Worship: 9.5 Theses

Gary Parrett, associate professor of Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, wrote a thought-provoking article on worship for ChristianityToday.com in February 2005.  I know him as "Pastor Gary" from my NJ days when I was a young youth pastor and he was a well-respected and well-loved pastor working among Korean Americans. I have a great deal of respect for Dr. Parrett and was pleasantly surprise when I can across this article by providence. The title of the article "9.5 Theses on Worship: A disputation on the role of music." Please read it and comment on it here.

Worship: Children in Worship?

For those pastors and leaders who have children in your church, what do you do with your children during worship? Do they worship with you or do they have children's church or Sunday School classes?  New Life Mission Church of Burkbank (Pastor Owen Lee) has their worship philosophy online which makes a case for the guiding principles of 1) regulative principle, 2) The dialogical rhythm of worship, 3) covenantal (family) worship. What do you think about this?

Worship: “The Draw Me Close” Conversation

Highly respected Chuck Colson made some strong remarks in a ChristianityToday.com article Soothing Ourselves to Death. He begins the article:

When church music directors lead congregations in singing contemporary Christian music, I often listen stoically with teeth clenched. But one Sunday morning, I cracked. We'd been led through endless repetitions of a meaningless ditty called "Draw Me Close to You," which has zero theological content and could just as easily be sung in any nightclub. When I thought it was finally and mercifully over, the music leader beamed. "Let's sing that again, shall we?" he asked. "No!" I shouted, loudly enough to send heads all around me spinning while my wife, Patty, cringed.

Read the entire article  and then read Bob Kauflin's Entering the “Draw Me Close” Conversation (a well balanced response to Colson's article), then share in the comments what you think, especially in relationship to how Korean Americans worship. Do you agree or disagree with Colson?  What do you think of Kauflin's response?

Conversation with Emergent-Friendly AAs

Go here. (Next Gener.Asian Church website).  Join in on the discussion as I (Billy Park) converse with thoughtful Emergent-Friendly Asian American Pastors about the Emerging Church movement.