“Worship is like no place else in this world. But there is one place that it does resemble, and that is heaven” Just before AD 1000, Grand Duke Vladimir of Kiev was interested in selecting an appropriate religion for his new nation. His emissaries investigated the main religions of the …
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Culture is part of creation and is beautiful and fascinating at the same time. Although culture should not become the guideline or regulatory principle, people are joining the culture when joining a church (as with any organization). Have we identified what our church culture is, and do we identify with …
Read MoreDismissal at the end of the worship service does not mean a standard formula while you can put on your jacket or put the books back in the pew. Walters states that the dismissal of the congregation requires thought and be done intentionally. Something significant happens at the end of …
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Dr. J Oswald Sanders repeats “His faith imparted vision” a few times when discussing vision and church leadership. “Moses, one of the great leaders of all history, “endured, as seeing him who is invisible.” (KJV) His faith imparted vision. Elisha’s servant saw the obvious menace of the encircling army, but …
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I had a discussion with some church members about singing. Their point was that the songs in the church should, in principle, be praise songs and that we should be joyful when singing. My argument was that the church’s circumstances in this world might justify a lament, even as the …
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Especially now the restrictions are easing, many people are saying: “Can’t wait for Sunday.” Did you know that there is also a book with that name by Michael Walters? The back cover has some reviews, and a large heading which says: “A Silver Bullet for the Worship Wars.” After reading …
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Regularly I received emails with organist/music director vacancies. Details about what is expected are included, and in one case, applications were to be emailed to the “search committee.” Makes me wonder: how do our churches search/find organists? When ministers are leaving, a calling committee is appointed. Their task is to …
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In the last few years, there is much talk about singing Psalms: rediscover and reintroduce Psalm singing. For example, in 2018, the Getty conference was dedicated to singing Psalms. Some churches always include the Psalms in their liturgy, others have sung the Psalms in the past, and some churches have …
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SINGING REVOLUTION Estonia became independent from the USSR through a Singing Revolution. Four years of people singing, united, standing ground against the Soviet tanks, and: they succeeded. In 1991 they became independent because of their singing. The Estonians finally reached freedom. (The documentary film “The Singing Revolution” was released in …
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