Great news! Jenny Munns has been appointed as our Music and Creative Arts Coordinator. Jenny has a genuine passion for corporate worship; and a real passion for all the creative arts to play their part in enhancing our corporate worship experience. Jenny also has a wonderful gift of enabling others to fly. I believe her encouragement, vision and creativity will greatly enhance the corporate worship life of our congregation.
Beginning in March our evening service will be re-visioned to “Ignition Point”. On the 1st and 3rd Sundays we will share in a corporate worship celebration (“Igniting Praise”). On the 2nd and 4th Sundays people will meet in faith life groups or access training/study offered at the Ministry centre (“Igniting Discipleship” from 6-00pm to 7-30pm). On the 5th Sundays we will share a meal together in the courtyard. Please find the program for this new adventure in your notices.
Speaking of corporate worship I thought it could be helpful to share my journey regarding the place of corporate worship in living out God’s call as a church. This journey began with a renewed passion that we as a church live out our call to “Draw people into a life transforming relationship with Jesus Christ.” I believe the primary mechanism God uses to do this is relationships as we love and serve people beyond the church. I am also convinced that highly honest and encouraging relationships (faith life groups and IFFF’s) are key to growing as disciples of Christ.
I also began to reflect more on the biblical basis for what we do when we gather on Sundays. Most of the understandings of corporate worship that I encounter are built upon the Old Testament model of temple worship and then Christianised. I don’t believe this is valid as Jesus replaces the temple and you and I worship God in and through Christ. In John 4: 19-24 Jesus makes it clear that we can worship God in Spirit and in truth anywhere.
As part of this journey myself, Glen and Libby spent two hours discussing the practice and understanding of corporate worship in the New Testament with Malcolm Coombes (New Testament lecturer, Trinity Theological College).
What became clear is that the early church met together and as they did they worshipped God. This included prayers, psalms, doxologies, readings, songs, teaching and breaking of the bread (also possible tongues, prophecy etc). What form this took is not at all clear. The clearest picture is 1 Corinthians chapters 12 to 14 in which the gathering is very much a “one another” experience in which any are able to participate – bring a teaching or a song or a tongue or ... (see also Eph 5: 19 “speaking to one another with psalms etc..”). This would have taken place in people’s homes.
There is some indication that the churches which met in people’s homes would gather together a larger gathering – whether this actually took place and how often and in what format we do not know. The New Testament is silent on the model of a larger gathering with a consistent designated preacher and worship leader etc.
In talking with Malcolm it is also clear that the New Testament would affirm that discipleship happens best in small groups of highly encouraging and honest relationships. And in Malcolm’s words such groups should worship God as part of their life together.
With regard to the larger Corporate Worship gatherings, I have come to the conclusion that these will continue to have value for the following reasons:
1. It is culturally relevant – it is part of our church culture to do so and in our secular culture people do gather in large crowds for celebrations, graduations, concerts etc.
2. It assists in giving a sense of being part of something bigger than ourselves or individual life groups.
3. We experience God in a different way to what we often do in smaller gatherings. Revelation chapters 4 to 7 speak to this as we have a picture of thousands upon thousands honouring God.
I have shared this with our worship leaders and music ministry. We have an ongoing and growing commitment to developing our time together in Corporate Worship as a genuine experience of connecting with God. Your part in praying for yourselves and others that you and they would grow in openness to God and in a willingness to say “yes” to God is vital in this happening.
Yours in Christ
Graham Keech
