A Pastoral Pondering
(21st Century Worship)

In December of 1994 I was invited to attend the first North American Summit on the Future of Christian Worship. It was conceived and lead by Professor Robert Webber (now deceased). There were around 150 pastors and worship leaders in attendance at that first gathering. It was to have been the first of what would become an annual event. For reasons that I never knew subsequent meetings never happened after those first days of teaching, discussion, and prayer.

Today (10/12/’09), almost 15 years later, I came across a cover letter which was enclosed in a book that was given to all the attendees. It (the letter) had been inside the dust sleeve and I’d never seen it there. The book had just come out and the two authors wanted to gift each of us. They believed that it would perhaps be a good resource for us to have after leaving the gathering. As it turned out they were correct – at least in my case. I have used it as reference material on many occasions over the years.

As I thumbed through it looking for a specific set of comments that I couldn’t recall as clearly as I wanted to, I found myself reading over a section that I’d not read in years. The comments were in a section entitled “Characteristics of Effective Leadership”. What follows are quotes that I had highlighted in the book a few months prior to going into “full time ministry” on staff at Smyrna Assembly in March of ‘95. I think you may find them of interest:

“While we are focusing on leadership for worship, we want to keep in mind that worship is part of the congregation’s Primary Task. The task, as stated earlier, involves (1) reaching out and receiving persons as they are, (2) helping them discover and deepen their relationship to God, (3) nurturing them in the life of faith in Christ, and (4) sending them out to live as disciples.

Your vision: You will lead the congregation in worship (whether through preaching, singing, planning, reading, leading prayers, dancing, or other means) based on the way you see the church in its relationship to the world beyond the church. Your theory or point of view plays a major role in the way you will lead in worship and in the way you will reach out to people in music, word, and sacrament. Your life of prayer, your sense of the faith community’s yearning, your understanding of the setting in which your congregation lives, and your discernment of the role and potential of the congregation to fulfill God’s purpose in that setting.

Your spirituality: Spirituality, or the life of spiritual discipline, has to do with your rootedness in a sense of call and in a vital living out of Christian vocation that goes with your baptism and Christian experience. Effective worship leaders are not simply talented persons; they are sustained by appropriate spiritual disciplines, including prayer, reading and studying Scripture, solitude and reflection, corporate worship, mutual accountability, Holy Communion, and rest. Lively worship requires a living, growing faith in its leaders.

Your collaboration with the team: Worship is best when it is the result of a team effort. As a worship leader, you are providing spiritual leadership through what you do in that context.

Your continuous growth: You can and must be continuously growing in knowledge specific to your role in worship, and in your knowledge of ways to improve the quality of the congregation’s worship.

Yielding to what God asks of us as we come to the twenty-first century will be a costly venture of maturing in leadership for the glory of God. The risen Lord knows the cost and our potential. From the future He calls, “Follow Me.” Change an improvement do call for prayerful steps that welcome the stranger, open the doors, and yield to the rising wind of the Spirit. Your leadership can enable your church to take those steps.”

(From: Contemporary Worship for the 21st Century / Benedict & Miller / Discipleship Resources, 1994)

There's an aphorism which I’ve used for years that I picked up somewhere along the way. It states:

Vision…is where I’m going
Mission…is how I intend to get there
Goal(s)…are points of measurement along the way which help me determine my personal progress

As I read over the comments from the book that I’d marked up years ago I was astounded to see that what caught my attention then has now been so integrated into my life and leadership. Together, all the quotes seemed to read like words of prophecy.

God is so faithful to perform His good and perfect work(s) in us. Looking back from here, it’s clear that the Lord was in fact calling me from the future to “yield to the rising wind of the Spirit”!

This, then, is a testimony of how God has continued to lead me in the path of righteousness for His names sake. Blessed be the name of the Lord, Christ Jesus.

In Him we live, and move, and have our being. And, worship is still being carried on the wind.


W. B.
10/’09