In The Past	"For He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, for the equipping of the saints for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ" (Eph.5:11-12). When I first became a Christian in 1959 I went to a very formal church. The sermons were good and the preaching was excellent, but the praise and worship was non- existent. We sang four hymns accompanied by an antique organ. We really did not know what true praise and worship was. We just stood up in rigid formation with our hymnbooks in our hands singing with very little passion. After I was baptized in the Spirit in 1969, I was exposed to a different kind of Church which was more of a meeting: than a service. Everyone sang lively scripture choruses, accompanied by tambourines and musical instruments and dancing. It was a reformation to me. We often would get three sermons by different preachers all in the same meeting and many people moved in the anointing, shared and prophesied and operated the other gifts of the spirit. When I moved to the U.S. from England I met Judson Cornwall and read a number of his books on praise and worship. It seemed as though God was taking us to a new level. Also before I met Judson, I was pastoring a church where we had tremendous emphasis on praise and worship. Often our praise and worship would last two hours. Our minstrels wrote their own songs and would play their instruments prophetically and the singers would sing the interpretations. People would travel for fifty miles around just to come to our Friday night worship meetings. The clapping, cheering, and 150 kids dancing was something to behold. This was in the early 1980's when most spirit filled churches were still singing southern gospel or nightclub style music. Our Sunday morning meetings would last three and half to four hours. Two and a half hours of praise and worship and ministering spiritual gifts. The rest for announcements and the word. Eventually a problem began to arise. People began to leave after the praise and worship and did not stay for the preaching. Some of the musicians became prideful and asked to be paid for their performance. Their argument was that people came for the praise and worship and not for the preaching, so if you pay preachers, why not musicians. Over the last fifteen years I have watched praise and worship become more prominent in the church. The emphasis on this ministry has increased dramatically in the last two or three years. In many churches the pulpit has been removed and replaced by microphones, sound monitors musical instruments and a worship team. Mary pastors appear to be in submission to the worship leader. Rather than the pastor moving into the pulpit to preach when he feels it time for the word, he is often made to wait on the song leader, until he is finished. Is the song leader now leading the Church and dictating to the pastor or the evangelist the time when they are allowed to preach? In many churches it's often hard to find a podium to put your bible on, so a music stand is offered to the preacher instead.   (TOC)
Worship Leaders	Supposedly worship leaders lead us into the presence of God. If this is true, then perhaps the ministry of the worship leader is the greatest and most important of all ministries. Is not the presence of God the most sought after and highest experience? Yet the worship leader is not one of the five fold ministry gifts. There is no mention of a worship leader in the New Testament. The emphasis is more on individual worship. In corporate gatherings we are told to exhort one another, rather than waiting for a worship leader to exhort us or bring us into the presence. "Not forsaking the assembling of ourselves together, as is the manner of some, but exhorting one another, and so much the more as you see the Day approaching" (Heb.10:25). The tribe of Judah which were the worshipers who went into battle ahead of the rest of the tribes is of course an Old Testament concept. In the New Testament things are different. The five fold ministry gifts are to equip the saints for them to minister and to build up the body of Christ. If this is done correctly we should not have to be led into worship by a worship leader, but our worship will be spontaneous. Our worship should not just be delegated to meetings, but should be happening in our homes. Worshiping the Lord around the kitchen sink or at the meal table kitchens occurs when people do not rely on someone to bring them into the presence. Actually it is the anointing of the Holy Spirit that brings us into His presence. Do we not then have a need for worship leaders? Of course we do! But in my opinion to give them a place of prominence and control is a mistake. Worship leaders, minstrels, and worshipers can encourage, exhort, and under gird others in the church to enter into true praise and worship, but they should do it without controlling the meeting, the people, and the pastor. Am I anti music, anti worship leaders? Of course not, I love praise and worship and good music. I love the flags and the banners, the pageantry, with the beautiful dresses, the jeweled crown and scepter and the dance. I believe drama, special dance, mime, etc. can be a wonderful tool for the Lord, but I still have one concern. Is the church being taken over by music? Our culture is very much into music. Our teenagers spend millions of dollars on C.d.'s and albums. For most youngsters, Christian rock groups are more popular than the preachers. They make more money charging entrance fees, and thousands of extra dollars are also made on selling their Albums, C.d.'s and Tee-shirts etc.  Worship symposiums are offered all over the country by musicians who are now called Psalmists, and if people are not jumping into these worship experience, they are after regarded as less spiritual than others. Our lives are no longer judged so much on Holy living, or how we run our personal affairs, but whether we can be carried away in a worship meeting. Even prophetic people are getting into the music thing. I heard that one prophetic psalmists is seeking for the special note, the sound of the music made with the kind of instruments that apparently caused confusion in the brain's of the Israelites enemies, which caused them to flee. He is expecting to use the sounds of ancient Celtic and Hebrew instruments and incorporate them into the praise and worship. Others are waving swords and banging rods in their worship to make them feel like powerful knights or shepherds. Although all of this may be fine, waving these around in a praise meeting is not going to turn the world upside down as the early church did. Remember it was not a special sound of the instruments that gave the children of Israel victory over their enemies, but their praising and shouting to Jehovah God. He responded by showing up. God arose and scattered His enemies. Also the children of Israel did not go home after their praise worship and victory shout, but then proceeded to destroy their enemies, for God was with them. Of course we recognize that the shofar sound was a call to battle, which I am sure the enemies of the Israelites heard and were intimidated. (TOC)
Are We Worshiping Worship?	Have we gone from one extreme to another? In the past many of us worshiped doctrine or the bible, instead of the Lord. Are we now worshiping worship? Has the pendulum swung too far the other way? Are we into music so much, that it's making us think we are into God? Is Satan who was the original worship leader, deceiving us into another form of idolatry? Has the emphasis on music (which we are now calling worship) gathered so much momentum that it can no longer be contained? Is this the Holy Spirit, when people wave their bodies in motion to music for a hour without any words being sung? It is possible to mistake music for the anointing, for it has a powerful effect on all of us. When people attend rock concerts, or classical and romantic music concerts they will often experience ecstasy. I personally enjoy the music of Yannai, and the Irish dancing and music of Riverdance I find very stimulating. Similar music and dancing could be a blessing to the church. Music can bring us much pleasure, but adding Christian words to gifted or clever music doesn't of necessity make it a true spiritual experience; it could be a soulish experience. There is a kind of soulish anointing, but we need Holy Spirit Anointing. We don't want to replace true spiritually with natural talent and gifted music. They have their place, but we need to be careful and discerning. We must not dress talent and music up in spiritual garb and deceive ourselves, by reveling in the euphoria of it and then calling it God. Peter and John standing in front of the gate of the temple did not go into a hour or two of praise and worship before they ministered to the crippled man. Jesus did not spend hours in corporate praise gatherings to receive anointing, boldness and supernatural power for His ministry. In fact very little is said about praise and worship in the New Testament. Of course we are encouraged to come together with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs and make melody in our hearts to the Lord. (see Eph.5:1 9). And we are also told to make our requests known unto God with thanksgiving. (see Phil.4:6.)  The Bible is not an end in and of itself, but it is to bring us to a personal knowledge of God. Likewise praise and worship is not an end in and of itself, but it's designed to bring us into a place where we can break away from worldly distractions and concentrate on our God and Savior. This then activates our faith. For is it not faith that brings us into His presence? "But without faith it is impossible to please Him, for he who comes to God must believe that He is, and that He is a rewarder of those that diligently seek Him "(Heb. 11:6). I don't claim to have all the answers. Although I enjoy certain music, I am not into it in a big way, I don't make a living in music, it is not my life. I remember many years ago before I was saved, I used to go to all night jazz sessions at the London clubs. It was the in-thing for the hip generation. Although I liked jazz, I was not a fanatic, so I did not stay until five in the morning. Around 12.30 am I felt my bed calling me. Sleep was more important than jazz, so I would leave for home. Today we have people in church that want to worship for hours. Could it be that they are music fanatics rather than God fanatics? There isn't any records of the great saints of history getting carried away in worship meetings. As I am not jumping into the current worship phenomena, perhaps I shouldn't presume to correct the Body of Christ. But I feel a check, a warning, a prophetic call, telling us to take a breath and discern, before we go plunging ahead with the latest spiritual "in-thing" that so many are offering to us today. Good music has a wonderful value, it can bring merriment and uplifting to the soul, it can bring relief from tormenting spirits, but it is only temporal. It is not the be all and end all. Only Christ can bring us true deliverance from bondage and oppression. In earlier revivals much of the praise that was sung by Christians also was declaring and rejoicing in the great things that the Lord had done for them. Today, many of us are using worship has a cry for help and deliverance. Rather than rejoicing in what Christ has done for us through the New Covenant, we are still singing songs in the Old Covenant, mentally crying out to God to do what He has already done. (TOC)
Scriptural Singing	I was recently in a church. During the praise and worship a song was sung that was very popular. As I got up to minister I asked the congregation if they enjoyed the song, especially as it had a very pretty melody. They all responded with a "Yes." I then told them to listen to the words and as I began to recite them, I pointed out how unscriptural they were. They were so caught up in the melody, the talent of the song leader and the musicians, that they missed the real point. They were not singing the truth. Remember, it's not singing alone that sets us free, but the Truth. Not only singing the truth, but applying it. It's far easier to sing about healing, deliverance and salvation, than to minister it. How do we know the truth? by abiding in His word. " . . . If you abide in My word, you are My disciples indeed. And you shall know the truth and the truth shall make you free " (Jn.8:31-32). Again let me reiterate I am not against singing. Many years ago we were ministering to a beach bum who was so stoned he thought he was Jesus. We tried talking to him, but it didn't work, so we sang about our wonderful Jesus. As we were singing he was holding his head and moaning. After about thirty minutes of listening to us singing, he was delivered and he became a productive born again Christian. Singing the truth to him over and over again brought his deliverance. Music does have it's place, it can carry the words of truth to the hearer. As the old chorus goes " You are the words and the music,           You are the mighty God You are the song that I sing.                    You are the Lord of Lords You are the melody                                  You are the King of all Kings You are the harmony                                Now I return to You  Praise to Your name I will bring             The words that You gave to me                                                                     You are the song that I sing. Let us not replace God with something less. Let's not get hooked on music and worship leaders, but rather on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. David Walters June 1998