Category: Church -Ecclesiology

What is Worship? Theological and Liturgical Outline

In response to my post, “Loud Music in Worship?”, one question invariably arises: What is worship? The following outline seeks to provide a balanced account of God-centred, holistic Christian worship, integrating theology, liturgy, and lived response.

A. What is worship?
Ralph Martin defines worship as: the dramatic celebration of God in his supreme worth in such a manner that his ‘worthiness’ becomes the norm and inspiration of human living.

Worship is heart-occupation with Christ. Worship is the overflow of the heart that has no request to make. To worship God is to quicken the conscience by the holiness of God; to feed the mind with the truth of God, to purge the imagination by the beauty of God, to open the heart to the love of God, to devote the will to the purpose of God. (William Temple)

Worship is the activity of the new life of the believer in which recognizing the fullness of the Godhead as it is revealed in the person of Jesus Christ and His mighty redemptive acts, he seeks by the power of the Holy Spirit.  Biblical worship is holistic as it is centred on the Triune God and it ministers to the whole person. to render to the living God the glory, honor, and submission which are His due. (Robert Rayburn)

Biblical worship is therefore holistic: It is Trinitarian, Christ-centred, and directed to the whole person’ s mind, will, affections, and body.

Continue reading “What is Worship? Theological and Liturgical Outline”

Van Dyke’s “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” is (Religious) Universalistic. A Rejoinder

I have already left behind my thoughts on van Dyke’s hymn posted several days ago & moved on to other issues. Re: Loud Music in Church Worship? However I received two challenges to my understanding of van Dyke’s hymn.

Both essentially argue that I am unjustifiably over-reading & attributing universalistic elements (“eisegesis rather than exegesis!”). Even if it is granted that my theological “rebuttals” in content are correct BUT “there is no such intent in this case. If you assume Van Dyke wrote this with the intention that it be sung by believers, everything is pretty sound.”

My Response:
First, I am not legislating whether someone may or may not sing van Dyke’s hymn. Continue reading “Van Dyke’s “Joyful Joyful We Adore Thee” is (Religious) Universalistic. A Rejoinder”

Loud Music in Church Worship?

Someone posed to me a question regarding the dominance of loud music in contemporary worship. Sharing here a very concise response since this is the first time I have put down my thoughts on this issue in words.

First, Christianity should be fun without being frivolous as Christians come together for fellowship and worship.

1) Worship must be governed by what God has commanded in Scripture, not by human preference or popular culture. When music becomes the central focus, it sidelines prayer, preaching and sacraments. There is a risk elevating human creativity and sensuality above God’s ordained means of grace.

2) Word-Centered Worship – Excessive reliance on music can shift attention from what God has revealed in his unchanging Word to fluid emotional experience. Worship becomes more about how we feel (human centredness) than what God has said. A word-sacrament centred worship will be God-centred and Christ-centred even as we rejoice in God’s presence.

3) Reverence vs Performance – Dominance of (loud) music distracts us from the simplicity and reverence that ought to accompany our encounter with the holy God. Performance ‘worship’ undermines corporate and individual participation in worship even as individuals come to worship meetings to 1) nourish their faith by participation in the Lord’s Supper which is a means of grace and a renewal of our covenant with God, and 2) to have our faith nourished by the Word of God.

In short, while music is a good gift from God to enrich our worship, it must remain a secondary element and not the dominant element in worship.

Good and bad theology in hymns and worship songs Continue reading “Loud Music in Church Worship?”

Reimagining Church and Christian Faith: A Kierkegaardian Critique

A “repetition” of the ancient path with Soren Kierkegaard.1For Kierkegaard true repetition goes beyond simply repeating acts in conformity to social expectations. He rejects inauthentic existence where one simply conforms to social expectations. Repetition is a philosophical and existential act of renewing everything that one had in order to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of one’s personal life and relationships. It seeks to reassess one’s life commitment and intentionally takes personal responsibility for choices made in order to create a new, authentic self

Reimagining Church and Christian Faith: A Kierkegaardian Critique
The contemporary call to “reimagine church and Christian faith” is often presented as a bold attempt to jettison outmoded church beliefs and practices in order to initiate a creative response to new cultural realities. However, we are mindful of cultural analysts who note with irony that youths who rebel against the social conventions of their parents end up wearing the same clothing fashions, listening to the same pop music and repeating the same platitudes to express support for diversity and social justice. In reality, these youths are merely exchanging one form of social conformity to another in the name of creativity.

It is ironic that churches also conform to the latest religious fashion in the name of “reimagining church and Christian faith”. 2Several prevailing characteristics of the contemporary “reimagine church and faith” movement (following its predecessor, the Emergent Church Movement) include the following: 1) A culture of experimentation and innovation to create seeker-sensitive services. 2) Use of multi-media and bands which incorporate contemporary music styles and art to attract a new generation of youth growing up in a culture of musical performance and entertainment. 3) Relevant messaging where practical advice and personal faith stories replace “mystifying” spiritual and doctrinal teachings of the traditional church. 4) Inclusive approach to Christian faith without demands for adherence to a set of clear-cut theological doctrines.
While these adaptations in church structure and faith practices to engage contemporary culture are not inherently problematic, the concern arises when these innovative external expressions of seeker-sensitive services have in practice inadvertently diminished the timeless truths of the gospel and supplanted inward spiritual passion and obedient discipleship. This dynamic raises important questions about the extent to which these shifts reshape the church’s spiritual identity and doctrinal continuity. Søren Kierkegaard (1813–1855) would diagnose this call for innovation  as a symptom of a deeper spiritual sickness – the sickness of an age that has lost its inward passionate commitment of faith and its sense of eternity. In such an age, truth is reduced to nothing more than fashionable opinion. For Kierkegaard, when the church thoughtlessly follows the latest fashion, it is simply accommodating itself to “the spirit of the age” (Zeitgeist). It ceased to be the Church of the New Testament. It has become what he calls Christendom – Christianity domesticated and made respectable, a form without inwardness, reflection without obedience. Continue reading “Reimagining Church and Christian Faith: A Kierkegaardian Critique”

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    For Kierkegaard true repetition goes beyond simply repeating acts in conformity to social expectations. He rejects inauthentic existence where one simply conforms to social expectations. Repetition is a philosophical and existential act of renewing everything that one had in order to gain a deeper understanding and appreciation of one’s personal life and relationships. It seeks to reassess one’s life commitment and intentionally takes personal responsibility for choices made in order to create a new, authentic self
  • 2
    Several prevailing characteristics of the contemporary “reimagine church and faith” movement (following its predecessor, the Emergent Church Movement) include the following: 1) A culture of experimentation and innovation to create seeker-sensitive services. 2) Use of multi-media and bands which incorporate contemporary music styles and art to attract a new generation of youth growing up in a culture of musical performance and entertainment. 3) Relevant messaging where practical advice and personal faith stories replace “mystifying” spiritual and doctrinal teachings of the traditional church. 4) Inclusive approach to Christian faith without demands for adherence to a set of clear-cut theological doctrines.
    While these adaptations in church structure and faith practices to engage contemporary culture are not inherently problematic, the concern arises when these innovative external expressions of seeker-sensitive services have in practice inadvertently diminished the timeless truths of the gospel and supplanted inward spiritual passion and obedient discipleship. This dynamic raises important questions about the extent to which these shifts reshape the church’s spiritual identity and doctrinal continuity.

Reimagining Church and Christian Faith: An Evangelical Response

A. Missional Context
To spark interest in the recently published book, Christianity Reimagined, the following provocative questions were posed: What if you could rediscover the heart of Christianity’s spirituality – profound meaning, genuine connection, and a sense of the transcendent – without forcing yourself to accept a single belief that you just can’t? What if Christianity was never meant to be about rigid doctrines or blind belief, but about deep, transformative experiences – the kind you’ve had, the kind that truly shapes a life? These questions are designed to invite readers into the journey of reimagining Christianity for themselves.

The call to reimagine Church and Christian faith  is frequently raised by activists from a spectrum of movements that includes liberation theology, postmodern and deconstructive theology, feminist and postcolonial theology, intercultural-religious dialogue and LGBT-Queer theology. These movements seek to reinterpret and modernize Christianity in order to make it relevant to perceived modern spiritual interests and sensibilities. Therefore, attention is directed toward revising traditional doctrines and church practices that are seen as obstacles to personal authenticity and social inclusivity.

The call to reimagine the Church and Christian faith is grounded in the belief that truth claims are inherently relative and must be deconstructed and reconstructed to align with emerging communities and evolving cultural contexts. The aim of this reimagination is to cultivate a faith that resonates with the “lived experience” of spiritual seekers, and to foster a church environment that serves as a “safe space” – a concept that originated within LGBT culture in the United States during the 1970s—for individuals who feel alienated or disillusioned by traditional church structures. Continue reading “Reimagining Church and Christian Faith: An Evangelical Response”

Identity in Christ and the Moral Witness of the Church

Social engagement has become acceptable in many conservative churches today. But social engagement in the ideologically crowded space of civil society is inherently contentious. The danger arises when Christians, in their eagerness to be “relevant” and to be accepted by wider society, end up following an agenda set by other social activists. Luke Bretherton identifies three processes whereby society may domesticate the church: 1) co-option – the church becoming a client of state patronage, 2) competition – the church is reduced to just another player in identity politics, pursuing its own religious rights, 3) commodification – the market construes the church as a product of consumption as Christianity becomes simply another privatized lifestyle choice.1Luke Bretherton, Christianity and Contemporary Politics (Blackwell, 2010), pp. 1-2. Instead of allowing the church to be swept along by fashionable social tides, Christian activists must clearly focus on social priorities determined by Christian values. However, Christian values will remain as ‘ghostly’ abstractions unless they are embodied in a community. Hence, social engagement needs to go beyond mere discussion on personal values and focus more on how Christian values are exemplified in a Christian community. Continue reading “Identity in Christ and the Moral Witness of the Church”

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    Luke Bretherton, Christianity and Contemporary Politics (Blackwell, 2010), pp. 1-2.

Silence and Discernment in Midst of Political Cacophony

We are overwhelmed daily by information overload from the Internet. Brett McCracken explains,

The speed of information today is simply too fast. Too fast for sufficient vetting, fact-checking, prudence (should I really retweet this?) and commonsense critical thinking. This creates a variety of new problems that erode our collective trust in information: fake news, viral misinformation, conspiracy theories, and too-hasty reporting from otherwise reputable news sources.

The irony of the information age is that the more access we have to an unfathomable amount of information and accumulated knowledge, the less wise we seem to become. One problem with information glut is that it taxes our brains, forcing them into constant triage mode and sapping them of energy (and time) for the deeper, evaluative thinking necessary for wisdom. [ 2020 Proves We Don’t Need More Information. (We Need Something Else.)]

It is a strange sight to see some Malaysian Christians getting at each other in their heated debates about American politics twelve thousand miles away. Continue reading “Silence and Discernment in Midst of Political Cacophony”

A Reforming Catholic Confession: Continuing the Reformation to Attain Unity of the catholic (universal) Church

I. The Reforming Catholic Confession (RCC) in Context One criticism of the Protestant Reformation that is often raised is that it splintered the universal church in the 16th century. The sectarian spirit of the Reformation not only undermines ecclesiastical authority; it also engenders a rebellious spirit resulting in radical individualism and secularization of of modern … Continue reading “A Reforming Catholic Confession: Continuing the Reformation to Attain Unity of the catholic (universal) Church”

I. The Reforming Catholic Confession (RCC) in Context
One criticism of the Protestant Reformation that is often raised is that it splintered the universal church in the 16th century. The sectarian spirit of the Reformation not only undermines ecclesiastical authority; it also engenders a rebellious spirit resulting in radical individualism and secularization of of modern society. The proliferation of Protestant denominations only confirms the perception that the Reformation is a tragedy to Christianity.

It is therefore appropriate that recently, more than 250 Protestant leaders and theologians published “A Reforming Catholic Confession (RCC) –A “Mere Protestant” Statement of Faith to mark the 500th anniversary of the Reformation.”

The RCC begins by setting the diversity of Protestant denominations in proper perspective.

Not every denominational or doctrinal difference is a division, certainly not an insurmountable one. We dare hope that the unity to which the Reformers aspired may be increasingly realized as today’s “mere” Protestants, like Richard Baxter’s and C. S. Lewis’s “mere Christians,” joyfully join together to bear united witness to the gospel of Jesus Christ and to its length, depth, breadth, and width – in a word, its catholicity

The RCC lays out a set of eleven carefully and precisely formulated doctrinal statements [D] under the following headings: Triune God, Holy Scripture, Human Beings, Fallenness, Jesus Christ, The Atoning Work of Christ, The Gospel, The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit, Baptism and Lord’s Supper, Holy Living and Last Things. This is accompanied by an explanatory document, Explanation. A Historical and Theological Perspective: Why we say what we say

I shall give only a few abridged statements of the RCC as a sample to provide a sense of its precise formulation accompanied by an irenic spirit. Continue reading “A Reforming Catholic Confession: Continuing the Reformation to Attain Unity of the catholic (universal) Church”