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Tips on the Selection and Use of Contemporary Worship Songs in Services of Public Worship

Does your church use contemporary worship songs in its services of public worship on Sundays? Does the lion’s share of these worship songs have the same theme—different lyrics but the same theme—the real or imagined salvation experience of the song writer or a generalized salvation experience? Have Sundays become a celebration of personal salvation rather than a time to give thanks and praise to God for all that he has done and is doing, to celebrate all God’s mighty deeds, to expound the great truths of the Bible, to extend Christ’s call to discipleship, to intercede for the Church and the world, to encourage each other, and to reaffirm one’s commitment to Christ? Do the worship songs express feelings or experiences to which the members of the congregation cannot relate? God’s gracious redemption of humanity certainly has a place in Wesleyan theology, but as John Wesley draws to our attention in his sermons, salvation is only the first step. Having saved us, God then sanctifies us, e...
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Bible Study Tips

  John Wesley’s third general rule for the early Methodist societies, which he gave them after observing that a number of their members had become lax, in their pursuit of holy living was: “ It is expected of all who desire to continue in these societies that they should continue to evidence their desire of salvation…by attending upon all the ordinances of God; such are the public worship of God; the ministry of the Word, either read or expounded; the Supper of the Lord; family and private prayer; searching the Scriptures; and fasting or abstinence. ” By “ the ordinances of God ” Wesley means the means of grace, the ways that God shows his unmerited favor and goodwill toward us, and by which God quickens (invigorates), strengthens, and confirms faith in him. In his sermon, “ The Means of Grace ,” Wesley explains: “ The chief of these means are prayer, whether in secret or with the great congregation; searching the Scriptures (which implies reading, hearing, and meditating thereon)...
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Let's Bring Back the Practice of Congregational Singing in Our Churches

  “Worshiptainment” is a new word which I learned this past month. It is the fusion of the word “worship” with the word “entertainment” and is used to describe what is represented as worship on Sunday mornings and other occasions but in actuality is a form of entertainment. “Worshiptainment” primarily refers to the part of a church service in which the vocalists of a small musical ensemble made up of instrumentalists and vocalists sing while most of the congregation listens. This musical ensemble may be called a praise or worship band or praise or worship team or simply a music group. A few members of the congregation may attempt to sing along with the vocalists of the small ensemble. They usually face a number of difficulties. The words and the tune are unfamiliar. The song may be sung at a pitch beyond the range of the average singer in the congregation. The music of the instrumentalists is electronically amplified and very loud as are the voices of the vocalists, and anyone sin...
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The Place of Congregational Song during the Distribution of Communion

A practice to which I was introduced in the mid-1980s, which I introduced at the new church that I helped to pioneer from its pre-launch days on, and which came to characterize our celebrations of the Lord’s Supper was the practice of congregational singing during the distribution of the communion elements and immediately afterward before the post-communion prayer. As well as using very familiar hymns and worship songs such as praise choruses, we also used a number of hymns and worship songs with simple lyrics and melodies and/or refrains or repetitions. These characteristics enabled the congregation to sing without a hymnal or song sheet in their hands as they went to or from the communion stations. Wall screens and multimedia projectors had not yet come on the scene. In addition to singing one or more hymns or worship songs during the distribution of the communion elements, we adopted two other practices. We did not interrupt a hymn or worship song because the distribution had been c...
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The Lord’s Supper and Mission

Some Methodist churches celebrate the sacrament of Holy Communion every week while others celebrate this sacrament less often—typically once a month. John Wesley himself set great store in the sacrament of Holy Communion as a converting and sanctifying ordinance and practiced frequent communion. He received communion at least once every four or five days and daily during the twelve days of Christmas and during the octave of Easter. In his sermon “The Duty of Constant Communion,” Wesley says— "I am to show that it is the duty of every Christian to receive the Lord's Supper as often as he can. Let every one, therefore, who has either any desire to please God, or any love of his own soul, obey God, and consult the good of his own soul, by communicating every time he can; like the first Christians, with whom the Christian sacrifice was a constant part of the Lord's day service. And for several centuries they received it almost every day: Four times a week always, and every s...
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The Place of Prayer in Mission

When casting around for ideas for a new mission undertaking, the first place to start is prayer. As Psalm 127: 1 reminds us, “unless the Lord builds a house, the work of the builders is wasted.” The purpose of prayer is not to ask God’s blessing on something that we have decided to do. Rather it is to seek the Holy Spirit’s guidance, to ask the Holy Spirit to draw our attention to what God wants us to do, to an unreached, unengaged people group that God wants us to reach and engage, a need that God wants us to meet. This may prove challenging since we may have all kinds of ideas about new mission activities which we may like or prefer to do or to begin doing, activities that are worthwhile but are nonetheless not what God wants us to undertake. The time may not be right. We may not be the right people. God has other things that he wants us to do or begin doing. As the apostle Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:10, “For we are God’s masterpiece. He has created us anew in Christ Jesus, so we c...
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The Role of Spiritual Formation in Mission

  One thing that I have noticed is that too many churches are scattershot in their approach to forming disciples of Jesus. They go about forming disciples in a disorganized way, rather than taking a focused approach. This was true in the evangelical churches in which I was involved as well as the mainline churches. Only one of these churches took an organized approach to its discipleship process but even its approach was not as organized as it might have been. The early Methodists were known for being methodical in what they did. Hence they were derisively labeled “Methodists” due to their methodical approach to spiritual formation. But I do not believe that we can say that today. Most churches follow a pattern that Methodists churches have followed since the nineteenth century—a service of public worship, preceded or followed by Sunday school. This, however, is a scattershot approach since the Sunday school teacher and sometimes the class itself determines what it studies. More at...
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