He Is Risen!

A Resurrection Sunday song suggestion.

Unbelievers at Easter Worship

Easter is normally the most highly attended service of the year with many nominal believers (sometimes called Christmas/Easter Christians or CREasters for short) present. Are there any ways that we should take this into account as we plan our worship services for Easter? Those on the doxologue would all agree that worship is for believers, not unbelievers, but in what ways can we explicitly reach out to and acknowledge unbelievers that would not violate this biblical principle and take us into the realm of “seeker sensitive?”

Easter/Good Friday Songs: David

Part of the reason it has taken a week to answer this is that I haven't started planning these services yet! (I normally plan services 5-10 days ahead)

We just introduced See, What a Morning by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty this past Sunday so that we can sing it as a congregation on Easter Sunday. Another song that I almost always use for Sunday is Christ the Lord is Risen Today by Charles Wesley. A song that we are singing this coming Sunday is Up From the Grave He Arose by Robert Lowry. This is a particularly good one for including kids - it's one of our children's favorite Easter songs. We will probably use The Power of the Cross and/or In Christ Alone by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty as well.

For Good Friday I will definitely use O Sacred Head, Now Wounded by Bernard of Clairvaux (1153) which I consider the quintessential Good Friday hymn. After noticing that Bernard is referred to by his town a smart songteam member suggested that I start signing my songs "David of Minnetonka." We may use The Power of the Cross by Stuart Townend and Keith...

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Easter/Good Friday Songs?

Let me keep this going. Each of us will soon be planning Good Friday and Easter services soon. What, in your opinion, are the top songs our churches should be doing for each meeting?

Top New Songs: Kevin

One thing great about starting a church is that you can set the "tempo" from the beginning. This applies also to worship music. Most of the songs we have sung have been new to our group. Here are a few of them (by the way, if all of you out there were using WorshipOrganizer, you could easily pull up a list of all the songs you have done; you're welcome, David!):

Indelible Grace
And Can It Be? (great upbeat remake of the original)
Arise, My Soul, Arise (an upbeat song that allows the congregation to preach the gospel at herself!)
Father, Long Before Creation (my favorite off of Indelible Grace IV; my 2-year old can belt this one out!)
I Boast No More (popularized by Caedmon's Call and actually on McCracken's latest)
Jesus, Everlasting King (powerful, powerful upbeat tune exalting Christ)
Jesus, I Come (super summary of the gospel)
O Come and Mourn With Me Awhile (perfect Lenten tune)

Assorted Other
The Glories of Calvary (great gospel-focused song)
The Gospel Song (gospel simply put; we've used it much during communion)
How Great Is Our God (quality modern song by Tomlin)
Indescribable (great modern hymn popularized by Tomlin)
The Power of the Cross (amazing modern hymn by Getty/Townend)
This Fathomless Love (one...

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Top New Songs

I keep a detailed list of all of the new songs I have either introduced or plan to introduce. Since I have been at Redeemer (almost 7 months now), I have taught the congregation the following songs:

• Baptism Hymn, an unpublished song from Reformed Praise
• In My Heart by Sovereign Grace Music (Eric Grover), see the album King of Grace
• A Debtor to Mercy by Sovereign Grace Music (Bob Kauflin), see the album Upward
• It's All of Grace by Reformed Praise, see the album Cross-Centered Worship
• Jesus, I Am Resting, Resting from Christ Community Church in Franklin, TN (David Hampton), see the album Re:Awakening
• The Gospel Song (Drew Jones and Bob Kauflin) and The Glories of Calvary (Steve and Vikki Cook) from Sovereign Grace Ministries, see the album Songs for the Cross-Centered Life
• Surrender All and Always Forgiven from Sovereign Grace Ministries, see the album Worship God Live
• Beautiful Savior by Stuart Townend, see the album Beautiful Saviour
• What Wondrous Cause and There Is No Greater Portrait from Reformed Praise

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Top New Songs?

Brothers, what new hymns are you using in your church (not including your own)? What songwriters are really blessing you as of late?

Neglected Themes: Kevin’s Response

Neglected song themes? How about...

• Eschatology (last things)?
• Pneumatology (Holy Spirit)?
• The Fatherhood of God? (think of all the great truths there)
• Ecclesiology (so many great things that could be said about the church and what she is to be)

Lastly... the gospel! I was downloading some song samples from a well-known praise and worship writer the other day, and I was astounded as to how little they spoke of Jesus and the cross. They seemed to be directed upward to "God knows where"-- some generic deity to whom even Oprah could sing.

On Weekly Communion – Kevin’s Response to David

Since the Reformation, the church has noted two characteristics of a true church-- first, the right preaching of the word of God, and, second, the right administration of the sacraments or ordinances. In addition to everything else I said below, it would seem to me that, in our desire to be a healthy church, we would seek to practice with great frequency and much care, as it seems the early church did, both (preaching and ordinances) in church gatherings. Baptism, of course, is the entry rite of the church, the "front door," and will be practiced only as frequently as the Lord blesses. The ongoing ordinance of the Lord's Supper, however, along with preaching, should be practiced as often as the saints gather for corporate worship.

I do believe there is latitude in the churches for disagreement about frequency. David, I agree that quarterly is far too infrequent. However, I don't think monthly practice goes quite far enough. It seems wisest to celebrate the Lord's Supper, along with hearing the preached word, on a weekly basis.

Neglected Themes – Lament