Swindoll offers advice on corporate worship

FORT WORTH?Honest and supportive relationships between worship leaders are necessary for a church to reflect God’s plan for worship in weekly services, popular Bible teacher Chuck Swindoll said at the 2004 Church Music Workshop at Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary Feb. 19.

Swindoll, who serves as senior pastor at Stonebriar Community Church in Frisco, is known for his radio ministry, “Insight for Living,” and many books. At the Church Music Workshop he and Bruce Stevenson, executive pastor of worship and music at Stonebriar, talked about how pastors and staff can work together.

“Relationships are the foundation. Just beyond the relationship with Christ is the [importance of] relationship with one another, and we don’t tolerate lingering offenses or difficulties among individuals,” Swindoll said. “If there is such, I’m not aware of it, and as soon as I’m aware of it, we talk it through. If we can’t, somebody has got to go.

“We embrace worship as a major reason we are on the planet and Sunday provides us with the opportunity to do it corporately,” Swindoll said.

Stevenson outlined five pillars of worship: education, balance, excellence, creativity and character. He said that education was a vital element of worship because it ensures continuity between the history of the church and future generations.

Swindoll and Stevenson both emphasized several times the importance of balance in worship. Acknowledging that many churches face dissension between members about worship styles, Swindoll put the issue in perspective.

“We have centuries of history, which is one of the treasures of the church,” Swindoll said. Stevenson said that incorporating the great hymns of the faith and modern Christian music into worship services helps keep things interesting.

If someone consistently and uncharitably complains about the church’s worship style it may be in the church’s and that person’s best interest for him or her to worship elsewhere, Swindoll said. At the very least, worship leaders should not let the vocal minority shape how they plan worship services.

“You cannot let a carping critic or two shape your philosophy,” Swindoll said. “We are not here to give you what you want; we are here to provide what you need.”