Does our worship impact our lives and others lives outside the walls of the church? To some this might seem a strange question. However, it is very important in our day and time if we are to embody the mission of the church to the world. Specifically, how does our worship music impact "outside the walls"?
Music is a powerful tool and has much to offer the church of the future. It has been and will continue to be a primary means of impacting our world with God's grace. But if we are to do that, we need to look at some areas in which we must do better.
We need to find and use songs that have texts that really impact our lives. Too many times we want to sing only of God's reign, God's greatness, our awe of God or our need to praise Him. If we are not careful we will get so caught up in a "spiritual time of praise and worship experience" that it leaves us disconnected from faith and the living out of our faith.
We also need to find very singable tunes that use meters much like the old hymns. The Gettys and Stuart Townsend (writers of "In Christ Alone") are an example of these strong theological texts set to folk-like singable tunes. We need songs like this to keep us in connection with strong history and theological teaching.
Also, we need songs that help us come face to face with the human condition and what it means to live out our every day lives. Our worship must connect with the world - it's problems, pain and great need. We must not just sing "joy" songs. We also need to have songs that make us realize that sometimes God is silent, and that we are not always able to understand God, and that the very heart of our existence is the hope that we have in Him!
Even as we did on the mission field, we must study and find music that impacts where we are, not where we wish we were. We must have music that is so natural to our culture and sub-culture that our songs move easily from the worship of our church to our homes, and even to our work places. We must send folks out of the church singing the songs we sing all week long at home and in the work place if it is to impact their lives fully outside the walls. Then it becomes a shared experience with others and has the missional impact that completes worship and makes a full circle back to beginning again with new worshippers joining the gathered body and the throngs of heaven! mjm
