This is the 5th article in the ‘What is Worship’ series; hope you’ve read the first 4.
Few people knew the Word had been made flesh and was dwelling among men. The Bible mentions Mary, Joseph, Elizabeth, Zechariah, a few shepherds, the 3 Magi, Simeon and Anna. That is until John the Baptist announced to the world, “Behold! The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world… I have seen and testified that this is the Son of God.” (John 1:29,34). Soon after, people began to follow the Lord.
The worship ministry’s primary responsibility is somewhat similar: point people towards God and help them draw closer to Him.
The Holy Spirit keeps providing a wide variety of tools to the Church for this purpose:
- charisms
- fruit
- liturgy
- music & other arts
- media
- other technology
When each of these is used appropriately, worship will flourish.
When each of these is used appropriately, worship will flourish.
The Charismatic and Evangelical movements in the Body of Christ have been instrumental in renewing and refreshing the way we worship and connect with God especially in the use of arts, the most accessible of which is music; probably why music ministry is most popular among all arts based worship ministries. By ‘most accessible’ I mean not everyone can make videos, act, dance, sculpt or paint but most of us enjoy music and probably sing in the bathroom at least!
Worshipping God using songs is first mentioned in Exodus 15 and it goes on to become a formal ministry under king David (1 Chronicles 25:1-6). In fact some members of the music ministry were occupied with worship full time (1 Chronicles 9:33) with no other responsibilities.
St. Paul too exhorts the church to continue the tradition of singing and composing songs for the Lord (Ephesians 5:19, Colossians 3:16). A great reason why right from the Gregorian chants of the 5th century to the praise and worship band of today, the worship of Christians has almost always incorporated songs.
Contemporary worship ministry mainly consists of worship leaders, vocalists, musicians, sound arrangers, visual aid managers and music directors sharing a common vision: Like John the Baptist, it looks to fulfill the prophecy in Malachi 3:1, “Look, I shall send my messenger to clear a way before me. And suddenly the Lord whom you seek will come to his Temple.”
With every song, prayer, scripture etc. the worship ministry prepares the way i.e. an environment that facilitates man in flesh to connect with God in Spirit. Then teach and encourage the congregation to go out and continue to worship out in the world.
Do you have a different perspective on what a worship ministry should be doing? You are welcome to share your thoughts in the comments.
The next article in this series will look at the variety of roles performed by worship ministry. If you want to be intimated when it is published, please take a few seconds to subscribe by email using this link.
