weekly bulletin we print the words “A service of worship.” In the wider church culture we have essentially dropped the word service, or replaced it with something to do with experience. That’s unfortunate. Rarely would anyone object to the idea of service. We serve our communities, families, organizations, etc. …
Those charged with the glorious task of planning for corporate worship must take seriously their responsibility to think carefully about the words we sing. They must also think critically about the tunes we use. Often, this means vetting newer tunes which have not been proven by the passage of time and may be problematic because …