South African Christian News: Telling the God Stories of Africa
In my last column I traced the changes that have taken place in the Church’s worship services. For the most part these were neutral’ changes. They were more superficial cultural changes that did not affect the deeper levels of our Christian being. We observed movements from formal liturgies to freer […]
During the Heritage Month of September we remembered our roots, as a nation. We traced our national evolution from what was to what now is, and we have been imagining our future. The one dominant word has been “change”. So it’s a good time to remind ourselves of our journey as […]
God has gifted humankind with the amazing, exciting, enjoyable, exploring gift of imagination. Do other creatures have Imagination? I don’t know. But I do know you and I have it.The ability to see things in one’s mind, even though they have not yet happened. God’s Gift of Imagination comes in very handy […]
Those of us who live in South Africa are horrified, disgusted, perplexed or deeply concerned about the recent chaotic events that are destroying the fabric of our society. What began as a protest against ex-president Jacob Zuma’s 15-month imprisonment for contempt of the Constitutional Court, has morphed into nationwide looting […]
“Preach the word of God” –2 Timothy 4:2 (NLT) “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly … as you sing” — Colossians 3:16 (NIV) From these Scriptures, we can draw a guiding maxim: “If it’s in the Bible, you can preach it; If it’s in the Bible, you can sing […]
I have a sneaking suspicion that many people, especially pastors and preachers, could write relevant songs to support their sermons, but they don’t realise it. Yet this is not such a difficult challenge as one might imagine. As I opened my Bible for my devotional reading the other day, God’s […]
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 […]
