Silence in church

I have been prompted by a few people in my church to think once again about the purpose of music in church, as part of our worship expression. Having grown up in the Salvation Army music has always been a part of my worship tradition/experience. Whether brass, coral singing and congregational sing of songs (all ages) it has seemed that music is central to drawing people closer to God in times of worship.

But is music that important to worship? Does the style matter? Of course it doesn't but the reality is that there is always music in the church so how we use it must be right. My experience has taught me that it is easy to be in a music groups in a church and have no understanding of worship or faith. So often the music (or the musical group) becomes more important than the focus of the worship. The style is irrelevant, although I recognise that people connect with different styles for different reasons, because it is the purpose that should drive the people taking part in the music. Playing your part with your heart and mind focused on Jesus, no matter how small, is what is required to best serve those you are leading.

My questions to anyone involved in music group(s) in church would be; If there was no music group(s) would you still be part of the church? If there was pure silence, could you still worship?

If the music becomes more important then I would rather we stay silent.

Matt

Do we need songs to worship? These young people don't think so!

Came across this little gem on the BBC website.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/americas/8177318.stm

Yesterday at Aspley we had a Prayer Breakfast for the few of us that were around after a great day on Saturday for Louise and Mike's wedding. There were 6 of us in total and we shared in breakfast (bacon, coco-pops, juice and fresh coffee), watch the section from BBC one's big questions on "Do we try to hard to fix families and then had a conversation and time of prayer around the subject. No songs in sight yet it felt like church!

Matt

Do we need songs to worship?

I can still feel my back hurting from mission week last week. It was an amazing week where we experienced something of God's passion for his church to be involve in the community. Not only that, I have realised that I was worshipping!

I would say that I understand that anything can be worship but usually my example would be sport. In this instant it has taken a week to reflect on the nearness in which I now realised God was with me as I dug, drank tea and chatted with Lou (the estate manager). The thing that struck me is that there was no order of service, songs to sing (apart from an impromptu rendition of O happy day), band, PowerPoint or even a congregation. As we prayed on the Saturday at the end of the week we all experience what I would describe as a "holy moment" a moment where we realised God had indeed been with us and would remain at Stepney Court.

What made the week even more significant is that we had our 12 week scan and all is well this time. Unfortunately, I missed it as parking was a nightmare. But I don't care because everything is good, in fact it is brrrrriiiilliant (in a high pitched Matt voice). It had been an anxious few weeks, after going through a miscarriage in March, but this time it is all going to plan. I am really excited about being a dad in February an keep praying that God will bless Lizzy over the coming months.

I don't need songs to give thanks and praise to a creator God who keeps his word. He isn't limited by them so neither should we.

Matt