Worshiping as a church: More than the music

(This is the fifth post in a series on corporate worship.)

Evangelicals regrettably have fallen into the trap in recent decades of equating worship with music. Too often you hear someone talk about how powerful the worship is in his church or how awesome it was in the most recent service. You know that person is largely, if not totally, referring to the music. Or evangelicals commonly refer to the primary musician as the worship leader. He might be the worship leader, if he does more than lead music. Or he might be just the lead musician.

Congregational singing is important. It is not, however, all there is to corporate worship. It is an aspect of worship. It is a way we express adoration, thanksgiving, confession and submission. It is not the only way.

We also worship as a church in reading God’s Word aloud in unison or responsively, in listening to the reading of His Word, in declaring praises to God out loud or in the quietness of our hearts and minds, in praying verbally or silently, in reading common confessions of faith together, in paying attention to the prayers of others, in listening to the preaching of the Word, and in encouraging, serving and loving one another.

To practice corporate worship requires a more fully biblical understanding than just accepting current evangelical lingo. It also calls for us to engage in worship in all the ways God intends. May we “sing with the spirit and . . . with the mind,” as I Cor. 14:15 says, but may we also worship in “spirit and truth” (John 4:23).