Strengthening Music Ministry In The Evangelical Church

Strengthening Music Ministry in the Evangelical Church Drawing upon a wealth of experience and years of fieldwork, author Calvin Johansson sets forth detailed suggestions and practical ideas for growing the ministry of music in the local church. He offers readers a unique perspective on music’s role, disassociated from text, in Christian formation and worship. Written in two parts, the first (Practics) is concerned with the hands-on operation of a church music program. The second (Rationale) presents biblical fundamentals helpful in making musical choices.

A practical handbook on music and its application in local church ministry. Widely used as a textbook in Bible schools.

Contemporary or traditional? Blended or seeker? Pop or "classical"? Chorus or hymn? Combo or organ? Questions concerning music in worship abound these days. Is there a practical way to deal with these issues? In Music and Ministry: A Biblical Counterpoint, Calvin Johansson looks to God's Word for principles foundational to music ministry. Weaving together great scriptural truths, he establishes the need for a "directional balance" between pastoral contextualization and prophetic purity. In a time of facile musical accommodation of the gospel to culture, Dr. Johansson suggests that a heightened concern for musical style and quality is in order-not for the sake of music, but for the sake of the gospel.

What is the role of music in the twenty-first century church--and what should it be? Johansson examines this and other crucial questions concerning church music and offers "redirection" for the function of music ministry in the life of the modern church.

For:•Individual use•Group trainingIncludes instrumentalist survey and worship planning checklistWorship is a slice of eternity that Christians can participate in on earth, and nothing can facilitate our experience of worship like music. This wise, concise guidebook will help you harness your God-given musical talent as a gift to the body of Christ, in a way that brings joy to both God’s heart and yours.Serving in Your Church Music Ministry discusses•Words on Worship•Planning for Worship•Serving at the Keyboard•Serving with Your Voice•Serving with an Instrument•Serving in the PewZondervan Practical Ministry Guides provide you with simple, practical insights for serving in today’s churches. Written by experienced pastors and church workers, these easy-to-read, to-the-point booklets address the fundamentals of different ministries as practiced effectively in real life. You’ll find biblical insight and wise, field-tested advice you can apply today, as well as discussion questions to help you think through and integrate what you read.

The evangelical church has undergone a significant change in culture and theology over the last thirty-five years. Selling Worship argues that this has been achieved through the adoption of a particular style of worship. In effect the songs, or rather the practice of singing and listening to the songs, carry the culture and practice of the church. This has come about through the contextualization of worship in the production, selling, and consumption of associated popular music. Selling Worship tells the recent history of evangelicalism through the lives, actions, and economic processes of festival organizers, record companies, magazines, and worship leaders. It presents a comprehensive account of how these changes have come about and offers a multilayered pattern of interpretation to show how what we sing has changed the church. The book concludes with a critical appreciation of worship and offers practical guidelines for the future.

How music makes worship and how worship makes music in Evangelical churches Music is a nearly universal feature of congregational worship in American churches. Congregational singing is so ingrained in the experience of being at church that it is often misunderstood to be synonymous with worship. For those who assume responsibility for making music for congregational use, the relationship between music and worship is both promising and perilous – promise in the power of musical style and collective singing to facilitate worship, peril in the possibility that the experience of the music might eclipse the worship it was written to facilitate. As a result, those committed to making music for worship are constantly reminded of the paradox that they are writing songs for people who wish to express themselves, as directly as possible, to God. This book shines a new light on how people who make music for worship also make worship from music. Based on interviews with more than 75 songwriters, worship leaders, and music industry executives, Shout to the Lord maps the social dimensions of sacred practice, illuminating how the producers of worship music understand the role of songs as both vehicles for, and practices of, faith and identity. This book accounts for the human qualities of religious experience and the practice of worship, and it makes a compelling case for how – sometimes – faith comes by hearing.