Saved for the world not from (Essentials Blue Fall 08)

For The Institute of Contemporary and Emerging Worship Studies, St. Stephen’s University, Essentials Blue online Worship Theology course with Dan Wilt.

 

N.T. Wright wrote “God’s people are not just worshippers, but also workers, bringing God’s new creation into reality – and the worship is the beginning of that task” in his article entitled Recovering Biblical Worship.

 

Through this article and the other course material for this first week I have found my view on the role of the worship leader being challenged and being expanded.

 

God is “making everything new” (Rev 21:5). The amazing part about this though is that He has chosen to use us as agents in the redemptive process, as co-creators. Creation began with the world around us and culminated in the creation of man – made in God’s image. ‘New Creation’ flows in the opposite direction beginning with human hearts being reconciled to Him, being made alive and then, in turn, participating in the creative, redemptive process as we are used by God in bringing His “wise order to the world” (N.T. Wright).

 

This is really inspiring but I have been asking myself what does it mean, practically, for the role of the worship leader (or worship artisan). I think part of the answer is connected to the idea that Dan mentioned in his article, The Rise of The Worship Artisan, that the mission of art is to reveal.

 

Reveal a vision of the future:

There is a prophetic role for worship leaders to see and understand the next stages of the redeeming purpose and, through creative expression and leadership, to find ways to impart that vision.

 

Reveal truth about God

There is the often quoted idiom that, for most christians, their thinking and knowledge of God is shaped more by the songs that we sing than by preaching or reading. This leaves a sobering responsibility upon the worship leader to ensure that they are leading people into a way of thinking about God that is healthy and true. We need to tell the whole story, to hold forth the whole character of God.

 

N.T.Wright Recovering Biblical Worship, Inside Worship

Dan Wilt The Rise of the Worship Artisan, www.danwilt.com