Welcome to the Greenway Baptist Church Worship Arts Blog!
Greetings, Greenway Family!
As we prepare for what looks like an extended hiatus from our regular worship services, I am tasked as your Worship Director to find new ways that we can engage in worship outside of the worship service setting. As we navigate these difficult times, we are all presented with new challenges. However, I am reminded of the words of James 1:2-4:
“Consider it pure joy, my brothers and sisters, whenever you face trials of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith produces perseverance. Let perseverance finish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything.”
The days ahead will certainly test our faith in many different ways, but we are called not only to tolerate the situation, but to embrace the situation and consider it pure joy. We know that God is in control and that He has a greater purpose and plan than we can even imagine. Our job is to persevere so that our faith may become stronger and so that the Light of Christ may shine brightly through us during these troubled times.
Regarding worship, there are three points I want to make:
Worship must continue!
Just because we are not meeting in person to sing together each week does not mean that worship should not occur. Jesus says in John 23:24: “Yet a time is coming and has now come when the true worshipers will worship the Father in the Spirit and in truth, for they are the kind of worshipers the Father seeks. God is spirit, and his worshipers must worship in the Spirit and in truth.”
Here Jesus commands that the “true worshippers” must worship “in the Spirit and in truth.” That means that God is looking much deeper than outward appearances. He is looking at our hearts. This brings me to the next point…
We worship God with our lives.
The Bible says in Romans 12:1: “Therefore, I urge you, brothers and sisters, in view of God's mercy, to offer your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and pleasing to God--this is your true and proper worship.” The Bible tells us that our true and proper worship is to offer ourselves as a sacrifice. What does that mean? It means that we must surrender to God’s will above our own. We must seek God in His Word and pray that He will direct our paths. I don’t know what God’s plan may look like in your life, but I DO know that He has a purpose for each and every one of us in the days ahead.
Therefore, we must remember that...
Worship can look different ways.
We must remember that worship is more than just singing songs. While the corporate worship and act of singing together is very important (and something we will surely miss as a congregation), we need to remember that worship can look many different ways. Consider the Word of God from 1 Corinthians 14:26:
“What then shall we say, brothers and sisters? When you come together, each of you has a hymn, or a word of instruction, a revelation, a tongue or an interpretation. Everything must be done so that the church may be built up.”
Therefore, I invite you as members of the body of Christ and the Greenway Baptist Church family, to be a part of this blog. What will the content look like? The honest answer is I’m not sure yet. What I do envision is a community where we can all share our own talents, experiences, and inspiration. I will be sharing some content of my own as God reveals it to me, but I also invite you to share as well. The purpose? Just what the scripture says: “so that the church may be built up.”
Some things we might include:
*Scripture
*Personal testimonies
*Music (existing videos or recordings you create!)
*Artwork
*Poetry
*Worship Dance and other art forms
*Video and multimedia content
*And more! We don’t want to impose any limits on what offerings are shared. As long as we can find a way to share it digitally, we’ll do what we can to make it happen!
In Christ,
Justin
*To contribute your own content to this blog, or to ask any questions, please feel free to email me at justintbeebe@gmail.com
Peace and blessings!
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