Different By God

The goal of Praise and Worship ministries is not to entertain. Its not to bring attention to us. The goal of every P&W ministry SHOULD be this – to engage, captivate, and inspire people to turn their attention to God. If a person’s heart needs to jump, dance, and sing, and they are forced to sit through song after song like Tomlin’s “I Will Rise,” are they engaged to do so? No. Captivated by the atmosphere? No. Inspired? Maybe to refill their coffee cup, but I don’t think that’s what was meant by “my cup runs over” (psalm 23 NKJV.) Not every song leads every person’s attention to God. BUT, just because it doesn’t lead you doesn’t mean that it won’t lead someone else – the fact it was written and recorded proves that it DID lead someone else.

 

The church needs to be diligent in leading it flocks. Yes, I said flocks, plural. The world would be a boring place if we were all the same, or so I’m told. Why lead the church assuming that everyone can, will, or should accept the same tactics or any style that the leadership of the church deems appropriate for that particular Sunday morning? Engage me, captivate me, inspire me to connect and stay connected for the entire service, not just one or two songs and leave me going through the motions the rest of the time.

 

We can come together, and we should:

“I appeal to you, brothers and sisters, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, that all of you agree with one another in what you say and that there be no divisions among you, but that you be perfectly united in mind and thought.” 1 Cor. 1:10

 

The dividing lines can be erased on a weekly basis. We can come together as undivided praisers, undivided worshipers. Or we can stay together and fall apart in our own cocktail of complaints that keep us drunk with discontent. WE follow Christ. He leads us to different places in our different lives. We follow Christ, but we are different, by God.