Christian ministry, renewal, worship charismatic, renewal, worship

Charismatic Worship and Ministry by Stephen Bryar, and Renewal in the Church by Stan Everitt

by Geoff 20 May 2011 No Comments

Charismatic Worship and Ministry

Captain Stephen Bryar wrote in 1995 when serving with the Family Support Services in the Salvation Army in Melbourne.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship– PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and
Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt:
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/20/charismatic-worship-and-ministry-by-stephen-bryar/
Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship/

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

_____________________________________________

You do desire to see signs and wonders

wrought in the name of Jesus.

This baptism then, is your first great need.

– William Booth

_____________________________________________

My childhood years were influenced by an orderly and conservative Anglican tradition. Signs and wonders were not for today and any who spoke in tongues were considered extremists belonging to a strange cult. You could imagine the furore when the assistant rector spoke in tongues!

I was converted in 1966 and commenced attending the Salvation Army in 1972. At that time I gave little or no thought to the charismatic question, except that I noticed in my occupation as a funeral director that services conducted in Pentecostal churches were joyful.

Ecumenical

My first serious encounter with the charismatic issue occurred during our first appointment in 1980. The Salvation Army was invited to share in an interdenominational campaign, with the key evangelist and speaker an Anglican priest. He was the rector of a rapidly growing church, contrary to the declining trends of other Anglican churches.

A team accompanied him and, as an ecumenical community, we welcomed them at a special tea. I spoke with several team members. One spoke to me concerning my own conversion and then asked me the question, ‘Have you been baptised in the Holy Spirit?’

I had no idea what she was talking about and felt most indignant. My enthusiasm for the campaign dwindled because of the charismatic tone of this group.

As the week went on, I noticed a freshness and vitality about their Christian faith that I had rarely witnessed. They had something I didn’t have and I reacted with anger. I sought to find fault with them, an attitude which they responded to with love and humility.

I believed that divisions were caused by charismatic people. It was bad enough that the Anglican church had been infiltrated. Imagine my horror when I learned that there were charismatic Christians even in the Salvation Army!

In 1987 we reluctantly accepted an invitation for our corps cadets (youth Bible group) to lead a worship meeting at a neighbouring corps which had a strong charismatic flavour. Much to my surprise, the meeting was a delight to lead. The same freshness and vitality that I had witnessed in 1980 was present in that meeting. There was a real body ministry present in that corps.

I returned later to our own corps and sat in on a meeting. The contrast between the two congregations was clearly evident and for the first time I was confronted with the question I had so long wanted to avoid. These people whom I considered so strange had something that was lacking in my own Christian life and ministry and in the lives of Christians in general.

The years following were difficult for our family. By the end of 1990 I was broken both spiritually and emotionally. Yet again I was requested to lead a meeting of worship in another corps that had a charismatic emphasis. I had never felt so hypocritical in my life. Here I was leading worship of a group of people who had a love and passion for God that was absent in my own life.

Enthusiastic

Their faith was fresh and enthusiastic. That day was 7 July 1991 and later that evening I knelt down in our sitting room and asked God to make me clean. He answered my prayer! The purity and cleanliness of the Holy Spirit flooded through my innermost being to every joint in my body. I wanted to get up and skip and dance. I loved God and I loved everything around me.

That night I was baptised in the Holy Spirit. Almost overnight I found myself on the other side of the charismatic fence and the question took on a new dimension.

The division is sad and I am not so naive as to suggest that charismatic Christians have not contributed. However to blame charismatic people almost exclusively is, as I have discovered, inaccurate and untrue.

Many non‑charismatic Christians have claimed to be made to feel inferior, confused and hurt and I don’t doubt this to be the case.

The other side of the coin has been feeling shut out; accused of having an experience of the devil; being told I am a ‘weirdo’ ‑ and I have even had invitations to lead worship mysteriously withdrawn.

The charismatic question is more than simply the unwanted intrusion of charismatic Christians into the life and style of a non‑charismatic church. If we look at it in that light we tread on very dangerous ground as we are effectively limiting the movement of the Holy Spirit.

Every denomination has charismatic Christians who speak in tongues. So if we are serious in wanting God’s kingdom to be advanced, rather than divided, we need to understand the charismatic question rather than simply condemn it.

Filled

The baptism of the Holy Spirit is one that raises many issues, such as full salvation, sanctification, and being filled with the Holy Spirit. The title we give it is not important; the experience is important.

All four Gospels record the promise that Jesus will baptise with the Holy Spirit (Matthew 3:11; Mark 1:8; Luke 3:16; John 1:33). Jesus himself promises that we will be baptised in the Holy Spirit (Acts 1:5), a promise not limited to the believers at Pentecost (Acts 8:17; 9:17; 10.44 and 11:16; 19:6).

Baptism in the Holy Spirit is the activation and release of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer (Acts 1:8). The disciples received the Holy Spirit on the evening of the resurrection day (John 20:22). Likewise we too receive the Holy Spirit at the time of conversion (Romans 8:9; Galatians 3:2; 1 John 3:24). However, the Holy Spirit’s release in our lives, although possible and in fact desirable at the time of our conversion, is quite a separate experience.

Scripture indicates that the release of the Holy Spirit in the life of the believer may be at the time of conversion (Acts 10:44) and also on later occasions (John 20:22; Acts 2:1‑4; 8:12‑17; 9:3‑19; 19:1‑6).

The founder of the Salvation Army, William Booth testified to this fact in a letter to Dunedin Hall corps reproduced in a Christian Mission Paper in 1869:

I desire to give a few brief practical hints, and, first and foremost, I commend one qualification which seems to involve all others. That is the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost. I would have you settle it in your souls for ever, this one great immutable principle in the economy of grace, the spiritual work can only be done by those who possess spiritual power.

I would not have you think that I imagine for a moment that you have not the Spirit. By your fruits I know you have. No men could do the works that are being done in your midst except God was with them. But how much more might be done had you all received this Pentecostal baptism in all its fullness!

Experience in the last 300 years, with various revivals, testifies to baptism in the Holy Spirit being a distinct and separate experience and together with signs and wonders has been a common part of revival.

It is interesting to look at the growth, in the last 90 years, of the Pentecostal/charismatic churches which give particular emphasis to baptism in the Holy Spirit.

In the early part of the 20th century 34.4 per cent of the world population were practising Christians. Of this number 3,700,00 were Pentecostal which was less than one per cent of practising Christians.

In 1995, 33.7 per cent (over 1291 million) of the world population were practising Christians. However, significantly, of this number over 460 million (approximately one third) were Pentecostal/charismatics. Between 1980 and 1995 the worldwide number of Pentecostal/charismatic Christians rose from 158 million to more than 460 million (Statistics from David Barrett in World Christian Encyclopedia and annual reports in International Bulletin of Missionary Research).

In his book about religious beliefs in Australia entitled Many Faiths One Nation, Ian Gillman observes that in Australia the Pentecostal movement grew by 200 per cent between 1972 and 1984. He further noted that the growth in Pentecostal/charismatic churches between 1976 and 1981 was 87.9 percent, which is 75 per cent higher than the nearest traditional denomination.

These trends, I imagine, would be similar in other countries. As we ponder on these figures of fruitfulness for the Kingdom of God, the words of Jesus (Acts 1:5) promising the baptism in the Holy Spirit for all believers, need to be understood and appropriated.

Observable

Perhaps the most critical point is the assertion by many Pentecostals that the initial sign for being baptised in the Holy Spirit is to speak in tongues. From a biblical perspective, I believe there is overwhelming and compelling evidence that in the early church, the initial signs of baptism in the Holy Spirit was to speak in tongues (Mark 16:17; Acts 2:4; 10:46; 19:6).

Two other accounts do not directly indicate that they spoke in tongues ‑ Acts 8:17; 9:17. In the first account something observable happened, even though not the signs and wonders which occurred earlier in Acts 8:6,7.

According to many reputable Bible scholars this observable sign was speaking in tongues. In the account of Acts 9:17 when Paul was filled with the Holy Spirit, although it does not say specifically that he spoke in tongues there and then, we do know that he did speak in tongues (1 Corinthians 14:18).

With this Biblical perspective, what about today? Is it possible to be baptised in the Holy Spirit and not speak in tongues? My own opinion is an overwhelming Yes!

Many Christians, spiritual giants with powerful ministries, have never spoken in tongues. I personally did not receive the gift of tongues until some months after the experience of baptism with the Holy Spirit.

Michael Harper shares this view and gives three reasons why people baptised in the Spirit may not speak in tongues:

Firstly, not knowing: I did not know how to speak in tongues. In fact, I believed the Holy Spirit spoke through me. I often had the urge to praise God with strange syllables but stopped myself because it wasn’t what I believed was speaking in tongues. When I finally discovered that I had to speak, the unknown language flowed.

Secondly, fear: unfortunately tongues has been misused in the past as was the case with the Corinthian church. This has caused genuine fear in some people.

Thirdly, prejudice: some are blatantly against speaking in tongues. They hear negative things about it and so are brought up, as I was, to reject it.

I would add a further reason and that is there are many who are not personally opposed, and are happy for others to have the gift, but don’t wish to appropriate it for themselves.

Universal

Another very contentious issue is whether tongues is universal for all Spirit‑filled Christians? I believe that tongues, although not appropriated by all Spirit‑filled Christians, is an available gift. I base this on a number of reasons.

Firstly, it is a glorious gift that deepens prayer life and relationship with the Lord. I have also witnessed many answers to prayers in tongues. I find it difficult to believe that God would give such spiritual benefits to some and not to all.

Secondly, speaking in tongues and praying in the Spirit are clearly identified as the same in 1 Corinthians 14:2, 13‑18. There are a number of references in Scripture to ‘praying in the Spirit’ and each appears to point to a universal use of tongues, for example, Romans 8:26; Ephesians 6:18; Jude 20.

In the book of Acts where believers prayed in tongues after being filled with the Spirit, it does not say some prayed in tongues. It is more probable that all prayed in tongues.

Thirdly, the main biblical objection to the universal use of tongues, it is claimed, is found in 1 Corinthians 12:10 – ‘to another, speaking in different kinds of tongues’. On initial reading this would appear to be the case. The argument hinges on the different Greek words use for another.

In this passage the word ‘another’ appears eight times, but it translates two quite different Greek words. The Greek words are allos ‑ meaning ‘another of the same kind’ and heteros ‑ meaning ‘another of a different kind’. So the passage reads: ‘to another (allos) the message of knowledge by means of the same Spirit, to another (heteros) faith by the same Spirit, to another (allos) gifts of healing by that one Spirit, to another (allos) miraculous power, to another (allos) prophecy, to another (allos) distinguishing between spirits, to another (heteros) speaking in different kinds of tongues, to still another (allos) the interpretation of tongues.’

For all gifts, except faith and tongues, Paul uses the Greek allos. For faith and tongues he uses heteros. No one would suggest that only some have faith because the gift of faith is different. Similarly, we cannot claim that because heteros is used, the gift of tongues is only available to some.

Likewise, there are two kinds of tongues. C. Peter Wagner describes these differences as private tongues and public tongues. Private tongues is a personal prayer language, whereas public tongues, which 1 Corinthians 12 speaks about, is one which can be used publicly with accompanying interpretation.

Finally, the aspect charismatic people must beware of is spiritual pride. We have been saved, and are what we are, purely by the grace of God and none of us, charismatic or non‑charismatic, has anything to boast about (Ephesians 2:8,9).

Timely

A timely warning was given by Charles Widdowson:

Don’t go overboard with the power and the gifts at the expense of the person and the fruit. I want to underline that in the early days of the charismatic movement in the late sixties and early seventies, all you heard about was the Holy Spirit and the gifts of the Spirit. We heard very, very, little, comparatively, about Jesus and love. Now that has been balanced, I believe. We’ve got to keep our eyes on Jesus. We have the fullness of the Holy Spirit, and the fruit of the Spirit is love and nothing of the power is to be exercised apart from the fruit of the Spirit which is love.

I endorse these remarks. Any gift possessed and exercised without love amounts to nothing, as Paul says in 1 Corinthians 13.

Something of William Booth’s own attitude to gift of the Spirit can be gauged from the following letter, published in The East London Evangelist, 1 April 1869:

Letter from William Booth

TO THE BRETHREN AND SISTERS LABOURING FOR JESUS

in connection with the

Dunedin Hall Christian Mission, Edinburgh

BELOVED FRIENDS ‑ Though I have not been privileged to see you in the flesh, yet I have heard with great thankfulness from time to time of your work of faith and labour of love: and I rejoice greatly in the abundant blessing granted to your labours, and bless God for every brand plucked from the everlasting through your instrumentality. I earnestly pray that you may be made a hundredfold more useful in the future than you have been in the past. The work in which you are engaged is the most important that can engage the attention or call forth the energies of any being…

Success in soul‑winning, like all other work, both human and divine, depends on certain conditions… If you want to succeed you must be careful to comply with these conditions…

I desire to give a few brief practical hints…And, first and foremost, I commend one qualification which seems to involve all others. That is, the Pentecostal baptism of the Holy Ghost. I would have you settle it in your souls for ever this one great immutable principle in the economy of grace, that spiritual work can only be done by those who possess spiritual power. No matter what else you may lack, or what may be against you, with the Holy Ghost you will succeed; but without the Holy Spirit, no matter what else you may possess, you will utterly and eternally fail.

Many make mistakes here. Aroused by the inward urgings of the Holy Spirit, they endeavour to comply with the call which comes from the word and the necessities of their fellow men; but being destitute of this power, they fail, and instead of going to the Strong for strength, they give up in despair. Again aroused, again they resolve and venture forth, but having no more power than before, they are as impotent as ever. And fail they must, until baptised with power from on high.

This I am convinced, is the one great need of the Church. We want no new truths, agencies, means, or appliances. We only want more of the fire of the Holy Ghost. …

___________________

O what zeal, what self‑denial, what meekness, what boldness, what holiness, what love, would there not be? And with all this, what power for your great work? The whole city would feel it. God’s people in every direction would catch the fire, and sinners would fall on every side. Difficulties would vanish, devils be conquered, infidels believe, and the glory of God be displayed…

____________________

You do desire to see signs and wonders wrought in the name of Jesus. To see a great awakening among the careless crowds around you…

This baptism then, is your first great need. If you think with me, will you not tarry for it? Offer yourselves to God for the fullness. Lay aside every weight…

Hold on! Though your feelings are barren, your way dark, and your difficulties be multiplied, steadily hang on the word of God.

Expect the baptism every hour; wait if he tarry. ‘This kind goeth not forth but by prayer and fasting’; and the Lord whom you seek shall suddenly come to his temple.

I have more to say to you, but must wait another opportunity. Yours in the fellowship of the Gospel.

WILLIAM BOOTH

These are strong words. Every Christian today needs this baptism in the Holy Spirit. We must, if we are serious about the kingdom of God, teach this to our people and pray for revival power to return to our church communities.

Additional Comment

Renewal in the Church

by Stan Everitt

Lieutenant Colonel Stan Everitt wrote as the Divisional Commander of the Salvation Army, South Queensland Division.

__________________________

God’s Holy Spirit is being

poured out upon his people

__________________________

‘In the last days I will pour out my Spirit upon all people.’

I am not sure if these are the last days, but I know God’s Holy Spirit is being poured out upon his people, bringing new life to the individual and eventually to his church.

Looking back on thirty years in ministry, there is no doubt in my mind that we have entered a time of spiritual renewal which, I believe, is but the beginning of a mighty worldwide renewal. As I see it, the priorities of many Christian are moving on to Bible study, prayer, and concern for the unconverted. This is happening amongst my own people as they become aware of the fact that the promise given so long ago is for each of them as individual people.

The testimony of a new Christian strengthened my belief that the Spirit of God is at work when I heard her say, ‘Knowing nothing about the Holy Spirit, I was nevertheless made aware of a new overwhelming sense of God’s presence, bringing a peace that I have never known before.’

While the organised church becomes more and more caught up in discussion on doctrinal matters and liturgical processes, individual church members are responding to the challenge of the Holy Spirit to strengthen their own faith, and in doing so, being able to communicate better with needy people in the community who are hungering for the Word of God.

As a believer, there is no doubt in my mind that the true worldwide church of God (whatever tag sections of it may wear because of traditional and doctrinal stances) will never be abolished. The true church in many developing countries founded upon the risen Lord is growing by thousands every day and is yet to have its more glorious era, as the name of Jesus is uplifted.

Although there are signs of corporate renewal, most churches in the so-called western countries, particularly in Australia, have become so much like the organised religion of Jesus’ day that our effectiveness in the community is minimal.

One gets the feeling that a monumental percentage of the clergy’s time is spent on administration and, in the light of eternity, things that are so insignificant. This is at the cost of deepening one’s spiritual life and the pastoral ministry to our people and the needs of the community.

All is not lost, I believe, but it seems that in so many places the individual Christian, often without any help from the pastor or priest, is setting the pace in areas which should be the concern of the organised church, and areas in which Jesus would be ministering if he were here in person.

In conclusion, I make a plea that we, as church leaders, might humble ourselves in God’s presence, and pray that the promise made so long ago might become a reality in our lives, making us more dependent upon the Holy Spirit than upon the organisation and ritual of the structured church of the ’90s.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

Contents of all Renewal Journals

See Renewal Journal 6: Worship on Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository
Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2: Nos 6-10

Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

Amazon – Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Amazon – all journals and books

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

1 Revival,   2 Church Growth,   3 Community,   4 Healing,   5 Signs & Wonders,
6 Worship,   7 Blessing,   8 Awakening,   9 Mission,   10 Evangelism,
11 Discipleship,   12 Harvest,   13 Ministry,   14 Anointing,   15 Wineskins,
16 Vision,   17 Unity,   18 Servant Leadership,   19 Church,   20 Life

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

***BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION* *(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)***

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

***BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL* *(INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)***

***BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH* *(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

***BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS* *(BLOGS FROM BOOKS)***

***BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES* *(PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)***

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

Free PDF books on the Main Page

FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Also in Renewal Journals Vol 2: Issues 6-10
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

healing, renewal, worship healing, renewal, worship

Healing through Worship by Robert Colman

by Geoff 19 May 2011 No Comments

Healing through Worship

Rev Robert Colman wrote as the worship director at Blackburn Baptist Church, Melbourne, and is a well known singer and worship leader.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman:
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/healing-through-worship-by-robert-colman/
An article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10)– PDF

__________________________

our primary task in life

is to worship God

__________________________

Several decades ago, A. W. Tozer said, “Worship is the missing jewel in the Christian Church’. In some ways things have changed since Tozer wrote those words. Over the past 25 years the Holy Spirit has been renewing his church in a remarkable way and bringing Christians everywhere a new understanding of the meaning and importance of worship. We have a way to go though, if we are to follow the words of Jesus to ‘worship the Father in spirit and in truth’.

Our primary task in life is to worship God. Deep within everyone there is an urge to worship. It was placed there by God. If we do not worship the Most High God, then we will worship ourselves, or an extension of ourselves, for we MUST worship.

Our greatest challenge is that we intellectualize God. We allow him access to the mind, but steadfastly resist any approach by God to our emotions or our bodies. Why do we find it difficult to express ourselves with our emotions and bodies in worship? When sin came into the world through Adam and Eve, so did embarrassment, self-consciousness, wrong kinds of self-awareness, lust, and so on. When Jesus died on the cross, he died for the shame which put us in bondage to self-consciousness. Only through him can we experience total freedom in our emotions and bodies.

William Temple, the great Anglican theologian, said, ‘Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by his holiness; the nourishment of mind with his truth; the purifying of imagination by his beauty; the opening of the heart to his love; the surrender of will to his purpose’, and I would add ‘and the surrender of our bodies to his total freedom’.

We are the ones who prevent God working in his wholeness in us. True worship can only take place when we agree to God sitting not only on his throne in the centre of the universe but on the throne that stands in the centre of our heart.

The work of Christ in redemption has one great end – it is to save humanity and restore us to the joy of knowing true worship. Adam and Eve enjoyed that when they walked with God in the cool of the Garden before the Fall. Our major problem when it comes to worship is our sinful self-centeredness. Sin consists in maintaining self in the centre of our lives, the place that God actually reserves for himself. When God no longer occupies the centre of our being, then we become the centre – we become god! And that other god is called ‘I’.

Invaded by God

Unless the central core of our being is invaded by God and maintained by him, then there can be no proper object on which to focus our worship. Many of us are caught up in an inner fight with ourselves because we never understood that to become the person God wants us to be, we must stop fighting ourselves, and surrender to God. Then he can come in, take up his rightful place in the centre of our lives, and rule and reign as Lord. Unless we surrender totally to God then the inevitable result will be inner conflict and disharmony. Our human ego functions best when it functions in harmony with God, for, left to itself it becomes a dangerous and damaging force.

What does God require? The answer is quite simple, and yet so deeply profound – self-surrender. This is the joyful exchange of an egocentric, sinful self for a God-centred self made whole. It is in fact a swap – our life for his and his life for us.

Romans 12:1 says, ‘Therefore, I urge you … in view of God’s mercy, to offer your bodies as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God – this is your spiritual act of worship.

We need to exercise our will in deciding to accept the freedom Jesus offers. He never makes us feel silly or proud. Satan’s insidious voice speaks to our fallen nature, the part that feels silly and proud. We need to resist him and claim our victory in Christ.

Then, when we learn to express ourselves to God, with body, emotions, mind, will and spirit, we will enjoy a continuing, freeing experience. We don’t stifle our emotions; then they don’t get bottled up inside. And we begin to gain more confidence. Our self-image benefits and we become more aware of others. Jesus takes us out of our self-awareness, and we reach out to others, to communicate with them and be more sensitive to them.

Remember that our healing starts with our personal time with the Lord. It’s there that we can be free with God alone and after spending time alone with him, we can become more free with our brothers and sisters in Christ. Both are essential to know complete healing. Worship then becomes our whole life, involving all our being.

Paul summarises this well in 1 Thessalonians 5:23, ‘May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. May your whole spirit, soul and body be kept blameless at the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.

_____________________________________________________

(c) Healing in the Now, edited by John Blacker (1995), Australian Renewal Ministries, 1 Maxwell Court, Blackburn South, Victoria3130. Used with permission.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

Contents of all Renewal Journals

See Renewal Journal 6: Worship on Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository
Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2: Nos 6-10

Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

Amazon – Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Amazon – all journals and books

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

***BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION* *(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)***

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

***BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL* *(INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)***

***BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH* *(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

***BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS* *(BLOGS FROM BOOKS)***

***BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES* *(PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)***

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

Free PDF books on the Main Page

FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Also in Renewal Journals Vol 2: Issues 6-10
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

healing, renewal, worship healing, renewal, worship

Worship: Touching Body and Soul by Robert Tann

by Geoff 19 May 2011 No Comments

Worship: Touching Body and Soul

The Rev Robert Tann wrote as a Uniting Church Minister in Ulverstone, Tasmania, and has been a leader in renewal in the church in Australia.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship– PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Worship: touching body and soul:
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/worship-touching-body-and-soul-robert-tann/
An article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship/

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

__________________________

within worship

we are seeing healings

__________________________

The healing ministry of Jesus was always God-centred. Every life he touched he touched as an expression of worship, that is to say it honoured God. The Apostle John rarely referred to ‘miracles’, instead he used the term ‘sign’ as he recorded the ministry of Jesus. Whether it was a miracle over nature, or a life touched by healing, the purpose was the same, to glorify God. In the light of this, I believe we cannot underestimate the place of worship in the healing ministry.

The great twentieth century preacher, A. W. Tozer, is quoted as saying ‘worship acceptable To God is the missing crown jewel in evangelical Christianity’. I believe he is right. Worship is more than ritual. Worship is more than traditional liturgical patterns. Worship is experienced and it is as we experience God that our lives are touched – body and soul.

In our churches today there is growing evidence of the rediscovery of worship in its true sense – the experience of God through self giving. In my own parish at Ulverstone, Tasmania, the older folk are recovering the sense of revival that early Methodism had for them with all its ‘fire in the belly’ and praise from the heart. The younger folk are discovering for the first time some of the wonderful old hymns of the faith and realising the connection between Charles Wesley, Isaac Watts, Fanny Crosby and the likes of Jack Hayford, Graham Kendrick and Chris Bowater.

Music is freeing the soul. Emotions are being touched, and ‘hearts strangely warmed’, as John Wesley put it 250 years ago. At the same time lives are being touched in physical healings. Without doubt there is a connection, for within worship we are seeing healings occur.

When we gather to adore, worship, praise and thank our God, it is not just some liturgical exercise, not is it simply an academic process. At least it should not be. It is an experience of the presence of the living God. We come into God’s presence, the presence of the creator of heaven and earth, and offer ourselves to him. I strongly believe that to enter into such worship will be life changing.

Imagine the magnitude of creation. The universe stretched out for countless light years in the vastness of space. Balance that with the tiny flower on a patch of moss, nestled at the base of a towering Mountain Ash, itself nestled at the foot of a craggy peak soaring a thousand meters above. Look a the human body, warts and all! What a work of wonder! The hand that put all this together is the One we worship. Not a carved effigy. Not hero worship of a dead Galilean carpenter. Not philosophical debate, but the Creator’s presence! I fail to see how lives cannot be changed as we worship him. My experience is that those life changing episodes can, and often do, include healing – physical, emotional, spiritual.

A number of Jesus’ miracles occurred in formal synagogue worship, such as the account of the man with a withered hand (Mt. 12:10-13) and the demon possessed man (Mark 1:23-27). In these examples, the healing was also used as a demonstration of Jesus’ power and authority.

While most of Jesus’ miraculous ministry was done outside formal worship, I see much of it being worshipful. Worship is, after all, an attitude, not just an action.

When Jesus encountered ten leprous men who cried out for help respectfully at a distance because of their condition, Jesus sent them to the priests (Luke 17:11-19). As they left the cleansing occurred. One returned, praising God and falling down to worship Jesus, offering thanks. That is worship – worship in the dust of the roadside.

The leper has shown four key worship attitudes. He had praised, and had given thanks. He also worshipped/adored Jesus, and had paid homage, throwing himself at Jesus’ feet. He was regarded with the words, ‘Rise and go, your faith has made you well.’

I see five key elements in worship that play a part in the healing ministry. These are demonstration, encouragement, excitement, evangelism and emotion.

Demonstration

Our God is not a theory. Our God is not an empty idol. Our God is alive. when we worship, God responds. We see the reality of what we say we believe. God’s grace is demonstrated. God’s power is seen.

During July 1991 my wife and I had the privilege of attending Brighton ’91 in England, a world gathering of leaders in evangelism and renewal. Well known author and renewal leader Canon Michael Green made a challenging observation. My record of his words is this, ‘The western church stands condemned for the preaching of an incomplete Gospel. For too long the fact that signs and wonders accompanied the preaching of the word from the time Jesus walked this earth and throughout the early church, has been ignored. We must be open to the demonstration of God’s power in our worship.’

Such activity is emerging at a phenomenal rate in many areas of the world at this time. Miracles on street corners in Romania, Hungary, and other Eastern Bloc countries. In Argentina miracles occur at most services of worship, reports Dr Omar Cabrera. On one special day dozens were healed of a myriad of disorders as the offering plate passed by. As the people gave to God, God gave to them! Hundreds of such stories emerge and, praise God, we in Australia are beginning to see it as we shake off spiritual lethargy.

Encouragement

People are encouraged in their faith when they see God at work in their midst, and it’s catching! I have been part of many major rally type events, and there seems to go with them a heightened expectancy within the people. Faith adds to faith, strength adds to strength, as the people pray and wait on God.

That is not to say that God needs a crowd to act. He doesn’t. But when people gather, the encouragement they give each other has been, in my experience, significant in healing.

I remember standing with a lady at a conference in Canberra. She asked for prayer for a lump in the hollow of her neck. Two or three of us prayed. Nothing happened, or so it seemed, except a couple of us had a similar vision, that of a sponge drying up and turning to dust. We confidently told the woman, ‘God will destroy the lump!’.

When we turned to sit down she said, ‘Oh, one more thing. I have cataracts. Will you pray for my eyes, for I’m going blind.’

My heart went ‘Ooh!’

Did I have faith for eyesight? Did my colleagues gathered around her have faith? We looked at each other, and at her, then at the Lord. I was encouraged by the atmosphere of the event, and by their prayers. We prayed, hands over her eyes.

We stood back and she cried, ‘Praise God! I can read the signs at the back of the auditorium.’

There was some ‘fuzziness’, but we prayed again and she went away rejoicing.

Faith linked with faith. The encouragement of being with others when we pray. But it doesn’t stop there, for each of us who prayed were encouraged to pray again when he need arose, or when it will arise again. I will never forget that day, for it remains an encouragement.

Excitement

The feeling that followed that healing stays with me. Yet, that kind of feeling flows to others also. In my parish recently, a member came seeking prayer. ‘Joan” was suffering deep arthritic pain in her hands, elbows and her shoulders. She had come to church that night almost unable to hold her handbag, and unable to lift her arms very far above waist height.

‘Joan’ is a shy person, and asked for prayer for the first time ever, so I believe. God touched her. The pain left, and she was able to raise her arms high in the air, and still can. Her excitement was contagious! She testified in church the following week, and is not backward in acknowledging Jesus as her healer.

The testimony she gave added to the excitement of those who were there when we prayed. It encouraged others to spread the word to friends both in the parish and beyond. It led directly to a small group going to pray for a non Christian who was suffering from a painful spinal condition. As we offered prayer, there was an immediate release from pain in that person too. More excitement! There was immediate praise and thanksgiving to God. Worship flows from healing.

Evangelism

Time after time the pages of Scripture leap out at us with the evidence of growth in the church as a result of the demonstration, the encouragement, and the excitement of healing. It leads to conversion. It leads to salvation. It leads to more people becoming aware of the truth of God’s love as expressed through Jesus. Thus, evangelism is aided by healing.

I see evangelism as an act of worship. The offering of lives as living sacrifices to our God is a most wonderful thing, and the lives made whole by God’s grace are even more wonderful.

At the Brighton ’91 conference, we heard stories of miracles on street corners as the word was preached. This led to thousands of people coming to hear and see the word within the following days as football stadiums, halls and meeting rooms overflowed with people seeking God after years of communist rule. The word of God was preached in word and action. God was worshipped. Lives were changed. Healing of body and soul occurred in the presence of the living God.

In our western mind set, worship services rarely take on such proportions. We seem locked into traditional patterns. Anything outside the ‘norm’ is judged improper or untidy or uncomfortable, and so we fail to see what the world around us is seeing. But more than that, our churches are emptying as a church of words, words, and more words, fails to lead a searching people any nearer To God.

I believe that our churches would see dramatic increases in numbers of people and signs of the Spirit of God if we would open our hearts and really worship. This would also return the church’s healing ministry to its biblical pattern of being a ‘normal’ part of the life and witness of the church.

Emotion

A criticism of some Pentecostal expression and ministry is that it is too emotional, or it is emotionalism rather than a true and whole expression of emotion. I interpret emotionalism as being ‘manufactured’ hype that has been generated by particular preaching styles or music presentations. That is very different from allowing our emotions to be involved in our worship.

Can you imagine Moses meeting with God and not being emotionally affected? Can you imagine the woman who had bled for years not feeling emotion when she touched Jesus’ garment and was healed? Emotion is part of our human nature and it is right that, when we come into the presence of the Lord, our whole being is involved. Emotion, as I see it, has a lot to do with the healing process, for so much of our human frailty and weakness, so much illness and infirmity, is centred in our emotions. If we can be freed from that which binds us emotionally, we can be free indeed.

Repentance involves emotional release; guilt floods away as we are forgiven. Anger is an emotional disease; peace comes and we feel the blessed release wash over us. Hate is an emotion; but with God’s help we learn to forgive and to love, and inner turmoil ceases. All of this is made easier, the process is enhanced, when we are at worship.

The Apostle Paul, both in Romans 12:1-8 and 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, writes of the transforming presence of God as we offer ourselves as a ‘living sacrifice’ (Romans), and the freedom experienced as we step into God’s presence ‘with unveiled faces’ (Corinthians). We open ourselves to the experience. As Graham Kendrick puts it, ‘to worship is to be changed’. I believe part of the healing process, whether rapid or more lengthy, is enhanced in the emotion-charged encounter with God. We encounter God as we worship.

Corporate worship

Does this worship need to be corporate, or can it be a private devotion? No, it does not need to be corporate worship, and yes, it can be more private. But the Body of Christ coming together brings great benefits. Here, as the church gathers, praise rises to our God. We find a sense of oneness with each other and with Jesus our risen Lord, and the power of the Spirit flows more freely. Even in the midst of our corporate worship, one can commune at the private level with God, yet still be aided by the surrounding atmosphere of praise and adoration.

Corporate worship makes a public statement of faith. This honours God. The people publicly declare their love, and God rejoices in the love offered to him. The worship act builds up the Body, and in corporate worship the gifts of the Spirit will be more likely to be evident. As Paul so clearly wrote to the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 12-14), the gifts are to edify the whole body, each bringing their gifts to join with others. Thus the gift of healing may need discernment, knowledge, or wisdom to direct it. Corporate worship allows this to happen.

In addition, the healing ministry, both its benefit and its witness, is shared widely and thus again the Body is enhanced. Scripture is clear that Jesus’ ministry was a testimony to God. From the beginning of his ministry ‘news about him spread throughout the whole countryside’ (Luke 4:14). Jesus’ ministry was, with a few minor examples, a public ministry. This is a key we must learn from. God is glorified when his grace is seen and acknowledged. Public, corporate worship is such an acknowledgment.

Anointing and Eucharist

Within the worship environment, two rites hold a special place in regard to the healing ministry. These are anointing and the Eucharist (thanksgiving – communion). Whilst neither need be a part of the healing ministry in worship, both can be.

The writer of James directs us, ‘Is anyone of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. And the prayer offered in faith will make the sick person well; the Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven’ (James 5:14-15, NIV). Obviously this allows for the elders to go to the sick, but it also allows for the rite of anointing to be administered by appropriate people within worship.

Recently in our own parish, such an event occurred. ‘David’ spoke to me during the serving of communion. He was an elder assisting. Indicating a personal need, persistent and distressing asthma, he asked for prayer ‘whenever I felt it appropriate in the service’. We completed communion and then I had ‘David’ take a seat in view of the people. I explained the teaching of James, and then asked two other elders to join me. We anointed ‘David’s’ brow and prayed for his healing. He spent the next two weeks helping in a house construction project with all the dust and dirt associated with that and was totally free of any asthma trouble, to which he later testified. This was, as detailed above, a demonstration of God’s love which encouraged the whole congregation. It was exciting to hear the testimony and see the raised level of anticipation in the people.

I am becoming more aware of the power of the Eucharist in healing, especially in the areas of emotional spiritual healing. The Table of the Lord is a meeting place of grace. The symbols of his broken body and shed blood take on new meaning when you approach them in pain. As the old hymn goes, ‘There is power … wonder working power in the blood of the Lamb’.

The greatest need in many people today is freedom from guilt – the need for forgiveness. The nature of God is to love, to accept, to forgive. The Table of the Lord states that more clearly than a thousand words. Here before us are simple elements that speak of a most profound truth – a powerful truth. They speak of healing.

When is it most appropriate to pray for healing during the communion service? That depends on the situation. Some people feel unable to take such a holy step feeling dirty or unclean from their past. If this is the case, pray for the healing before they receive the elements. Thus the Table for them becomes a seal on the healing grace. For others, the very act of coming to the Table will convict them of the need for prayer, and so healing prayer following the taking of the elements in quite in order. It gives a final blessing.

Another alternative is during the serving. If, as is usually the case, a minister is being assisted by lay helpers, the prayer can be offered after receiving the bread and before taking the cup. In early church history and following the pattern of the Passover meal, there was often a break between bread and wine. The cup came later in the meal. The cup used by Jesus was the Passover ‘Cup of Blessing’, and so to receive the bread as a symbol of the forgiving grace of God, then to receive prayer for healing and finally to take the Cup of Blessing is often very appropriate. Local needs will, of course, dictate the use and place of such prayer.

The relationship between Eucharist and emotional and spiritual healing is clear. Recently a young woman came to our church for the first time. The invitation for communion was given and, as is our practice, the people came forward to receive the elements. She came with the first group, but quickly dissolved into tears, and moved to one side. I directed an elder to assist her. After a few moments outside, she was able to join the last group around the Table. I met with her later for more prayer, and then accompanied her to her nearby home where we prayed. She had experienced an occult or supernatural phenomenon the night before. It had frightened her. When she first came forward, something seemed to try and wrench her away from the Table. The prayers both during and after communion as well as at her home brought peace, and there has been no recurrence of this episode. The young lady said that she just knew she had to come for communion after the event. It was needed for cleansing power.

To some church people, the anointing with oil or prayer for healing during the Eucharist may seem strange or an intrusion on the usual way things are done. With appropriate teaching, they can be quickly put at ease.

The famous Smith Wigglesworth has a thought provoking comment on anointing and it place in worship. He says, ‘I believe that we can all see that the church cannot play with this business. If any turn away from these clear instructions (James 5:15), they are in a place of tremendous danger. Those who refuse to obey do so at their unspeakable loss.’

Dynamic of the Holy Spirit

Within worship the dynamic of the Holy Spirit is most prevalent. Our own insignificance and feeble faith are supported, picked up, and strengthened by those around us.

Just as an individual stick can be bent or broken when taken on its own and snapped over a knee, so the more sticks held together the harder it is to break even the weakest in the bundle. The more Christians who gather, the stronger the faith level seems to be. The more people praying, the stronger the prayers seem to be. The more spiritual gifts that surround us, the more confident the weak seem to become.

The worship environment assists greatly in taking us out of the influence and distraction of the world and bringing us into the holy and therapeutic realm of the Spirit. The hymns of praise, the songs of adoration and worship, the prayers and the Word of God read and preached, focus our thoughts on him whom we call Lord. We leave the world behind. We enter the Holy Place, and await the touch of God upon our broken, damaged and imperfect lives, and the transformation begins.

The more we grow in our understanding of the power, the beauty, the richness of true spiritual worship, the more we will understand the healing ministry. The power of God to heal is undoubted. Even in my limited experience I have sen too much evidence to believe otherwise. That the presence of God is touching the lives of very significant numbers of church people across the nation is new and rich ways is also undeniable.

The renewal movement has added a new dimension to worship, and while much can be said about the various expressions of worship available across the spectrum of churches in Australia, I believe that those places of worship, irrespective of denominational label, which allow the Spirit the freedom to move in music, song, prayer and giftings are also the churches where healing ministries are growing as part of worship.

The link is there. Worship and healing – the Spirit of the risen Christ touching body and soul, to the glory of God.

Reproduced with permission from Healing in the Now, edited by John Blacker (1995), Australian Renewal Ministries, 1 Maxwell Court, Blackburn South, Victoria3130.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

Contents of all Renewal Journals

See Renewal Journal 6: Worship on Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository
Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2: Nos 6-10

Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

Amazon – Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Amazon – all journals and books

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

***BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION* *(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)***

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

***BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL* *(INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)***

***BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH* *(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

***BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS* *(BLOGS FROM BOOKS)***

***BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES* *(PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)***

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

Free PDF books on the Main Page

FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Also in Renewal Journals Vol 2: Issues 6-10
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

renewal, worship renewal, worship

Worship: to soothe or disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

by Geoff 19 May 2011 No Comments

Worship: to soothe or disturb?

by Dorothy Mathieson

Dr Dorothy Mathieson’s ministry has included being a Baptist pastor and the Australian Coordinator of Servants to Asia’s Urban Poor. With her husband George she counselled people in need of help and healing.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Worship: to soothe or disturb?
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/worship-to-soothe-or-disturb-by-dorothy-mathieson/

Article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

_______________________________

Worship energizes us

to be partners in kingdom truth,

love, righteousness and justice

________________________________

The worship was so polished. Meticulous musical precision. There was the lighter beginning, then the ‘moving into a time of real worship’. Hands were raised, some were singing in tongues. The harmony was impeccable. The enthusiasm infectious. A couple gave ‘words of prophecy’ we are loved, we are emerging into freedom and joy like butterlies out of the cocoon of restriction and fear. Applause. ‘God is pleased with our worship,’ the pastor assured. More applause.

A suburban congregation, it could have been anywhere in Australia. Mostly middle class, well dressed, car in the carpark. Good people relieved to be in a ‘live’ church after labouring through stodgy ones.

‘We come for the worship,’ said one couple. ‘You can endure a poor sermon if you have good worship.’

The short request in the bulletin from a local welfare agency for homes for rebellious teenagers drew no response. Another, asking for volunteers to care for people with AIDS, didn’t even reach the bulletin.

The message was clear: worship was for soothing, comforting. Some refreshment for the weary. For the anxious, an assurance that things would be OK. We are right after all, secure from upheaval. God is biased in our favour.

It is nothing new for congregations to use worship to soothe. People did this in the days of Amos the prophet, eight centuries before Jesus came. In some ways modern worship songs have not changed since the songs of those days. The prophet recorded three popular hymns (4:13; 5:89; 9:56).

In these ancient hymns they too celebrated a God who:

* powerfully moulds the mountains as easily as a potter;

* creates the wind;

* reveals his very thoughts to us (4:13);

* faithfully upholds the proper order in creation: planets, day and night, tides (5:8);

* authoritatively invades all of his creation: heavens, earth, seas (9:56).

This is the wonderful Lord we also worship today: all the powerful, sovereign, majestic one. ‘The Lord (Yahweh) is his name’ is the declaration after all three of Amos’ hymns. With the ancients, we join in applause.

But there are some aspects of the hymns of Amos’ day which are rarely part of current worship in renewal churches. In these ancient hymns, God also:

* terrifyingly turns dawn into darkness;

* deliberately overpowers (‘treads’) all human attempts at arrogant independence (‘high places’ or ‘strongholds’ in Amos refer to prestigious fortresslike homes of the wealthy, the systems of selfindulgent and idolatrous worship at shrines at Bethel and Gilgal, the exploitative social, economic and political systems 4:13);

* reverses the natural order of creation so that it becomes a destructive power;

* shatters all seemingly impregnable and unjust systems (strongholds again) of the powerful (5:89);

* uses his glorious creative power to judge the earth so that it convulses like river tides;

* lets no one escape his consuming authority and power (9:56).

Mighty warrior

These things are difficult to sing about! This God is the mighty warrior, the purifying Lord, the indomitable creator. Few modern songs or hymns celebrate these aspects of our God. They would hardly fit into upbeat tempo or rousing worship. Worshippers would be hesitant to applaud certain judgement for ignoring the practice of justice.

Why then are the hymns of our day so soothing, so undisturbing. In this ‘Age of Anxiety’, as sociologist Hugh McKay (1993) labels contemporary times in Austrlia, we long for reassurance that things are alright, that our future will only get better.

But we will be secure, won’t we? God is on our side. We have his promises. Our churches are streamlined. Our clergy have improving credentials and are friends of the wealthy and powerful. We go abroad to plant our kind of churches and export our kind of Christianity. We have so much to offer. We have hundreds of fully computerized plans to complete the Great Commission by the year 2000. Our nation is forging its independent destiny. Trading blocks are in place, hopefully to favour our market. The people of God are the righteous ones. Multiple prophecies have assured that out ministries will be extensive and commanding.

This is exactly what the Israelites of Amos’ day thought. They assumed their political security perpetual, with neighbouring nations squabbling among themselves. Trading was increasingly to their advantage. Spiritually smug, they boasted increasing attendances at the shrines, with religious leaders having the ear of even the king. But they had domesticated God.

They had turned a loving relationship into a weapon of manipulation. Enjoying unexamined lives, enthusiastic worshippers were also supporters of a social, economic and political system which exploited the poor. They amassed wealth, storing it up in their strongholds for a brighter future, but they did not share with the needy.

Most of their resources were spent on themselves. Their righteousness had become a privatized ethic rather than a renewing spiritual energy directed towards creating an alternative community of love and dignity for all.

Amos longed for ‘rivers of justice’ (5:24). He saw only trickles of self-effort, channelled into maintaining the Israelites’ status quo. Triumphalistic prophecy fascinated them. Weren’t they the people of God, with his covenant and his promises?

It sounds so hauntingly modern. Are the contemporary people of God, even those of us committed to renewal, so very different? ‘The contemporary church,’ says Walter Brueggemann (1978:11), ‘is so enculturated to the ethos of consumerism that it has little power to believe or act.’ Further he claims, ‘if we gather around a static God who only guards the interests of the “haves”, oppression cannot be far behind’ (1978:18).

There can be no real worship, says Amos, without a commitment to justice for the poor. True worship must be expressed at the bleeding points of the world. Fixing our eyes on Jesus, rather than shutting out the world, leads us into discovering his heart for the despised, the exploited, the outcast. Even with the right words in their hymns the ancients missed it. They were not doing the justice they were singing about.

Worship disturbs

Many critics say these three hymns in Amos are out of place in his prophecy, perhaps later glosses interrupting the flow of his thought. At the heart of these challenges are not only the complications of textual analysis but also the misnomer of the purpose of worship. Worship is meant to disturb by renewing the fullness of our faith heritage, critiquing our present manipulations, and energizing to reembrace radical hope for the future.

Scholars are not alone in missing the point of worship in Amos and beyond Amos. In the so-called discovery of worship in modern renewal, these vital elements have been largely overlooked. Who wants to be disturbed? In the weariness of modern life, who wants to be energized to create something new?

Like Moses before him, Amos ‘dismantles the religion of static triumphalism’ (Brueggemann 1978:16). The freedom of the majestic God cannot be manipulated even by enthusiastic worship. Worship is not the flamboyant parading of self concerns, or of musical or oratorial abilities. ‘You go to church to sin,’ says Amos (4:4).

The songs of Amos are disturbingly in place. Prophecy cannot be separated from doxology. Worship is an act of freedom and justice. It is meant to disturb as well as energize. This is why Amos deliberately used popular hymns as part of his prophecy.

Let’s look at these hymns in their context.

(1) ‘This is the God you must prepare to meet,’ says Amos (4:12), using the usual priestly call to worship before the first hymn (4:1314). They had ignored his acts of judgement which were supposed to restore them to loving relationships. The setting of this first hymn is of holy war. In worship, they come face to face with the God of such power and majesty that he is easily able to also judge even his own people. Worship truly, or prepare for combat with the Lord Almighty, says Amos. Enthusiastic worship offers no immunity.

(2) What is true worship? The second hymn of Amos (5:89) says it is responding to the God who acts in righteousness, even with his estranged people. ‘We are zealous in our religion,’ the people objected. ‘But your own religious system allows you to turn justice into bitterness, to throw righteousness on the ground like refuse,’ was Amos’ reply (5:7). ‘If God’s covenant relationship meant anything to you, it would be reflected in your lives of loving concern for others. That’s worship. How can you sing this song and tamper (‘turn’) with God’s plan of justice and righteousness for creation?’

‘Look what I turn’, says Yahweh. ‘Darkness to dawn. I create. You destroy. But I also can destroy, particularly the exploitative systems of the powerful. Turn to me in true worship,’ says the Lord. ‘Then you won’t trample on the poor, justify your indulgences as your needs (5:11), or remain quiet against injustice. Seek me, not your own systems. Your life depends on it,’ says God (5″14).

(3) Later in Amos’ prophecy comes the third hymn (9:56) after the disturbing threat that the awful stare of God, the warrior, is focussed on his people, for evil, not good (9:4). How could Amos call the people to sing after this? Again, as in the other two hymns, their worship is inappropriate. Worship can never fit with unexamined lives of privatized morality, bearing no responsibilities for the evils of their society. The message of this hymn becomes hauntingly clearer. Their God is now their warrior. He will judge his own people. When he touches the land, the awesome convulsions bring great misery (9:5). Nothing in earth or heaven can stand before him or hide from him. His control is complete. ‘When you sing this hymn,’ says Amos, ‘you are singing about your own judgment, not only about the judgment of others.’

True worship disturbs. Modern songs mainly reassure and coddle complacencies.

Avoidance of the real issue of injustice is still ingrained in the church. The poor are suffering. On the basis of God’s covenant, his relationship of love, they can rightfully expect his people, the righteous, to hear and respond to their cries (Proverbs 29:7). When God’s people do this, they can truly worship.

Worship energizes us to be partners in kingdom truth, love, righteousness and justice. Worship renews loving relationship with our God who must be true to his character, unimpeded by our constrictions. Worship leads us to act for justice for the poor. Together we then celebrate the one in whom all rivers of justice are birthed.

References

Brueggemann, Walter (1978) The Prophetic Imagination. Fortress.

McKay, Hugh (1993) Reinventing Australia. Angus & Roberton.

_______________________________________________

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

Contents of all Renewal Journals

See Renewal Journal 6: Worship on Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository
Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2: Nos 6-10

Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

Amazon – Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Amazon – all journals and books

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

***BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION* *(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)***

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

***BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL* *(INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)***

***BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH* *(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

***BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS* *(BLOGS FROM BOOKS)***

***BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES* *(PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)***

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

Free PDF books on the Main Page

FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Worship: to soothe or disturb?
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/worship-to-soothe-or-disturb-by-dorothy-mathieson/
An article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship/
Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Also in Renewal Journals Vol 2: Issues 6-10
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

renewal, worship renewal, worship

Beyond Self-Centred Worship by Geoff Bullock

by Geoff 19 May 2011 No Comments

Beyond Self-Centred Worship

by Geoff Bullock

Geoff Bullock served as music pastor at Hills Christian Life Centre in Sydney and has produced widely acclaimed worship CDs and DVDs.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Beyond Self-centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock:
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/beyond-self-centred-worship-by-geoff-bullock/
An article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship/

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10)– PDF

_________________________________

True worship is much more than

singing songs we like to sing

_________________________________

Have you ever wondered how Paul and Silas could sing praises in a Philippian gaol after being stripped, flogged and clamped in the stocks? Or how Jesus could sing a hymn on the eve of his arrest, knowing everything that was about to happen to him? Or how Paul could describe worship with the spine-tingling phrase ‘living sacrifice’?

It was because their worship was not based on what they liked. It was based on who they loved.

There is an explosion of worship in the church today. The buzz word is ‘contemporary’ and the aim is to ‘enter into God’s presence’ and enjoy a sense of closeness with him. The music, the setting, the lyrics must all help create a fulfilling worship ‘experience’.

But I am absolutely convinced that it’s not the worship that God wants us to enjoy. It’s him.

Christians have often felt that worship has to suit their tastes. Many times churches have been built based on people’s preferences in worship style. We want to choose how we will worship.

We’ve made worship self-centred instead of God-centred. We lobby for what we want: ‘I don’t like the songs’, ‘I don’t like the volume’. It’s as if we’re worshipping worship instead of worshipping God.

Imagine conducting your relationship with your spouse on the basis of only relating to them in certain circumstances. In marriage you can’t love demanding an answer; you have to love selflessly. You don’t say, ‘As long as I get everything I want out of this relationship I’ll commit myself.’ But that’s the attitude we often have to worship. We say: ‘You musicians, singers and pastors do your tricks, then we’ll be happy.’

Worship is not a musical experience. Musicians, singers and worship leaders can no more create a worship experience than an evangelist can create a salvation experience. Both worship and salvation are decisions – decisions that only individuals can make.

When we allow someone else to take responsibility for our decisions we place human interests in front of God’s. If my worship depends on others creating an atmosphere, I am allowing them to make my decision to worship for me.

Worship is not a result of how good the music is or whether my favourite songs are sung. It is not a consequence of whether I stand or sit, lift my hands or kneel. My worship must be an expression of my relationship with God – in song, in shouts and whispers, sitting, walking, or driving the car. Worship is my response to God.

If worship is a decision, then the greatest worship happens when someone who doesn’t like a church’s music or liturgical style prays, ‘Not my will but yours be done, God – I’ll worship you in spite of it.’

Your gifts aren’t the issue

There’s another way in which we worship worship instead of worshipping God. Let me come at it by a round-about route.

Consider two ways of understanding why the church exists. The first is that it exists to equip the saints for the work of ministry. So part of our teaching and worship must be aimed at equipping the saints.

But there is a danger in this first perspective. It could lead us to think that people are in a church so that the church can release their individual gifts and ministries. This is back-to-front. People are actually in a church with their gifts to release the ministry of the church.

It’s far more important to know where you are called than what you are called to do.

Let me give a practical example. My hands write songs by accident; they just happen to be attached to the rest of my body and I’m a songwriter. In the same way, I’m a songwriter at Hills Christian Life Centre more because I’m ‘attached’ to a worshipping, song-writing church than because Hills Christian Life Centre has a songwriter who writes songs. The call is on the church, and my talent as a songwriter helps the church fulfil its call.

This is a the second way to understand the church’s existence: It exists to fulfil God’s call on its life. To live out God’s vision. And the people in a church don’t so much need to own that vision as to be owned by it. Once that happens, the various facets of its life are given shape according to what God has called the church to be and do.

This has a profound effect on worship. It takes the focus away from what we want and replaces it with what is needed to fulfil the vision. It really doesn’t matter whether we like the worship style or not; it’s whether the style is consistent with the call and vision. Unless we think this way, we’re in danger of creating our own entertainment – and hence of worshipping worship again.

Worship and the will of God

In other words, for our worship to be a response to God, an expression of our love and devotion, it must be a reflection of his will in and through our lives. For me to express my love for my wife Janine, I must do more than say ‘I love you”. I must mow the lawn, pick up my socks, wash the car, share her dreams and visions and goals – I must be a partner to her, working to be a team that expresses mutual love to each other selflessly.

In this I discover that the best intimacy is the intimacy that forces you to get up in the morning after making love with your wife the night before and go and mow the lawns, fix the kitchen door, paint the shed – to do those things that are produced out of love.

It’s the same in our relationship with God. I can’t sing, ‘I love you, Lord’, ‘I’ll worship you’, ‘Be exalted’ without being a partner in his will and vision.

What is God’s vision, his expectations? Is it that we hold nice, comfortable worship services with three praise songs, two worship songs, one prophecy, one offering, one message, two altar calls and a closing hymn? Is his expectation our comfort, our enjoyment, our tradition?

No. God’s vision is that the world will know his Son. The Lord’s expectation of us is crystal clear in Matthew 28:19-20: ‘Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptising them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.’

God has called us into his contemporary world to make disciples. Our worship central in our decision to meet this commission.

Of course we must sing and dance and praise the Lord. But if while we sing and dance and praise we either ignore God’s commission or create a culture that alienates those whom God has called us to reach, are we really worshipping God at all? Or are we, yet again, worshiping the worship instead of him?

Communication is more than words

The church I’m part of is a middle-income, yuppie, contemporary church of baby boomers and their children. That’s who we are, and that’s whom God has called us to reach. So that’s what we look and sound like. Other churches have different calls – perhaps to the elderly. In that case people will have to get used to singing hymns.

If every church became ‘modern contemporary’ in music and we all played Crowded House and Dire Straits, what would happen to churches in Vaucluse in Sydney or St Kilda in Melbourne, which need a totally different touch?

To put it in marketing terms, once we understand our mission (to make disciples), we need to find our market place (the people that God want us to reach). That will then give us our methodology.

We have to find and use the language of our market place. At Youth Alive rallies, for example, where 10-12,000 people cram into the Sydney Entertainment Centre, we know that ‘Amazing Grace’ or ‘Shine Jesus Shine’ aren’t going to work with some 15-year-old home boy with his cap on backwards who’s into the basketball culture. So we sing songs like ‘Jump into the Jam with the Great I Am’ – songs that reflect our passion for Jesus and our love and vitality for life in their language. In this way we reclaim their music to glorify God and open a window to Christian experience in language they can understand.

When I say ‘language’ I don’t just mean terminology, words. People can go to a Madonna concert in Japan and not understand a word she says but still feel part of what she’s doing because they understand the whole language – the visual communication, the sound, the music.

We need to speak people’s language – not just in our music but in our newsletters and graphics and decor and preaching and dress.

When the church forgets this and loses sight of its mission and market place, it locks itself into its own culture. Anyone who comes in from outside has to undergo a cultural revolution, before they can get to our answer. In the end the only people we reach are ourselves. That’s scandalous. We’re called to be light in darkness, not light in light.

I’m not saying that all worship must be directed toward attracting non-believers – far from it. Worship is an individual’s adoration of God. Our worship attention must be on intimacy with God led by the Spirit. So we must not make it so relevant that we lose the intimacy.

You won’t reach your marketplace until you equip the saints, and you won’t equip the saints by just speaking the language of the marketplace. You have to teach them to speak the language of the marketplace. There’s a transition. So there must be a balance between equipping the saints and reaching the marketplace.

Sometimes, however, the saints bet lost in enjoying the ‘showers of blessings’ that come through their relationship with God. When we go to church to stand under the shower of blessings, our worship involves that experience.

But life is more than standing under the shower. Life is also getting dressed and going to work. Our worship should translate into the outcome of our lives.

For the believer, an effect of worship is like a remedial massage at half-time to get us back on the field. It’s healing for injuries so we can keep playing. It’s the coach at half-time saying toa tired team, ‘You can win’ – and sending them out to turn the game around.

Worship, then, is refocussing. It’s re-equipping. It’s realigning yourself with the passion of God and realising that you have to say, ‘Not my will but yours be done’.

Worship doesn’t end with ‘I exalt you’. It goes on to say, ‘I must go out and take the experience to others.’ I believe that God is changing the face of Christian worship today because he is trying to align us again with him and his vision.

We can’t worship God truly and remain unchanged. When we worship, we push into God’s heart. Older married couples can sometimes sit in a room together for an hour and a half and not speak to each other and yet communicate, because they’ve grown together and they understand each other’s heart. It’s like that with God. As we worship him we come to understand his heart, and we start to share his passion. Then his vision comes our vision.

Reprinted with permission from the February 1995 issue of On Being magazine, 2 Denham Street, Hawthorn, Victoria, 3122.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)

Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and

Renewal in the Church, by Stan Everitt

Worship God in Dance, by Lucinda Coleman

Revival Worship, by Geoff Waugh

Contents of all Renewal Journals

See Renewal Journal 6: Worship on Amazon and Kindle and The Book Depository
Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)

Renewal Journals Vol 2: Nos 6-10

Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

Amazon – Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Amazon – all journals and books

Link to all Renewal Journals

All Renewal Journal Topics

Revival Blogs Links:

See also Revivals Index

See also Revival Blogs

See also Blogs Index 1: Revivals

GENERAL BLOGS INDEX

BLOGS INDEX 1: REVIVALS (BRIEFER THAN REVIVALS INDEX)

***BLOGS INDEX 2: MISSION* *(INTERNATIONAL STORIES)***

BLOGS INDEX 3: MIRACLES (SUPERNATURAL EVENTS)

***BLOGS INDEX 4: DEVOTIONAL* *(INCLUDING TESTIMONIES)***

***BLOGS INDEX 5: CHURCH* *(CHRISTIANITY IN ACTION)***

***BLOGS INDEX 6: CHAPTERS* *(BLOGS FROM BOOKS)***

***BLOGS INDEX 7: IMAGES* *(PHOTOS AND ALBUMS)***

BACK TO MAIN PAGE

Free PDF books on the Main Page

FREE SUBSCRIPTION: for new Blogs & free offers

Also in Renewal Journals Vol 2: Issues 6-10
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10) – PDF

renewal, worship renewal, worship

Worship: Intimacy with God by John and Carol Wimber

by Geoff 19 May 2011 2 Comments

Worship: Intimacy with God

by John & Carol Wimber

Pastor John Wimber and his wife Carol were founding leaders of the Vineyard Christian Fellowships around the world, including Vineyard Christian Fellowships in Australia.

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Share good news – Share this page freely
Copy and share this link on your media, eg Facebook, Instagram, Emails:
Worship: Intimacy with God:
https://renewaljournal.com/2011/05/19/worship-intimacy-with-god-by-john-carol-wimber/
An article in Renewal Journal 6: Worship:
https://renewaljournal.com/2014/12/02/worship/

Also in Renewal Journals bound volume 2 (Issues 6-10)
Renewal Journal Vol 2 (6-10)– PDF

_______________________________________

We learned that what happens

when we are alone with the Lord

determines how intimate and deep

the worship will be when we come together

_______________________________________

Worship, the act of freely giving love to God, forms and informs every activity of the Christian’s life.

Many people who visit Vineyard Christian Fellowships remark on the depth and richness of our worship. This has not come about by chance: we have a well-thought-out philosophy that guides why and how we worship God. In this article I will communicate that philosophy.

To understand how we worship God, it is helpful to learn about our fellowship’s history, which goes back to 1977. At that time my wife, Carol, was leading a small group of people in a home meeting that evolved into the Anaheim Vineyard. I’ll let her describe what happened during that time.

‘We began worship with nothing but a sense of calling from the Lord to a deeper relationship with him. Before we started meeting in a small home church setting in 1977, the Holy Spirit had been working in my heart, creating a tremendous hunger for God. One day as I was praying, the word worship appeared in my mind like a newspaper headline. I had never thought much about that word before. As an evangelical Christian I had always assumed the entire Sunday morning gathering was “worship” – and, in a sense, I was correct. But in a different sense there were particular elements of the service that were especially devoted to worship and not to teaching, announcements, musical presentations, and all the other activities that are part of a typical Sunday morning gathering. I had to admit that I wasn’t sure which part of the service was supposed to be worship.

‘After we started to meet in our home gathering, I noticed times during the meeting – usually when we sang – in which I experienced God deeply. We sang many songs, but mostly songs about worship or testimonies from one Christian to another. But occasionally we sang a song personally and intimately to Jesus, with lyrics like “Jesus I love you”. Those types of songs both stirred and fed the hunger for God within me.

‘About this time I began asking our music leader why some songs seemed to spark something in us and others didn’t. As we talked about worship, we realised that often we would sing about worship yet we never actually worshipped – except when we accidentally stumbled onto intimate songs like “I love you Lord”, and “I lift my voice”. Thus we began to see a difference between songs about Jesus and songs to Jesus.

‘Now, during this time when we were stumbling around corporately in worship, many of us were also worshipping at home alone. During these solitary times we were not necessarily singing, but we were bowing down, kneeling, lifting hands, and praying spontaneously in the Spirit – sometimes with spoken prayers, sometimes with non-verbalised prayers, and even prayers without words at all. We noticed that as our individual worship life deepened, when we came together there was a greater hunger toward God. So we learned that what happens when we are alone with the Lord determines how intimate and deep the worship will be when we come together.

‘About that time we realised our worship blessed God, that it was for God alone and not just a vehicle of preparation for the pastor’s sermon. This was an exciting revelation. After leaning about the central place of worship in our meetings, there were many instances in which all we did was worship God for an hour or two.

‘At this time we also discovered that singing was not the only way to worship God. Because the word worship means literally to bow down, it is important that our bodies are involved in what our spirits are saying. In Scripture this is accomplished through bowing heads, lifting hands, kneeling, and even lying prostrate before God.

‘A result of our worshipping and blessing God is being blessed by him. We don’t worship God in order to get blessed, but we are blessed as we worship him. He visits his people with manifestations of the Holy Spirit.

‘Thus worship has a two-fold aspect: communication with God through the basic means of singing and praying, and communication from God through teaching and preaching the word, prophecy, exhortation, etc. We lift him up and exalt him, and as a result are drawn into his presence where he speaks to us.’

Definition of worship

Probably the most significant lesson that Carol and the early Vineyard Fellowship learned was that worship is the act of freely giving love to God. Indeed, in Psalm 18:1 we read, ‘I love you, O Lord, my strength.’ Worship is also an expression of awe, submission, and respect toward God (see Ps. 95:1-2; 96:1-3).

Our heart’s desire should be to worship God; we have been designed by God for this purpose. If we don’t worship God, we’ll worship something or someone else.

But how should we worship God? There are various ways described in the Old and New Testaments:

l Confession: the acknowledgment of sin and guilt to a holy and righteous God.

l Thanksgiving: giving thanks to god for what he has done, specially for his works of creation and salvation.

l Adoration: praising God simply for who he is – Lord of the universe.

As Carol pointed out, worship involves not only our thought and intellect, but also our body. Seen through the Bible are such forms of prayer and praise as singing, playing musical instruments, dancing, kneeling, bowing down, lifting hands, and so on.

Phases in the heart

Not only is it helpful to understand why and how we worship God, it is also helpful to understand what happens when we worship God. In the Vineyard we see five basic phases of worship, phases through which leaders attempt to lead the congregation. Understanding these phases is helpful in our experience of God. Keep in mind that as we pass through these phases we are headed toward one goal: intimacy with God. I define intimacy as belonging to or revealing one’s deepest nature to another (in this case to God), and it is marked by close association, presence, and contact. I will describe these phases as they apply to corporate worship, but they may just as easily be applied to our private practice of worship.

1. The first phase is the call to worship, which is a message directed toward the people. It is an invitation to worship. This might be accomplished through a song like, ‘Come let us Worship and Bow Down’. Or it may be jubilant, such as through the song, ‘Don’t you Know it’s Time to Praise the Lord?’

The underlying thought of the call to worship is ‘Let’s do it; let’s worship now.’ Song selection for the call to worship is quite important, for this sets the tone for the gathering and directs people to God. Is it the first night of a conference when many people may be unfamiliar with the songs and with others in attendance? Or is it the last night, after momentum has been building all week? If this is a Sunday morning worship time, has the church been doing the works of God all week? Or has the church been in the doldrums? If the church has been doing well, Sunday worship rides on the crest of a wave. All these thoughts are reflected in the call to worship. The ideal is that each member of the congregation be conscious of these concerns, and pray that the appropriate tone be set in the call to worship.

2. The second phase is the engagement, which is the electrifying dynamic of connection to God and to each other. Expressions of love, adoration, praise, jubilation, intercession, petition – all the dynamics of prayer are interlocked with worship – come forth from one’s heart. In the engagement phase we praise God for who he is through music as well as prayer. An individual may have moments like these in his or her private worship at home, but when the church comes together the manifest presence of God is magnified and multiplied.

Expressing God’s love

As we move further in the engagement phase, we move more and more into loving and intimate language. Being in God’s presence excites our heart and minds and we want to praise him for the deeds he has done, for how he has moved in history, for his character and attributes. Jubilation is that heart swell within us in which we want to exalt him. The heart of worship is to be united with our Creator and with the church universal and historic. Remember, worship is going on all the time in heaven, and when we worship we are joining that which is already happening, what has been called the communion of saints. Thus there is a powerful corporate dynamic.

Often this intimacy causes us to meditate, even as we are singing, on our relationship with the Lord. Sometimes we recall vows we have made before our God. God might call to our mind disharmony or failure in our life, thus confession of sin is involved. Tears may flow as we see our disharmony but his harmony; our limitations but his unlimited possibilities. This phase in which we have been wakened to his presence is called expression.

Physical and emotional expression in worship can result in dance and body movement. This is an appropriate response to God if the church is on that crest. It is inappropriate if it is whipped up or if the focal point is on the dance rather than on true jubilation in the Lord.

Expression then moves to a zenith, a climatic point, not unlike physical lovemaking (doesn’t Solomon use the same analogy in the Song of Songs?). We have expressed what is in our hearts and minds and bodies, and now it is time to wait for God to respond. Stop talking and wait for him to speak, to move. I call this, the fourth phase, visitation: The almighty God visits his people.

This visitation is a by product of worship. We don’t worship in order to gain his presence. He is worthy to be worshipped whether or not he visits us. But God ‘dwells in the praises of his people’. So we should always come to worship prepared for an audience with the King. And we should expect the Spirit of God to work among us. He moves in different ways- sometimes for salvation, sometimes for deliverances, sometimes for sanctification or healings. God also visits us through he prophetic gifts.

Generosity

The fifth phase of worship is the giving of substance. The church knows so little about giving, yet the Bible exhorts us to give to God. It is pathetic to see people preparing for ministry who don’t know how to give. That is like an athlete entering a race, yet he doesn’t know how to run. If we haven’t learned to give money, we haven’t learned anything. Ministry is a life of giving. We give our whole life; God should have ownership of everything. Remember, whatever we give God control of he can multiply and bless, not so we can amass goods, but so we can be more involved in his enterprise.

Whatever I need to give, God inevitably first calls me to give it when I don’t have any of it – whether it is money, love, hospitality, or information. Whatever God wants to give through us he first has to do to us. We are the first partakers of the fruit. But we are not to eat the seed, we are to sow it, to give it away. The underlying premise is that whatever we are is multiplied, for good or for bad. Whatever we have on our tree is what we are going to get in our orchard.

As we experience these phases of worship we experience intimacy with God, the highest and most fulfilling calling men and women may know.

_______________________________________________________

(c) Equipping the Saints, Vol. 1, No. 1. Used with permission.

Now available in updated book form (2nd edition 2011)
Renewal Journal 6: Worship

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – PDF

Renewal Journal 6: Worship – Editorial

Worship: Intimacy with God, by John & Carol Wimber

Beyond Self-Centred Worship, by Geoff Bullock

Worship: to Soothe or Disturb? by Dorothy Mathieson

Worship: Touching Body and Soul, by Robert Tann

Healing through Worship, by Robert Colman

Charismatic Worship and Ministry, by Stephen Bryar and