I get these friend requests all the time on Facebook or Instagram. “Hi my name is “Candy” (or Angel, or Ginger,…). Check out my photos and click on my link so we can chat.”

Their profile photos are cropped and framed to show off their best physical features. They’re always laughing, always smiling, but they’re not happy. Not having fun. Their expressions are about as authentic as canned sitcom laughter.

What bothers me most is when I get 4 or 5 within a few days. All with the same invitation. The same text. Only the names change.

And that’s what simultaneously angers me and breaks my heart. These are not naive girls putting themselves out there like this. This shows organization and malicious intent. Someone is coercing and exploiting these girls. I imagine a room full of men laughing, counting money and chomping big cigars.  I want to burst into that room like Liam Neeson and start punching people in the throat.

Her name is not Angel and she is certainly not having a good time.

It angers me, because I feel like these girls need us. Not for attention and not for sex.  These are sisters and daughters, like my own sisters and daughter. Someone needs to knock down the doors and start punching throats.

It breaks my heart because I don’t know what to do beyond ignoring these posts and reporting them as inappropriate, and thus in my small way decreasing demand for these images by one.

But that’s not enough. I can’t let it go.  Can’t forget about it. I am so thankful for the work of people like International Justice Mission and Defend Dignity who are actively working to end Human Trafficking and sex slavery, but even their good work is not enough. We all need to start putting our hand to this plough in some way.

It’s difficult to know where to begin. I am not Liam Neeson and I have never punched anyone in the throat. I don’t even know where the doors are …

I’ve often wondered why Christianity doesn’t have a martial art. When I think of devoted adherents to other religions and philosophies I imagine them possessing lean figures and engaging in a certain degree of asceticism. Buddhism has it’s Shaolin Monks who practice Kung Fu, Hinduism has Yoga, Taoism has Tai Chi, but to my knowledge there is no physical practice or martial art associated with Christianity. Christianity, as least as we see it today, doesn’t demand any kind of physical discipline from believers. We worship so much with our hearts and minds, it seldom seems to translate into any kind of practical action. This seems particularly odd to me. Especially when you consider that Buddhism and Hinduism, as far as I understand, both deny the reality of the physical world, yet both have physical practices. Practices which have extended even to participants who don’t share those world views. It’s particularly bizarre since Christianity affirms the physical world in a way that no other worldview does.

Christianity teaches that, in Jesus, the creator of the Universe, took on flesh. An event the significance of which cannot be overstated. That God wrapped Himself in a physical body tells us in the most profound way that God cares, not only about souls or minds, but about all of creation.  Our bodies, our planet, and the biodiversity we see around us. All of these things factor into God’s plan of redemption, not just our souls and minds. Scripture is clear that all of creation is eagerly anticipating the day of its emancipation from the effects of sin, death and corruption, not just the internal worlds of human beings. All the other “stuff” is God’s stuff and He cares deeply about it. All of it.

In North American churches, when we use the word “worship”, we are most often speaking about an emotional or spiritual act. However, a brief study the many Hebrew and Greek words translated as “worship” in both the Old and New Testament will show you that worship, as the ancients understood it, was predominantly a physical act. The words we translate as “worship” have mostly to do with either offering a sacrifice, service, or assuming a physical posture such as bowing or prostrating oneself before God. Somewhere along the way, a change occurred and worship changed from an external act to an internal one.

I was discussing this last fall with my friend Colin Toffelmire, a Biblical Studies professor at Ambrose University College.  We were talking about how so many contemporary worship songs mention kneeling, bowing, raising our hands, but how, as evangelicals, we almost never actually do those things in worship.  “The common response,” said Colin, “is that what really matters is that you ‘kneel in your heart’, but if I never actually physically kneel, am I really even kneeling in my heart? Where is this place that I’m kneeling, exactly,?”.

I think a lot of this language may be a reaction to the Word of the Lord given to the prophet Isaiah, where He says, ” “These people come near to me with their mouth and honor me with their lips, but their hearts are far from me.” (Isaiah 29:13). Obviously, God doesn’t want us only to go through the motions, honouring Him with our lips and our actions and not with our hearts, but is it possible that in avoiding one ditch we’ve accidentally fallen into the other?

Consider that hypocrisy is essentially just a disconnect between what we believe and what we do (or don’t do).  Normally, hypocrites are people who say they believe something, but act in a way that contradicts what they claim to believe. But saying you believe something and doing nothing about it is, at it’s root, the same thing. The Apostle James tells us that “Religion that God our Father accepts as pure and faultless is this: to look after orphans and widows in their distress…”. So, unless we’re content to only offer God part of ourselves in worship, at some point what we believe on the inside has to begin to make an appearance on the outside.

All of this is to say that going through the motions without ever putting your heart in it is no worse than talking or singing about believing something with all your heart but never putting your shoulder to it. Unless we want our worship to continue to be fragmented, we need to find ways to express what we believe internally in an external, visible way.  Not just in the context of a worship service but in all aspects of our life.

And that’s the point, isn’t it? Where our worship really matters, is not just in church on a Sunday morning, but in the everyday.  Sunday morning is the place where we are reminded through song and Word what we are to be doing during the rest of the week. Our Monday to Saturday is the stage upon which we act out our worship. Sunday is the rehearsal.

So how do we conduct worship services that help us to rehearse worshipping with our strength on Sunday so that we can step up worship the rest of the week, where it really counts? Consider these brief suggestions as a starting point:

Ask people to do something: Whether it’s asking them to stand and greet their neighbour, having them do an action song, or getting them to come forward for communion rather than passing the plates around, people need to be actively engaged in worship somehow. Otherwise we’re just encouraging passive Christianity. A faith that denies the physical just as much as Hinduism or Buddhism. Some of these ideas may seem silly or even a little childish, but if the people we lead in worship never practice worship that leads to action in even a small way, how will they ever make that connection outside the walls of the church?

Ask people to say something: Whether it’s reading scripture aloud, participating in a responsive reading (remember those?) or reciting the Creeds, if our people can’t speak about their faith when they’re surrounded by like-minded believers in a room where no one is listening to them, how can we ever expect them to do it when it really counts?

 Ask people to give something: It’s important to remind people every time the offering is taken that it’s not about collecting funds to keep the church running. Rather, it’s first and foremost an act of worship. Jesus says, “Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also.” If we never give our treasure to God, it’s hypocritical to say we’re giving our hearts.

I hope I’ve made my point. What suggestions would you give for teaching congregations to worship with their strength?

My friend Michael and I were having a conversation about the coffee industry, recently. Michael runs a small independent coffee shop in Carlyle, SK that is among the best coffee shops in Canada.  In particular, we were discussing the unique culture among what are known as “3rd Wave Coffee shops”.  These are shops which are on the bleeding edge of quality and innovation.  Often travelling to origin to build direct relationships with coffee farmers, and roasting coffee themselves to ensure the highest level of quality, freshness, ethics and ultimately, flavour.

I was telling Michael about Gwilym Davies, the 2009 World Barista Champion (He made the best cup of espresso in 2009, basically.).  Gwilym ran one of a handful of the best coffee shops in London, UK. In 2009, Gwilym did something that surprised everyone in the industry.  He started giving out disloyalty cards (James Hoffman wrote a short explanation here: Click Me). Customers were to take the card to 8 other shops around Central and East London, buy a coffee at each establishment, and return to Gwilym’s shop for a free beverage made by the best barista in the world.  Why would he promote his competition? Simple.  He believed in the work.  He believed that good coffee was worth sharing and celebrating, and he believed that if independent shops were going to gain any ground in the fight against corporate coffee, they’d need to stop competing and start collaborating.  When I told Michael this he said, “Of course!  That’s what everyone in the industry is saying.  ‘Collaboration is the New Competition.'”

I’ve been thinking about how this applies to my work. As much as I’ve been able, I’ve tried to shine a light on the work of other artists as much as on my own.  I’ve volunteered to bring other artists I respect and admire to share their music with my community, and to help them out, financially.  Sometimes these artists have asked me to open for them or come onstage and share a song, but I usually turn them down.  I don’t do it to forge alliances or ride their coattails, or even with the expectation of them returning the favour. I do it because I believe in the work. As I wrote in a previous blog post (Here), I believe in beauty, in building community and I believe that artists have so much to offer the church in these areas. I believe in that more than I believe in my own career. In fact, if I had the business skills or the necessary gifting, I’d give up my own career to help other artists advance theirs. At the very least, I don’t believe that to advance in this world, you have to step on others. You can “Lift While You Climb” (I really wish I’d coined that phrase, but it comes from a stewardship study our church is going through).

I think as things become more difficult for artists who are in the same sphere as me, there needs to be a paradigm shift.  Either we can continue on, each building our own fragile little empires, or we can start collaborating to build something larger. I’ve recently been wondering if there wouldn’t be a benefit in pulling together a small Canadian indie label of like minded Christian artists, since to my knowledge, none exists today.

I guess the question I want to pose to other artists is “Do you believe in the work?”, and if so, are you contributing to it in ways that do not directly benefit your own career?

I would strongly encourage other artists to host concerts. I know for myself the experience has been valuable.  I spend an incredible amount of time asking people to host my concerts.  It’s helpful for me to understand just what I’m asking them and how much work is involved.  It’s also been helpful for me to see how other artists promote their shows.  I’ve gleaned a lot of helpful hints and information that’s helped me.  But I’ve also shown my community that there is good Christian music out there.  It’s not all the vacuous worship music, so many Christians complain about.  Nor is it all Southern Gospel (this is not a slam against Southern Gospel. I’m just saying there are other genres out there.).  There are thoughtful artists and songwriters out there with fresh original music that deserves an audience. I think that by hosting these concerts, it’s made my community more receptive to going to hear unknown artists, and that makes things better for everyone.  Imagine if we had more of that across Canada. It would sure make things easier.

So that’s my challenge to other artists.  Find some way to boost another artist, and contribute to the larger work of sharpening the Church through beauty and song.  “Lift While You Climb”.  Because competition is the old way of doing things, and it’s not making things easier for anyone.

“Collaboration is the new Competition”, and it’s time we all started to recognize that.

And if you’re looking for some other great artists to check out, try these guys: Dan Bremnes, Jordan St. Cyr, Jennifer Jade Kerr, Steve Bell, Jacob Moon, Carolyn Arends, Amanda Cook, The Doll Sisters, Brennan Sinclair, Sharlene Olson, Brock Tyler, Nathan Carroll, Ali Matthews to name a few.

I’ve spent the last 6 years traveling the country and have visited hundreds of churches. As you can imagine, I’ve had the opportunity to hear a lot of sermons from a diverse group of pastors. But there is one sermon which sticks out in my mind as being simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst.

I was touring somewhere in,…  well that doesn’t matter.  Anyways, I was sitting in a service after having led a few corporate songs and then performing a few songs of my own when the pastor got up and began his sermon.  What followed was without a doubt the single best sermon I’ve ever heard on the doctrine of the Trinity. It was clear, concise, well-delivered and practical.  The pastor wrestled with some of the difficulties of the doctrine, defined it as best anyone can, and went on to talk about why it matters.  The structure and flow of the sermon was great, and the powerpoint that went along with it was really helpful. As I recall he even gave some really helpful suggestions about how to practically apply the Trinity to our lives.  It was a home run, until…  He Apologized!!!

After the message and the song of response, while dismissing us he said,  “Sorry to get so heady this morning, folks.  Thanks for staying with me.  I know that’s an awful lot to wrestle with.  I promise next weeks’ sermon will be a lot simpler and easy to digest.”  I was aghast!  He had preached one of the most excellent, educational, intellectually stimulating sermons I’ve ever heard. The kind that young homiletics students everywhere should study while learning to preach. It was sophisticated enough to be an intro to Theology lecture, yet accessible enough for the Jr Highers to fully grasp, but for some reason when he was finished he felt compelled to apologize for it.

I can’t blame him.  We in the church have created and fostered a climate of intellectual laziness.  Our churches are full of doctors, lawyers, nurses, accountants, electricians, carpenters, financial planners, people of all walks of life who have had to study complicated ideas or procedures for their profession. Yet when it comes to faith we often spoon feed them simple ideas and slogans. If we do challenge them, we somehow feel the need to apologize for it afterward.

At one time the church was the cultural and intellectual centre of the community.  Theology was referred to as “The Queen of the Sciences”, but somehow we’ve let all that slip. Nowadays, we equate worshipping well with engaging our hearts in worship, while neglecting the mind.

My point in writing this blog series has been to show that when we worship with anything less than our whole being (heart, soul, mind & strength) we are left fragmented and diminished.  So how do we engage the mind in worship?

1. Don’t be Afraid to Teach Theology.

When I was a Youth & Worship Pastor, it was expected that I complete my ordination within the first 2 years of my ministry (I think it took me 4).  That process involved a lot of extra reading and study in addition to the reading and study that my regular teaching ministry required.  My Senior pastor encouraged me to combine the two wherever I could.  So for a year, the study for my ordination became the material I taught at the weekly Bible study I led for Sr. High students.  Those students, who were studying English, History, Physics, Algebra and Calculus at the time were more than capable of wrestling with the Theology I was studying for my ordination. So that’s what we did. Without them realizing it, I essentially gave them a crash course in studying for ordination. The best part? They weren’t intimidated at all. In fact, they came every week excited to learn more.

In all my years as a Christian, I have never once heard someone complain that the teaching at their church was over their heads.  In fact, when people rave about their favourite church, the comment is that “The pastor really challenges us.” or “He really gives us a lot to think about.” or “We really wrestle with some heavy stuff, but it’s presented in a way everyone can understand.”.  And more often than not, when I talked to someone who’s recently left their church, one of the most common reasons is, “I just wasn’t being fed there.”

This doesn’t need to become a burden for pastors.  Quite the opposite. Pastors constantly wrestle with big questions about weighty issues.  Often they fear sharing those burdens with their congregations, either because they don’t want to be perceived as weak, or because they don’t feel their congregations are strong enough to bear the weight of those questions.  This fear leads to pastors feeling isolated and discouraged.  My encouragement is for pastors to wrestle through those questions with their people. If this is done properly, the congregation will appreciate your trust and transparency, and you may be surprised at the shrewdness of some of the solutions they offer.

2. Teach Apologetics.

Apologetics has nothing to do with apologizing.  Apologetics is giving a defence for the Christian faith.  Sadly, many Christians cannot give sound reasons for why they believe in God or in the resurrection, even though there are good, sound reasons for both.  For too long, worshipping God with all our minds has meant laying our minds on God’s altar, and shrugging our shoulders any time we are confronted with difficult questions.  The Sunday morning sermon isn’t the only place this can happen.  The burden of all of this teaching shouldn’t fall on the pastor alone.  There are plenty of good resources available in the work of Dr. William Lane Craig, Lee Strobel, and Timothy Keller that can be used in the context of a Sunday School class or Bible Study.  This is a great way to engage the mind in worship outside of a Sunday morning service.

3. Recite the Creeds.

Every Sunday morning, the Anglican Church recites one of the ancient creeds.  Either the Apostle’s Creed or the Nicene Creed.  The creeds encompass orthodox Christian belief at its most basic level.  It would be hard to call anyone “Christian” who cannot fully embrace and affirm the creeds. It’s important to remind each other what we believe as Christians, and to aspire toward orthodoxy in those times of doubt or disorientation.

I read somewhere, about six months back, that the significance of the “We believe” of the creeds (as opposed to “I believe”) is that we believe these things together as a community.  Each of us comes with our own doubts.  All of us have times when, for one reason or another, we are unable to affirm the whole creed. As a community “We believe” the creeds even when “I” cannot. The creeds enshrine all we aspire as a community to believe. They are the goal toward which our faith moves us.

I’ve tried to be as brief as I can be with this post. Certainly much more can be said.  Hopefully you’ve found something helpful here, either by way of encouragement or reminder, that is helpful to you as you consider how to love God with your mind more fully.

I always appreciate any questions or comments you’d like to share.  The analytics on my website tell me how many people are reading the blog, but they don’t give any indication as to whether these posts are helpful or not.  So, if you have a moment, drop me a line.

My hope is that this series will help us to think about worship more clearly with the goal of learning to love God with all that we are.

Sincerely,

Keith

I used to be a pastor at one of the largest churches in my community. As the pastor in charge of music, I was the one who handled all the calls from musicians looking for a place to play.

These days, I live on the other side of those phone calls. I spend a lot of time corresponding with pastors about hosting a concert or a workshop, or offering to minister in their Sunday morning service. I’m grateful for the hundreds of pastors who’ve hosted me over the years.  Many of them have become dear friends. But every so often when I phone someone new for the first time, I can hear that familiar hesitation in their voice.  Pastors field a lot of these calls. It’s easy to feel a bit bothered and overwhelmed by them. “Why do these people keep calling me?”, they wonder. I’m so glad you asked…

1. We are Stewards of a Gift.

Musicians, like everyone else in the Church, have been given gifts for the edification of the Body of Christ. Through careful discernment, years of guidance affirmation from people in our home churches, and some unique doors of opportunity we have come to believe that our gifts are meant to be shared much more widely than just in our own congregations. It would quite literally be a sin not to use our talents to edify the Church, and to participate in the mission of sharing the Good News with those who are far from Jesus. In a word, this is about obedience. When we call, we’re just looking for the place where God might want to use us next.

2. We Have a Unique Talent and Experience.

Sometimes pastors will say, “We don’t usually host guest musicians, we have great musicians here.”. I believe that’s true.  Many churches these days are blessed with great musicians who do an awesome job Sunday to Sunday. I’ve been in hundreds of churches and have seen some great worship leaders, jaw-droppingly good vocalists and guitar players who could shred circles around me. But sometimes it’s good to give your volunteers a morning off and to allow your congregation to hear a different voice or a fresh word of testimony from someone who’s spent years devoting themselves to ministering in this way. This isn’t about “leaving it to the pros”. It’s about bringing in someone with a different kind of ministry to sharpen your people by bringing something fresh to the table.

3. We Believe in Beauty:

I firmly believe that where beauty is, God is present.  That’s why we feel that sense of awe and wonder when we look at the ocean.  Beauty calls to us and demands a response. Having an eye or an ear for beauty, and a desire to express that beauty and communicate it to the people around you is what makes you an artist. Often, I am asked what the purpose of my concerts is, and while I believe my concerts clearly communicate the Gospel and call people closer to Christ, I’m often baffled by that question. Even if the purpose of a concert was simply to create moments of beauty, it would be worth it.  Where beauty is, God is present.

4. We Believe in Community:

To be healthy, churches need to cultivate community.  Concerts do that.  They bring people together in a way that is still in keeping with the purpose of making disciples, but they do so in a way that’s a little more relaxed and fun than a Sunday morning. Don’t get us wrong. We take our faith seriously and our primary objective isn’t to entertain, but we do hope your people will have at least a little fun while their souls are being sharpened and ministered to. Sometimes hosting a concert can be a great way to bring your congregation together to have fun and build community.

No One is in this to Make Money:

As I said earlier, our hope in offering this ministry to you is to edify the church.   Even though you may see a lot of money change hands between the merchandise table and the offering plate, let me assure you that no one is getting rich off of this. Touring and making albums is incredibly expensive, even for solo artists like me. In my best, busiest year, I’ve never made even close to what I did when I was a youth pastor. All of the money that comes in goes right back into the ministry to cover expenses and keep things going. Whatever is left over is used to scrape together a modest income for work that is very seasonal and which offers no safety net or guarantees.

We’re not doing it for the recognition either. I’ll be the first to admit most musicians love affirmation, but as glamorous as our hour and a half onstage may seem, we’ve all spent too many unglamorous hours on the road or sleeping on the Youth Pastor’s couch for that to be a reasonable trade.

The reason we spend hours on the phone asking pastors if they’d like to invite us to their church is because we’ve been called to be stewards of a gift. We believe God wants us to use our gifts to help edify the Body of Christ, and we’re looking for people who’ll let us partner with them to do just that. We don’t mean to interrupt your day or add to your burden, we’re just trying to come alongside of you and help you care for the people God has entrusted to you.

Thanks for taking the time to listen.

On behalf of musicians everywhere,

Keith