#8 - Worship Matters

I recently finished Worship Matters by Bob Kauflin. As I lead the praise and worship ministries of our church, this was a very informative and helpful book.

Kauflin divides the book into 4 sections - The Leader, The Task, Healthy Tensions and Right Relationships. In the first section, Kauflin discusses the core essence of worship - offering our entire lives to God from the heart. In section 2, Kauflin explains a biblical philosophy of leading praise that emphasizes the greatness of God, the atoning sacrifice of Christ for sinners, the priority of the Word of God, and the supplementary role of music to amplify words that give glory to God. In section 3, he discusses various tensions that should be worked out by biblically sound guiding principles. Lastly, Kauflin expounds upon the vital role of relationships and how each (to the church, within the praise team, to church leadership, etc.) are different yet important.

Here are a few gems:

• I want to make it clear from the start that worship isn't primarily about music, techniques, liturgies, songs, or methodologies. It's about our hearts. It's about what and who we love more than anything.
• Faithfulness means firmly adhering to the observance of a duty, keeping your word, fulfilling your obligations. It involves being loyal, constant and reliable. Being faithful means fulfilling the desires of another. We don't define our ministry; God does.
• My job is to make sure I provide the opportunity for them to be affected by the right things. And that means being faithful to draw people's attention to the God we're there to worship.
• Is the gospel more precious to you now than the day you were converted? Or do you often find youself taking off days, or even weeks, from it? Do you want to move on to supposedly more 'advanced' elements of the Christian life such as discipleship, evangelism, spiritual warfare, and helping the poor? Don't miss this. Nothing should ever displace or obscure the centrality of the gospel in our worship. And nothing will bring us or the people we lead greater joy.
• There is no reason for individual churches to change everything they have been doing; but there is every reason for all congregations to evaluate everything they are doing to see how they can do it better.
• I always stress that being on the music team is an opportunity to serve, not a right to protect. In fact, if we're humbly pursuing God's will for our lives, we'll be the first ones to encourage others' involvement. That means present members might end up serving less or in another ministry. But that doesn't less their importance to the team now.
• The church doesn't need leaders who love to lead people in worship but don't love the people they're serving.

I think this book is a must read for anyone involved in praise ministry. Kauflin's handling of Scripture and application of biblical principles to leading praise demonstrated a wisdom and depth of experience that was profound. However, Kauflin is charismatic in his perspective and occasionally wrote about prophetic experiences which I disagree with. I do not believe the sign gifts such as healing, tongues and prophecy are active in the church today as defined by the Bible. For a complete understanding of this cessationist position, please read Satisfied by the Promise of the Spirit by Thomas Edgar. There is so much biblical evidence to support this understanding of Scripture that goes beyond 1 Corinthians 13.

Regardless, Kauflin's book is still excellent. I also thought John MacArthur's, The Ultimate Priority was very helpful in discussing worship as well as John Piper's chapter on worship in Desiring God.

That makes 8 books so far this year - half way to my goal!