Archive for the 'worship' Category

LinkUp

Published
by
Simon
on January 21, 2008
in Nantes, worship and young people
. 2 Comments

LinkUp logoWe had a super day on Saturday. I haven’t written about this yet as I’m always a bit reluctant to blog about events before they happen. Saturday was the launch of a new inter-church youth event we have been preparing for several months now called LinkUp. It was an idea that we had been tossing around for years, but for various reasons the time just didn’t seem right until now. Throughout 2007 we became increasingly aware of a desire amongst teens and twenty-somethings in the churches in Nantes for more reality in their walk with God (the vertical relationship) and in their friendship with other Christians across denominational boundaries, and with unbelieving friends (the horizontal relationship). So out of this need grew the vision for “LinkUp”, which is just a catchy phrase for the first and second greatest commandments: love the Lord your God with all your heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love your neighbour as yourself.

LinkUp youth
We had a GREAT time! The programme combined games, food and “hang out” time with creative worship and learning on the theme “Droit au coeur” (straight to the heart) where we looked at what it actually means to love God with all your heart. We were determined to make it as interactive and “communal” as possible, so most of the learning time happened in small groups led by a core group of young adults who were willing to be big brother or sister for the teens. We also wanted to try something different with the worship, and to get beyond just singing. The result was a series of “worship stations” where people could express themselves through art, psalm-writing, mime, dance, or just being quiet. Of course, we sang as well … I made a real effort to shake the dust out of our usual repertoire and introduced some new songs. I’m trying to keep to a minimum 50 % of songs originally written in French, rather than translations. It is true that I am at a time in my life where I don’t connect with God through music nearly as well as I used to, but my memory of the powerful effect that sung worship had on me as a teenager is a good motivator.

Balloon game
Some reactions: “We have all been on a little cloud since yesterday!” “God was really at the centre of this event.” “Can’t wait till the next LinkUp!” And then there was the young lady for whom everything fell into place when she realised God was speaking to her through the Parable of the Sower (our theme text for the learning time), and she handed over the ownership of her life to Jesus, a huge encouragement to the friends who had invited her along. When we counted up the number of participants who registered for the event, we realised that there were 77 of us, from 7 different churches! This does not account for all the churches in Nantes, but it is a good beginning.

Dance workshop
The next LinkUp: March 8th.
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Is the Church a worship centre?

Published
by
Simon
on September 30, 2007
in articles, church, mission and worship
. 0 Comments

What is worship?  I have felt uncomfortable for years about this notion that if we have great worship in our churches, people who don’t know the Lord will come in to our meetings and be transformed.  Nowadays, with few exceptions, it is only with great mental effort that I manage to get through a contemporary church worship time with a good attitude.  The question “why are we doing this?” pesters me incessantly.  As a worship leader, this is an extremely uncomfortable position for me to be in, so I am very much enjoying an extended “worship- leading” fast at the moment (6 months and counting).  I long ago gave up the expectation that what normally goes under the heading “praise and worship” would actually attract outsiders to Christ.

I found this article (courtesy of The Edge ) written by a former praise and worship “guru”, entitled Worship as Evangelism.  The context really doesn’t apply to France, as it is speaking more to the American mega-church culture.  Where we live, a mega-church has a hundred people!  And yet the church here is still influenced by the “praise and worship” movement (an example: Hillsong has now launched a church in Paris - a little taste of Australia in the city of light!  Apparently it’s doing really well - some of our Paris colleagues are involved there).

I liked this article because it poses deep questions about this view that church is fundamentally a “worship centre” that draws people (the basic function of a temple), rather than a mobile community which goes out to demonstrate Christ in the world.  The very idea that “evangelism” can effectively take place within a church building seems contradictory to me now.

Take a look if you’re interested - it’s a very well-written article.  Do you think I’m being too cynical?