South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
God created us as humans, in His image. This means we experience the wide range of human emotions: From high happiness to deep despair. And everything in between. And God understands this — and the song-book of the Bible reflects this: “The LORD is like a father to His children, tender […]
Why must we practice so much? “At my Charismatic church the band usually practices maybe an hour a week. Then on Sunday these guys warm up for 15 minutes before the service starts. At my previous church the organist simply played the music and we sang the hymns along with him. Is […]
In our January worship column, we noted: We must stop trying to win the approval of the people, with their divergent song preferences. We must win the approval of God. That’s how the apostle Paul overcame divisions that were based on personal preferences: Am I trying to win the approval […]
One of the most influential factors which people take into account, when deciding which church to attend, or even to join, is ‘the church’s music ministry’. And there’s such a range to choose from: from hyper-conservative churches where the hymn-and-a thing led by the organ music style of the 1950s […]
Last month we listened in to the Trinity discussing among Themselves how congregations are singing these days. This month we eavesdrop on a panel of three progressive worship leaders who have been evaluating the current Church scene. They discuss the same question: “How does the congregation sing?” “I think we […]
The Divine Trinity had just been looking through the Body of Christ onearth. Now They meet in conclave to review their findings. Theirspecial focus this time was the question “How does the congregationsing?” Let’s eavesdrop on their trialogue://////////oooO!!!Oooo\\\\\\\\\\ “It’s interesting to notice how they usually equate singing withworship“, said the […]
Singing songs in the Sunday services is one of God’s effective methods of “making disciples”. Jesus expects us to keep His comprehensive purpose — to make disciples — at the centre of our service for Him. A disciple is one who is being “taught” the teachings of Jesus, and who […]
Is it possible to sing worship songs to God that actually are songs that worship money? “No” says Jesus. You cannot worship God and money. Yet the motivation behind publishers’ surveys asking us to name the most popular worship songs is this: “If we publish the popular worship songs, we […]
The home pages of church websites sometimes have a photograph intended to draw the attention of browsers looking for a church to visit or join. I noticed one that got me thinking: “What picture best describes your church?” It was a picture taken from the fifth row of seated people, […]
It is dangerous to allow our musical preferences to divide the Church. We disobey Jesus when we allow our preferences to erode the unity for which Jesus prayed. All believers, young and old, white and black, are one in Christ. Worship together. Sing together. Serve together. Witness together. Because this […]
