Can we use video clips on our services?

I had only been a pastor for a few months when a faithful member of a church came up to me to discuss the use of the media in worship, brought in previous pastors to incorporate excerpts from music and movies, and wanted to be helpful to me. started with a question like this:

“So what do you think of the video clips of cult movies?”

“Well, I hadn’t really planned to use media in the service. “

? Seriously? I have been involved in worship for a long time and is it a very effective method of communication?

“Yes, I have no doubt. However, I fear that this can divert people from the heart of worship: singing, preaching, and praying the Word?

“I wouldn’t see it as a distraction, but as an addition, it improves overall service. “

“You may be right, but I really want us to focus on the power of God’s Word to encourage and encourage us, so I’ll stay away from movie videos. “

That’s how the conversation ended. We were two mature men, we both loved the Lord, but with different views on what would most honor God and what would be most useful to his local church. If you were in my place, how would you have answered that question?

Over the years, I have been asked to reflect on many of these topics related to our Sunday morning service.

Should we have flags on Independence Day?Say no

Christmas decorations? He said yes.

Dramatized readings of the scriptures? Don’t do it.

Children’s choir? Yes, a few times a year

A pick-up box in the lobby? Don’t do it.

Bells? Yes.

Movie video clips? Review

As you can probably see in these examples, I came to an established church with its own customs and traditions. If you set up a church, I guess you’re more likely to be asked about incense, an art gallery in the lobby and in-house or even secular music.

I’m less afraid I’ll come to the same conclusion as I am about one of these examples. What I want you to realize is that the scriptures are not silent about collective worship.

The regulatory principle helps me answer these kinds of questions. He says that the scriptures regulate what is allowed to be done in public worship. And those who support the principle of regulation will approach each question carefully, wondering not only “What God allows,” but also, “Which god do you prefer?”

The following counsel, based on the normative principle, helped me determine what practices honor God and help his people appropriately in our weekly meetings.

1. Collective worship focuses on the word

First, collective worship focuses on the word. After talking to Timothy about the power of scripture to change lives (2 Timothy 3:16-17), he offered a simple exhortation: “Preach the Word?(4. 2). My most important pastoral duty is to expose the scriptures to my church, knowing with confidence that the Spirit can apply them to people’s lives and produce spiritual maturity.

Shouldn’t a Christian meeting be merely biblical?In a general and abstract sense. It must be saturated with Scripture, because it is obvious to all of us that we believe that God works powerfully through His Word, as we preach the Word, sing the Word, and pray the Word. I don’t want to approve anything that distracts us from the scriptures.

2. Collective worship focuses on the gospel

Second, collective worship focuses on the gospel. Paul boasted of preaching to Christ: “What do we proclaim, warning every man and teaching every man with all wisdom, that we may present every perfect man in Christ?(Colosssenses 1, 28). Proclaiming Christ means revealing the gospel to the Church. A blind saw cannot cut a tree, and service without the gospel cannot produce spiritual maturity. Collective worship should cause each participant to rejoice in Christ’s finished work for sinners.

3. Collective worship is congregational.

Third, collective worship is a congregation. Once again, Paul gives clear instructions: “And do not get drunk with wine, in which there is dissolution, but be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, intonating and praising the Lord with your heart. Hymns and spiritual chants?” (Ephesians 5. 18-19). The word of Christ remains rich in you; Are they wisely taught and counseled, praising God with spiritual psalms, hymns, and chants with gratitude in his heart?(Colossses 3:16) because of the congregational nature of these orders. We, the church, are ordered to sing songs “between us. “It reminds me how the violinist in the first chair of an orchestra plays not only for the audience, but for the other violinists, and how others listen to the one in the first chair. Members of the congregation then serve each other through ecclesiastical service as they pray and sing for God.

4. Collective worship is for the church

Fourth, collective worship is for the church. We have to accept, there is a serious difference of opinion today about the main purpose of a church business meeting and this will affect the way you structure your service. Many churches point out that they exist for non-Christians. They adapt their (profane) music and their (short) message to appeal to the lost.

Other churches, like mine, recognize that sometimes they will have non-believers, but they focus on equipping the Saints to reach the lost and I think we see this latter focus on scripture. construction of the body (1 Corinthians 14: 12, 14, 26), the construction of a unit in the body (1 Corinthians 11: 17-22) and the stimulus of the members of the body (Hebrews 10: 24-25).

As the person who runs our services, I have tried to make non-Christians feel welcome by explaining what is happening in our time together, addressing possible objections to Christianity in the sermon, and sharing the gospel in a captivating and enlightening way.

However, when I think about what we should do when we meet as a church, I am not primarily interested in attracting the disbelievers; the assembled church must honor God by building the body of Christ; the non-congregational church must honor God by evangelizing the lost.

5. Corporate worship is at the top

Fifth, collective worship must lead. The elders were to graze under the authority of God without dominating the flock (1 Peter 5. 2-3). Congregations were to follow them, striving to facilitate their work (Hebrews 13:17).

What a pious direction this is (Ephesians 4:18)!

I am grateful to lead with a body of elders who consider our collective worship service to be part of the church’s teaching ministry. We know that the choices we make are not always popular. Some people want a choir. Others want contemporary music. We have to make a decision.

Therefore, it is important to find pious men who can think of what most honors the Lord and what most edies the congregation, and then trust them to lead accordingly.

It’s time to get into the bat cave to see what they can throw at us

1. Is it appropriate to have visual arts, such as parodies, in morning worship?

At best, a play is a dramatization of a scripture passage; at worst, it’s an embarrassing attempt to get the attention of the congregation. Would you treat them like nuclear waste?As for the first one, I’m open, but cautious.

The danger is that dramatizing a passage removes the carpet from the power of the spoken Word. Ravi Zacharias made a statement I will never forget: “At first it was the Word, not the video. “Should congregations trust in the spoken Word because God has always used His Word to build and grow their church, this is evident from Genesis to Revelation.

2. What about newborn presentations?

Once a year, our church recognizes new parents during Sunday morning service. As a church, we want to encourage fatherhood and pray for the salvation of these little ones. However, because collective worship is a congregation, we also ask church members to make public commitments to support these parents to have confidence in raising their children in the Lord’s education and warning.

3. What part of the cultural festival should be recognized, such as Independence Day?

I address this issue with the conviction that our meetings are for the church and that the church is made up of believers with one thing in common: salvation through faith only in Christ; therefore, I do not plan services around cultural issues, although I am sure that I will. Thank God for religious freedom and despite always praying for mothers on the day of their birth, I do not lead us to have a service on Independence Day or Mother’s Day.

4. Should a congregation recite the creed?

There are many good reasons to incorporate Orthodox declarations of faith and ecclesiastical covenants into our public services; they remind us that God has worked for centuries, clarifying His Word; and in a world where truth is considered relative, it is useful for congregations to go against ambiguities and publicly unite around biblical teaching.

If beliefs are incorporated into a collective worship service, this must be done in such a way that the authority of the Bible is emphasized. A head of worship may say something like: “This morning we want to confess our faith in the words of Nicea Creed, joining Christians through the centuries they have understood that the Bible teaches that Jesus is and always has been God.

5. Should we have several cults divided by musical preferences?

For example, should we have a “traditional” service early in the morning, a “contemporary” service in the morning?And in the afternoon a “modern” service? Leaving aside the ecclesiological question of multiple services, I am concerned about the precaution of dividing the congregation according to musical preference. A gospel-centered service should bring believers into unity. If we want to divide by musical styles, what does that say about the Power of the Gospel to Unite?I’m afraid you’ll say the gospel isn’t enough.

Not everyone will like the way I handled these cases, and that’s fine, the smallest details of ecclesial life and collective worship will certainly vary from context to context and from church to church, who stand up for the principle of regulation will certainly do so. I don’t agree with certain details.

However, we must bear in mind that we are not free to do what we want, everything that works or everything that people ask, for our sake God has given us parameters, collective worship must be centered on the Word, centered on the gospel, the congregation, for the church and directed.

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