A Heritage of Worship

Psalm 61: 5
"You have given me the heritage of those who fear your name."

I am part of a great heritage of worshipers. I think of all the churches I have attended over the years: Church of the Cross in Modesto, CA., First Baptist and Calvary Baptist in Beaumont, CA., Fountain Valley First Christian Church in Fountain Valley, CA, Smoky Mountain Christian Church in Sevierville, TN., Gethsemane Church of Christ in Mechanicsville, VA, and Park Chapel Christian Church in Greenfield, IN. In each of these churches we have shared in true worship. We have acknowledged God's presence in our lives and declared His worth among the nations. In fact, you are also part of a great heritage of worship. We don't do this alone. Every time we enter into a season of worship or prayer or reading of God's Word, it is not only as part of our local congregation, but we gather with Christ Followers around the globe as we approach the Living God.

In some mysterious way, our worship is linked to the millions who have gone before us. Many of those gave their very lives because of worship. In church worship believers proclaim their creeds and beliefs. It is at great risk that we are proclaiming these beliefs. Persecution is in every part of our world today. I'm convinced that the world has heard enough of what the Church doesn't believe...compromise...what the world and those in the world that are "seeking" are truly seeking is "something." They want to know what we believe and how to find the truth in Jesus Christ. God has created us with the desire to invest our lives in Him and to completely immerse our hearts, minds, souls, and strengths in Jesus.

The church needs boldness to stand firm in worship. Christ-followers are to give love and compassion while demonstrating the healing power of Jesus Christ in the lives they live. Compromise is obsolete and it is time to be the people Jesus has called us to be. Then and only then will we be effective Christ-followers...effective worshipers living up to the heritage that has been given to us.

Standing firm with you - Don

A Blended Worship Service IS???

Park Chapel Christian Church has a Blended Worship Service...we call it Solid Ground. What do I mean by "blended worship" service?

Well, let’s start with the word “worship”. Many books and articles (perhaps deliberately) do a poor job of pinning down what they do and do not mean by that word. On one end of the spectrum are definitions like “a complete liturgical event for which the people of a church regularly gather”: greeting, singing, preaching, praying, the kid’s moment, it’s all part of “worship”. On the other end of the spectrum is “participation in the singing of a particular type of song of adoration towards God, usually to soft, melodic, contemplative music”. While we all agree that “worship is important”, we have wildly different notions of what is and is not a part of that important thing. Worship is simply, "declaring how much God is worth with a physical response."

For the purposes of this blog, I’m going to use “worship” to refer to those times when the gathered church sings and prays aloud together (whether en masse or one-at-a-time). An alternate definition which will work just as well is those things in which the gathered church participates in perceptible ways with the intent of engaging with the presence of God in and among them so as to respond to our Creator by declaring He is worth more than anything else.

So what is “blended worship”? Simply put, it is the use of songs and prayers from radically different streams of the church and cultural genres, in their conventional forms, within a single worship event. Imagine a choir-sung Lutheran hymn, a neo-punk chorus, and a Gregorian chant as back-to-back songs within a single service and you’re starting to get the idea.

Notice that an otherwise-traditional church service in which a single “contemporary” song is performed by a singer (”special music”) is not blended, and neither is a rock-ensemble worship band covering a hymn; each of these is an example of one style co-opting the other, but using it on its own terms.

Therefore, in the Park Chapel Solid Ground service, we make it our goal to please our Creator by offering ourselves to Him in many diverse offerings...blending many facets of our abilities and gifts together so as to declare to anyone and everyone that we praise, adore, and love a creative Jehovah that has blessed us beyond our imaginations.

Genesis 2:3, "And God blessed the seventh day and made it holy, because on it he rested from all the work of creating that He had done."

All thoughts are welcome...you know I love ya - Don