Worship Matters: What Kind Of Music? (Part 1)

I'm soaking up the wisdom from Bob Kaflin's book "Worship Matters: Leading others to encounter the greatness of God" and the chapter I'm currently studying is talking about what kind of music we use as a part of our worship. His book is so practical and accessible, and I would heartily recommend it to you whether you're a worship leader or not, because we're all worshipers, and need think through what that means...

He opens the chapter with this short anecdote that points us to the importance of this issue:

I once heard of a Christian woman who spent time serving God in South Africa. While visiting a health clinic, she was deeply moved by the sound of the local Zulu women singing. Their harmonies were hauntingly beautiful. With tears in her eyes, she asked a friend if she knew the translation of the words.

'Sure' her friend replied. 'If you boil the water, you won't get dysentery.'
Now if that doesn't make you want to worship, what does?

Being emotionally affected by music and actually worshiping God aren't the same thing, and no one should know this better than worship leaders. All by itself, music-even instrumental music-can make us cry, motivate us to cheer for our team, provoke us to protest, or fill us with joy.
It's part of the way God designed music to work in his creation. Now if we could only figure out how it works in worship.

He goes on to discuss a brief sad history of the use of music in worship, and the tool for divisiveness it has often become. For example: ever heard of the hymn writer Isaac Watts? One hundred years after his death, people "would still walk out of a meeting if someone started singing something other than a Psalm set to music." They had been arguing about using hymns of "human composure."
This enforces Bob's point in emphasizing the importance of understanding God's purpose for music in worship because without it, we can misuse music, and even rob God of the glory we want to give him!

Here are some of the ways that music helps us in worship:

1) Music stirs up and expresses God-glorifying emotion
Here it is important to understand the difference between emotions and emotionalism (which is the pursuit of feelings as an end in themselves). Emotions brought forth by music are a response to who God is and what he's done. Vibrant singing enables us to combine truth about God seamlessly with passion for God. Doctrine and devotion. Mind and heart.

I'll talk about some of the other ways in future posts, but I want to give us time to think through the issue...

(to be continued)