Worship And praise

Worship is the Christians’ response to all that they are – mind, emotions, will, body – and who God is and says and does.  In the context of congregational worship, worship is preaching, it’s praying, it’s fellowship and it’s truth set to music – all of which bring our minds to understand God rightly and then set our hearts aflame to worship Him.  The result is undistracted praise of God in singing, talking and living.

Jesus says, in John 4, that the Father is seeking for people to worship Him in spirit and truth.  The desire for FBC’s worship team is to help the body do this.  The personal goal of the worship leaders is to lead a time of complete, undistracted praise to our great God on high. Worship is driven by truth.  Singing can prepare us to hear the Word preached and is used as a response to the Word.  The Word is the centerpiece of the service, and the time singing is a form of response. Worship lyrics must be theologically precise and function as an extension of the formal preaching time. Worship is always driven by truth and should be God-centered, Gospel-centered and personally reflective.

FAQ = What type of music do we sing?

We are not overly concerned with the style of music and feel that God can be worshiped through various genres of music. There are universal musical qualities that modern worship should have. Interesting and singable melodies are important throughout songs. Choruses that we can easily remember help the congregation. Songs that are dynamic and well-arranged are desirable. The songs can be stylistically diverse and span from the most current contemporary songs (i.e. Hillsong, Sovereign Grace, Tomlin, etc) all the way to old hymns (i.e. Isaac Watts, Charles Wesley, etc).

We want our songs to be centered on God and the Gospel – songs which speak of the majesty, power, holiness and character of God. To accurately offer up sacrifices of praise, we must constantly have our minds filled with the reality of who God is and what He has done.  And since God is most clearly revealed in the work of His Son on the cross, we need to seize many opportunities in the lyrics to sing of the Gospel and how it shows the greatness of God in all aspects of salvation.