One of the blogs that we follow is a pastor's named Mark Batterson. He leads National Community Church in Washington, D.C. A quote from his latest post really spoke to me today. Upon visiting another church, he made this observation about how they worshipped:
"The people didn't just come to be ministered to by the Lord. They came to minister to the Lord."
That is worship on another level.
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I have to admit I struggled with this a little at first. How can we as man minister to the Lord?
ReplyDeleteWell after meditating and really reading I think I get it.
A large percentage of christians today go into the service and engage in the worship songs but do not fully engage in spirit. Does that make sense? I mean people can come in and hear the worship leader just nail it and say worship was fantastic this weekend and actually not get anything out of it spiritually; their mind was focused on the words and the " performance " more than Gods grace, mercy and love. I think worshipping on another level looks like this for me. If we are to be Christ like we have to become servants. I think we in the P&P ministry have for the most part committed ourselves to this. I know for me personally I do not go into a service with a goal making the mix sound good. I go into it with the mindset of doing my part to help there be no distractions with the sound so that the body can have the opportunity to become fully engrossed in the Spirit and hear Gods whispers. God whispers telling you to walk across the room and introduce yourself to someone new, or to go up to the woman who recently had a baby and offer to make her family a meal, or make a meal for the family who has just lost someone or simply walking up to someone whom you know is having trouble with things at home and offering to pray for them or letting them know you are there to help. We are all naturally super natural people. The Holy Spirit is alive in us... IN US do we honestly think The one Jesus said was coming to comfort and counsel really has nothing to say to us. Everything we do as a body of staff and volunteers has to be done as if we are doing it unto the Lord for the sole purpose of expanding the Kingdom. In my opinion that is worship on another level.
Just my 2 cents,
Keep Pointing, Tim
I went to a worship conference awhile back where Paul Baloche was speaking about ministering to the Lord. He challenged us as worship leaders to "practice" ministering to the Lord throughout the week. Not just practicing the songs or working on the music for the coming weekend, but actually communicating with God through music (in addition to our quiet time with Him). He said that the most effective worship leaders will take time to do this. When I say effective, I don't mean skillful... I mean speaking to the heart of God and the heart of those who come to worship on the weekends by allowing God to freely lead them.
ReplyDeleteI went home and started doing this... just singing in the sanctuary when no one was around... sitting down and singing through the psalms... I started to find that he was right. As I practiced ministering to the Lord with "just the two of us," it was easier to take people to that same place during corporate worship.
Whether we are leading from a visible position or not, we all should challenge ourselves to minister to the Lord. You can't take people where you haven't been. Let's all be tour guides, not travel agents. :)
I think as we come together with the desire to minister to the Lord, the rest of the things that Tim mentioned will flow out of that... maybe even more freely than before.