Essentials
Engaging the Heart & the Mind
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- Written by: Alanna Glover and Philip Percival. © Emu Music
Have you ever watched the musical, the Wizard of Oz? I once read about the characters of Tinman and Scarecrow being used to depict the divide that seems to exist in much of our contemporary church music[1]. In the story, Tinman has a brain, but not a heart; Scarecrow has a heart but not a brain; and so they follow the yellow brick road in order to find their missing pieces. Contemporary congregational music is often thought of in the same way. Some songs are ‘Tinman’ songs, they are rich in theology but fail to engage people’s emotions. Others are ‘Scarecrow’ songs that are emotive or catchy, but lack theological depth and end up stirring people through their melodies and experience rather than Biblical truth.
A Plea for a Greater Variety of Songs and Hymns!
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- Written by: Stephen Hale
One of the dilemmas for those involved in organising and designing Sunday services is the lack of variety of content when it comes to contemporary song selections. There are many great contemporary songs, and we should be very thankful for those who compose and write these songs. There are also some excellent reimaginings of old classics that work beautifully with a range of demographics. At the same time, one would have to suggest that there are a disproportionate number of songs that focus on adoration and many others that focus on the death of Jesus. In any worship services we should sing songs of adoration and we should reflect on the death of Jesus. It would be strange if we didn’t. At the same time there are a range of things which we should also sing about and it’s often very hard to find songs that reflect this. I’ve been involved in services where every song seemed to focus, more or less, on the same thing! If we only sing about one area we run the risk of it becoming so familiar that it just washes over us.
Book Review: A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship:
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- Written by: Rhys Bezzant
A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship: Understanding the Ideas that Reshaped the Protestant Church
Lester Ruth and Lim Swee Hong
Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2021
Reading this book was like listening to the soundtrack of my earliest years as a Christian in the 1970s. It tells the story of the rise and development of contemporary praise and worship – some of it much earlier than the decade of my conversion! – with lots of quotations from songs, and references to their composers or publishers. But recounting this story is not just about listing choruses. In the hands of Ruth and Hong, we discover the social and the theological pressures which generated a twentieth-century revolution in both musical performance and song-writing. Their focus is on the United States, but their analysis holds good for Australia as well. The authors are professors in the field of Christian worship, so this book was the result of painstaking research – mainly through personal interviews – over many years. Contemporary Christian music has deep and complicated roots.
Read more: Book Review: A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship:
Bible Study: Ephesians 1:3–14
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- Written by: Mark Simon
The main feature of the opening to Paul’s letter to the Ephesians is praise. Verses 3–14 are described by commentators as a thanksgiving, a eulogy, a hymn of praise or an extended blessing (a berakah in Hebrew, declaration of blessing, such as found in Psalm 103). The tone is exuberantly thankful and the content is theologically rich. As such, it represents a model for sung worship in the gathered church. In this study, we’ll explore the variety of ways in which Eph 1:3–14 informs and models how we might praise God in corporate song.
Observing the structure of the passage, we note the prominence given to each person of the Trinity. There is specific mention of “God our Father” (v. 2), “the God and Father” of Jesus (v. 3); Jesus/Jesus Christ/Christ (vv. 2, 3, 5, 6 ‘the Beloved One’, 10, 12); and the Holy Spirit (vv. 13–14). The qualities of God’s triune character particularly emphasized in this passage are: his sovereign election of a people who are made holy through redemption, adoption, and sealing with the Spirit (vv.5, 7, 13–14); God’s gracious initiative in this plan for salvation (vv. 4, 6, 7); and God’s love as the motivator of his actions (vv.4–5). Paul highlights in turn God the Father as sovereign over salvation history (vv. 4, 5, 10, 11), Christ as agent of redemption (v.7), and the Spirit as eschatological seal in this rich passage (vv.13–14). The trinitarian nature of Paul’s hymn of praise should encourage us to sing songs to Father, Son and Spirit – celebrating their comprehensive work that secures salvation, not neglecting any person of the Trinity as the object of our worship.
Singing as Spiritual Formation
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- Written by: Greg Cooper
Churches in Australia go to incredible lengths to sing together. Typically, churches do not have the resources to do music as they’d like. What’s more, views differ on the place of music in church life. Yet Sunday after Sunday, the church sings.
Over the last 15 years, I’ve had the privilege of visiting churches throughout Australia to help in music ministry training. Almost all have been struggling to motivate their congregations to sing heartily, and to develop bands that lead the congregation well. Some church music teams are thriving – praise God! Yet mostly, churches are just getting by. I know of churches where faithful music teams are few in number and exhausted. I know of churches with no musicians – they sing along to YouTube videos in their services instead. I have served on staff as Music Pastor at three evangelical churches (2 in Sydney, 1 in Melbourne), each holding slightly different views on the place of singing and seeking to lovingly engage with congregational expectations of singing’s purpose and song choices. Perhaps these are familiar scenarios. Music ministry is complex.
Planning for growth in a struggling music ministry.
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- Written by: Alanna Glover
Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a magic formula that could ensure disaster-free Sundays? (Spoiler: there isn’t). If you’ve been in church ministry for any time at all, I’m sure you’ve experienced your fair share of Sunday service mishaps. (I’m convinced Lionel Richie wasn’t in parish ministry - there is nothing easy about Sunday mornings, sir!) This isn’t entirely surprising; most local churches in Australia are small, often minimally staffed, attended sporadically and run by average people who volunteer their time. If you do it for enough years and with enough people you’re bound to have moments where you stop and think, “will this ever get better?!” Church singing can be a particularly challenging exercise in this context. Music attracts lots of opinions, lots of emotions, and lots of logistical hurdles - it is hard to get it right! I’m sorry, I don’t have quick fixes for you, but I do have some helpful pointers for setting up a music ministry that enables your church to teach and admonish one another with the word of Christ in song.
Read more: Planning for growth in a struggling music ministry.
Editorial Autumn 2024
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- Written by: Mark Simon
“Sing to the Lord” is the repeated refrain of the Psalms, and one which shapes our corporate worship week by week. Christians delight to sing. Great congregational singing is a key ingredient for healthy, growing churches. Christian songs also shape our personal journeys of maturing in faith, obedience and service. Music ministry is thus a vital aspect of our gathered and dispersed church life, equipping and helping us as Jesus’ disciples to love God with all our heart, mind, soul and strength. In this edition of Essentials we focus on music ministry in our churches.
We hear from Greg Cooper on the manifold ways that singing contributes to spiritual formation. Alanna Glover and Philip Percival urge us to engage heart and mind as we sing, and not to pit emotions against truth, but respond to the gospel with our whole being. We have two practical ministry articles which dig into the nuts and bolts of music ministry. Angela Chandler analyses some trends and expectations in church music before elaborating on practical ways to engage and include a wider, more diverse, pool of people in congregational worship. Alanna Glover addresses the needs of smaller churches, where forming and sustaining a music team can be a constant struggle. She outlines principles for a church’s music ministry that will equip it for long-term growth. You’ll also find links to several resources Emu Music have developed to serve the local church’s music ministries: conferences, training, and a new searchable, curated ‘Hymnbook’ of contemporary and classic songs.
Continuing the focus on praising God through song, I present a Bible Study on Ephesians 1:3-14, exploring this joyous hymn of praise for the ways it informs and models the praise of God in corporate song. Rhys Bezzant brings us a review of A History of Contemporary Praise and Worship – a book that analyses the currents that flowed into the praise and worship music that dominates our churches today.
Stephen Hale offers his own plea for greater variety in the subject matter of congregational songs. You’ll also find Stephen’s invitation to come to the EFAC Australia Conference in April – it will be a wonderful time to ‘Recharge, Refresh, Renew.’
I trust that as you read you are encouraged to sing with renewed joy and thanks for God’s grace to us in all its forms.
MARK SIMON, EDITOR