Adam Sparks- Beyond the Worship Wars

Tuesday is Pastor's day at Resolve. we look today at an article by Adam Sparks on the worship wars and his concluding principles for corporate worship. You can read the entire article here.

Principles of Corporate Worship
The focus of this discussion moves now to an outline of some of the Biblical principles of worship. It is generally accepted that in the New Covenant worship is whole-life centred. However, our corporate worship has the dual function of affording God his rightful place (as we praise him in song, offer our prayers to him and receive his word), and of mutual edification. As we noted above, the content and format of this corporate worship is not determined in detail in Scripture. Nevertheless, if the Biblical principles that should govern our corporate worship are taken seriously I believe much of the conflict surrounding this issue will be resolved. Seven principles are noted below. These are largely a consolidation of the principles outlined by Carson et al[43], and by Montgomery[44], supplemented by some of my own convictions and observations.

1). God centred.
Worship is first and foremost about God. This is in contrast to the human focussed model that aims to please as many people as possible, be the least offensive to the outsider and which results in “dumbing-down”. “When humanity is played to first, when what humanity wants becomes the determining factor, it will corrupt not only worship but theology.”[45] We must add here too, that as Christ is the ultimate revelation of God, he must also be at the centre of our worship, otherwise the focus of our worship can become a vague, unspecified deity. This may seem obvious to the reader, however, even a brief review of many recent worship resources reveals a dominant anthropocentrism - the centre of focus being the worshipper rather than the One being worshipped. It is certainly appropriate for us to express our feelings, hopes and fears to God (the Psalmist is our supreme model here), but our worship must primarily proclaim the splendour of God and not just our meagre (however well intentioned) feelings about him.

2). Biblical
According to Montgomery, “From the days of Ambrose, through Luther and Wesley, what was sung was the doctrine of the church. We are losing this, and losing it rapidly.”[46] The Wesley’s saw their hymns as a valuable didactic tool in an illiterate culture. Charles Wesley’s hymns convey in powerful poetic form many of the wonderful theological insights of his brother John.[47] While our culture may not be illiterate generally, biblically literacy in our society and in the church is now considered by some to be at its lowest level since the Reformation. Song must therefore be an important strand in any strategy seeking to halt or reverse this slide. Ashton commends Cranmer’s understanding of worship as a helpful model. Worship according to Cranmer should be biblical, accessible, and balanced. Cranmer was passionately convinced that the text of our services, including our songs should not conflict with the bible – but should positively express the ideas of the Bible – often in the very language of the Bible. Hughes explains that the Word must infuse every aspect of our services:

This means that our corporate worship must be Word-centred from beginning to end. We do not meet for “worship and the Word.” It is all a ministry of the Word. This means that the preaching must be wholly biblical – in a word, expositional….But installing exposition as the main event is not enough. God’s Word must infuse everything. The careful reading of the Word must be central. Hymns and songs must be Word-saturated.[48]

The songs and hymns we sing should play an important teaching role. We must aim to teach the whole counsel of God not only in sermon but in song as well.

What we must strive for is growing knowledge of God and delight in him – not delight in worship per se, but delight in God….There is so much more to know about God than the light diet on offer in many churches; and genuine believers, when they are fed wholesome spiritual meals, soon delight all the more in God himself. This also accounts for the importance of “re-telling” in the Bible. (e.g., Psalm 75-76). Retelling the Bible’s story line brings to mind again and again something of God’s character, past actions, and words. It calls to mind God’s great redemptive acts across the panorama of redemptive history. This perspective is frequently lost in contemporary worship, where there are few elements calculated to make us remember the great turning points in the Bible.[49]

Matt Redman, one of the most talented and popular of the contemporary Christian musicians admits that this is both a challenge and a responsibility for song-writers. However, he reveals that “personally I never write songs to teach, but I’m aware they do.”[50]

3) Accessible
Tim Keller argues that Calvin advocated accessible or simple worship. This simplicity is a crucial strand in Keller’s’ “Doxological evangelism“ which rests on the conviction that we worship before the world as well as before God and that evangelism and worship are not mutually exclusive. However, this simplicity must not be at the expense of transcendence:

A lack of simplicity or a lack of transcendence will bore, confuse, or offend non-believers. On the other hand, if a service aims very strictly at being only evangelistic, the Christians will not have their hearts engaged in worship, and the main power of “doxological evangelism” is lost. Non-Christians will not see a people formed and sustained by glorious praise.[51]

4) Corporate
Mark Ashton helpfully indicates that Paul’s emphasis in 1 Cor. 11-14 is on intelligibility, order, clarity and “corporateness.”[52] This corporate dimension is particularly important in light of “the common assumption that church services should be designed primarily to facilitate and encourage a private communion with God, whether by spiritual exercises or ritual.[53] Similarly, Tim Keller underlines the importance of this mutual edification and suggests that “community building” is one of the “tests of reformed corporate worship”. Christian worship is essential to our unique identity. It is both a cause and effect of our being this distinct community.[54] Therefore, we must resist an individualistic interpretation of worship and seek to involve the whole congregation as participants rather than as an audience. The latter can result if too much emphasis is put on the worship as a performance. Montgomery expresses concern “at the way in which the domination of the leading band deprives the worshippers of the experience of participating in communal worship, and they could easily, in some cases, be reduced to the role of spectators.”[55]

5) Reverent and Orderly
Keller uses Calvin as a model. Calvin refused to choose between transcendence and accessibility. The glory of God and the edification of participants must be held in tension. This can be achieved if the following principles are heeded: Simplicity, the centrality of the Bible, and congregational participation. With regard to simplicity Keller urges us to retain “dignity in representation” and warns against exchanging ceremony with sentimentality. When this is done mediocrity and informality result and there is no sense of awe, no sense of being in the presence of the Holy.[56] The goal of worship is transcendence. Both heart and head should be transformed as worship is both devotional and didactic. The demeanour of those leading is therefore important.
Transcendence is served best when delight and awe are evident in the leader.

Hughes stresses the importance of right conduct in corporate worship. Our worship must acknowledge God’s rightful place as He is a consuming fire who can only be approached because of his grace.

I have come to see that while all of life is worship, gathered worship with the body of Christ is at the heart of a life of worship. Corporate worship is intended by God to inform and elevate a life of worship. In this respect, I personally view how we conduct gathered worship as a matter of life and death.[57]

6) Consecrated
Corporate worship provides mutual edification and strengthens us to live consecrated lives of worship throughout the week. It is therefore whole-hearted, giving over our mind, bodies and soul to the service and adoration of our God. It is more than a buzz on a Sunday. Worship engages the whole being and therefore should be passionate and engaged. Another of Keller’s “tests of reformed corporate worship” is “character for service”. Our corporate worship must lead to “all of life worship” and service in society.[58]

7) Balanced
a) Breadth and Variety
b) Ancient and Modern
c) Planning and Leading “Worship”