That’s a really important question to ask yourself – what do you really want to do with your singing and/or musicianship? How far do you want to take it?

Before I started learning guitar, way back when, I went to a baptist church in Devon, and in the evenings their services were a bit more livelier, using more modern songs with a band. The band included two guitarists who both used the same very basic stum-strum-strummy-strummy style of playing, and I remember watching them and thinking, “I do not want to be that kind of guitarist – God deserves better!” That decision informed the way I learned, and continue to learn, to play the guitar. In Psalm 33:3 David writes, “Sing to Him a new song; play skillfully with a shout of joy.” In Chronicles 2:13, Solomon is preparing to build the temple and requests the help of Huram who is ‘a skillful man’ to oversee the craftsmanship. In Exodus 35 (particularly verse 35), Moses is talking about those being used to build the tent that will be the centre of worship for the nation of Israel, that they are filled with skill to do all manner of work. These verses represent a heart of excellence to do things well for God’s house.

It’s very easy to settle at a certain level of skill or understanding of musicianship or singing, but is that really the kind of musician or singer you want to be? There are too many average musicians and singers in the worldwide church today, who have decided to settle with where they are, and stick with what they know. Is that what you want to be like? Or do you want to be a great musician or singer? Being great doesn’t mean being famous, it just means that your attitude is different to those who have decided to remain average.

A great musician or singer is always learning, stretching themselves a little bit each time, able to take correction, happy to give as much or as little in their playing or singing as is required to serve the moment, not looking for recognition but to serve those they work with and the sound they are all creating.

Ask yourself seriously, what kind of musician/singer do you want to be, and then change whatever needs changing so you start heading in that direction.

“In two days He will put new life in us; on the third day He will raise us up so that we may live in His presence and know Him.” Hosea 6:2-3 (NCV)

Four hundred years before the cross, Hosea prophesied this verse, revealing not just that Jesus would die on the cross and be raised to life, but that God intended for it to involve us too. His desire was always that we would have new life, and that that life would be lived in His presence with a greater understanding of Him and all that He is. Right now we are alive in His presence, and we carry His presence into every life situation we experience, good and bad. Our vision is to carry God’s presence into the time of corporate worship when we meet together, but that carrying continues after the meeting.

We are all leaders in life because our lives are now given to the cause of God’s kingdom, leading the lost to a loving, merciful, healing and welcoming God. It’s easy to allow the things of life to weigh us down if all we see are those things of life. God’s promise to us is that He has raised us up, given us new life, and brought us into His presence to live and to know Him. The things of life aren’t bad, most are actually good and necessary, but let’s not let those good things get in the way of the best thing. Let the things of life take their proper order when we set our heart and eyes back on where we now live and what we now carry – God’s presence.

We’re always leading because we are always carrying God’s presence, and He’s always directing us towards the people He would have us take His presence to.

Ecclesiastes 12:10 (NLT) “The teacher sought to find just the right words to express truth clearly.”

We need to write songs that speak of our church’s heart, vision and journey – they are our anthems. We need to be willing to craft our songs – avoid using the excuse “God gave it to me like this” – it’s rarely true! The journey of crafting a song enables us to keep our congregations at the forefront of our motivation, and allows God to teach us more. Brian Johnson, worship pastor of Bethel Church wrote on twitter recently, “Songwriters, pray for anthems that rally the church to change the world – God created melody for more than a goosebump. Ask God for phrases He wants in songs, lyrics that say what He is saying, and melodies that drive those lyrics deep.”

Our songs can change people’s worlds: they can open a window of hope onto desperate and dark situations; they can carry personal words of encouragement from God to individuals; they can stir up a congregational passion to go. Our songs are not about us, they’re about what God can do through His people, and how God’s people can become aligned to God’s purposes and passion by opening their hearts and engaging with the words and melodies.

I believe God wants to release something fresh and new into our church – all of our congregations – through songs that we have written ourselves. And when I say written, I mean crafted, worked on, refined. Songs that we’ve laboured over to make sure they carry truth and enable our congregations to engage with that truth easily. We are a creative people and the songs are in us, waiting to come out. Like Pastor Andy said on Sunday in Central, who knows what is waiting to come out of you!

Thanks to all those that came out for Vision Night last week – we’ve had some good feedback, and we’re glad the messages have inspired and stirred people up.

Real growth takes time, it requires long-term investment, care, patience and an unwillingness to give up. I remember years ago, as a child, planting a sycamore seed because I wanted to grow an oak tree, and getting very frustrated that nothing seemed to be happening for weeks. Then all of a sudden a little shoot pops up; but it still takes ages for that shoot to become anything more. Eventually it grows and becomes something slightly recognisable as a tree; and even then it takes years to become something you can climb in (which is what I wanted the tree for in the first place!). We’re growing something in with the worship team that is designed to last; not to be a flash-in-the-pan but be something that continually produces life, week in week out. That takes time – and though we have a glimpse of what it could be in our hearts, it doesn’t quite resemble it yet. But that’s today. Tomorrow will produce a bit more growth, and then more the next day.

Take to heart the messages we bring at our Vision Nights, and through our weekly team emails, because we write them and speak them to sow seed for the future of the worship team, and for your future life harvest. God’s promise is that His word never returns void – ie. when we sow His word, we get a harvest of life, we get His vision come to pass. God’s fruit in our lives brings His richness, His presence, His excellence into, and out through, us.

We’ve said many times how important vision is – without it we will lose life, dry up, and become religious and bound to duty and procedure. Vision takes time to form in our hearts, and it is during the tough times that vision really becomes formed and sharpened in our hearts – if we allow it. When things are hard work, where it would be easy to remain comfortable, or even give up, where going back to how things used to be would actually seem a more sensible option – that’s when we need to choose to hold on to our vision and press in to the harvest that God wants to bring to us. In Hebrews 3:7-8, the writer talks about how the nation of Israel lost sight of why they had to travel through the wilderness (to get to their promised land), and they allowed their hearts to become hardened. We are told: “today, if you hear His voice [if you catch hold of vision], do not harden your hearts . . . as in the day of trial in the wilderness”. Whenever we set our hearts to a vision that God has given us, we WILL go through trial, testing, seasons of wilderness where nothing happens, no growth takes place. We need those times, because through them God can make the vision stronger in our hearts – as long as we don’t allow our hearts to harden. For the Isrealites, that decision to forget their vision of heading into their own land was catastrophic, because it meant they never reached the promised land – some even saw it afar off, as they got closer, and yet couldn’t enter because they’d harden their hearts. How tragic, that you can be within touching distance of your vision and yet not enter it because of the state of your heart. You can miss the answers and resources God has brought to you, you can miss new team members, you can miss out on the growth and maturity that God wants to bring in all our lives.

Our vision, in worship team, takes us beyond ourselves and sets our focus on serving our congregations and serving God. The way we do things, the structure we use, the style, the songs, the way we lead and prepare, all flows out of how that vision has impacted our hearts. The trials and tough times will help establish vision in our hearts, so let’s never give up or let go.

Worship was never meant to be about singing songs. We’re not just called to be worshippers, we’re MADE to be worshippers – it’s part of our DNA. Singing is actually such a small part of our expression of worship.

At the core of worship is this statement made by Jesus in Mark 12:30: “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, all your soul, all your mind and all your strength.” The expression of that love is worship, and the practical outworking is in every area of our lives, not just what we do on Sunday mornings. Our whole life must be affected by that statement – not just the ‘what’ we do but also the ‘why’. Living our lives devoted and centred around God, especially when times are difficult, honours Him.

That statement, though, has a second part – not separate but intrinsically linked: verse 31, “Love each other as ourselves”. To live a life of worship is to live selflessly.

Although we lead singing on a Sunday morning, and at other meetings, as worship leaders we should be leading others in living God-centred lives.

Here’s a great thought from The Message version of Matthew 5:48 – “In a word, what I’m saying is, grow up. You’re kingdom subjects. Now live like it. Live out your God-created indentity. Live generously and graciously toward others, the way God lives toward you.”

Are we challenging ourselves to grow up, to leave behind the things that have consumed our lives in the past, or are we just letting life come as it comes, and reacting however we feel like? If we have been unclear as to our God-given purpose, have we done something about it, or are we just carrying on wondering and bouncing from idea to idea? The things that we’ve worried and fretted about, do they still hold us back? God is daily calling us forward, to grow up, to leave behind the things that are not part of the identity He has given us in Christ. That starts with living selflessly, being givers not takers, goers not sitters. The days of our lives really are numbered – are we really going to spend them living in a shallow, self-consumed way or are we going to grow up, lay down our lives for God’s kingdom and allow out His kingdom to be revealed through our whole lives.

The crux of Pastor Steu’s message a few weeks ago in Central, on the lepers that Jesus healed, was that God moved in their lives ‘as they went’ – it didn’t happen as they sat around waiting for it, they had to respond to Jesus’ word and ‘go’. Let’s let go of the things that have hung around our lives, holding us down and causing worry and distraction, grow up, and live out our ‘God-given identity’.

We’ve been getting a few song submissions recently, which is brilliant, so I thought I’d set out our plan for dealing with submissions, and taking songs from submission to use in church. First of all, we’re very happy to get submissions from anyone, from any congregation. We do want all home-written songs to be submitted to us, from all congregations. A submitted song really needs to have a recording and a lyrics/chord chart, so if you’re not able to do one or either of those get with someone who can help you. When a song is submitted we’ll try and acknowledge that submission within a week, usually that day – the best way to submit a song is via email to worship@family-church.org.uk. We will then collect submissions together and put them to a panel that will meet every couple of months or so to review the submissions and make comments, and those comments will be fed back to you. We won’t say who is the panel each time, and it will likely be made of different people each time. We want o give everyone fair and constructive feedback that will help you towards crafting a great song. Part of the submission/crafting process will be having them checked by the senior leadership for theological integrity, and that the song has the language and heart of Family Church. We won’t use in church any song that hasn’t been through the submission process, and submitting a song to us means that you are happy for your song to be constructively criticised, and you won’t kick off if you’re not happy with the reply!!

We’ve spoken a few times about our heart for songwriting, and we will again very soon. Songwriting can be a very personal thing, but bringing songs for consideration to be used in church means that it stops being about your creative expression and becomes something that we believe will bring life to the church and give voice to what God is doing in our lives. When we give a song to the church to sing, it stops being our song and becomes the church’s. Be inspired by that thought to make sure the songs you write bring a unity of purpose and desire, inspire corporate faith and expression, and become the anthems of our generation.

Last Tuesday we went over some housekeeping stuff, reminding ourselves of our vision and the principles in place to help serve that vision. Here’s a quick reminder, especially for those that weren’t there:

1) Everyone is expected to be at every Tuesday band night. Band nights are the lifeblood of our team – they’re not just rehearsal nights for those on team the coming weekend, but times of team-building and relationship-growing. As we’ve said before, if you’re not commited to Tuesday nights, we won’t use you on Sundays. If for any reason you can’t make it one Tuesday – and we’re well aware that ‘life happens’ – then please text either Me or Ali (if you’re in the Central team, or your team leader in other congregations) beforehand to let us know.

2) Although we have more time on Sunday mornings, we still need to be focused and ready so that we can use it fully. For Central, Singers’ warm-up starts at 8:45 am, in the corridor opposite the old Green Room; Sound check starts at 9 am, so musicians need to arrive by 8:45 am so that they have time to set up properly. Singers come through for 9 am, and we’ll be led through soundcheck by the sound team. Team chat is at 9:55 am, and finishes at 10 am ready for the church prayer meeting at the back of the hall. Join the prayer meeting and then do all your other prep stuff after. Get down to the stage by 10:25 ready to be called on by the stage manager.

3) Make sure you read fully the team email each week, especially the rota section, as it’ll most likely have changed from the 3-monthly rota sent out previously.

4) Bring your music folders each week. Practice in your own time, not as we’re playing the songs at band. Team emails will be sent out much earlier very soon!!

We’ve just had a great weekend with Stephen Matthew, with excellent teaching on building God’s House. It’s the call for all of us to become builders, and get stuck in. I’ve often heard from the odd (meant both ways) Christian that they’ve gone along to such-and-such church “to help them out”, or come along to a meeting “to support” the church; that’s all nice, but it’s not what God has called us to. He hasn’t commissioned us to be bits of scaffolding, that stand outside of the house and provide support for a period. He’s made us as bricks, cemented into the very structure; there through thick and thin, sun and storm. If you took a brick away from the house it was built into, you’d soon notice! Gaps cause weakness, allow rain and wind in, and let warmth out.

Here’s a challenging thought: if you stopped doing what you did, would anyone notice, would something seem not right, would things not work so well together? I hope so, for all of us, because even the seemingly smallest part played has a massive effect on the overall house. One of my favourite thoughts from FC United was the fact that, when the wall of Jerusalem was being rebuilt in Nehemiah 3, people who’s training was in working with gold, or creating incredible perfumes, didn’t feel limited by their training but got stuck in with what was needed (can you imagine walking along the finished wall and suddenly stopping because some of the bricks smelt nicer than the last ones, or all of a sudden the wall started sparkling?!!); they weren’t limited by age or gender, either (hence one section of the wall that was coloured pink and covered in flowers, Nehemiah 3:12).

They built because it was their home, they were planted there – they weren’t just visiting or helping out.

Isaiah 62:10 ”Go through, go through the gates! Make the way ready for the people. Build up, build up the road! Move all the stones off the road. Raise the banner as a sign for the people.”

This is one of the verses that God gave me when we started as worship pastors, and it’s one of those verses where God reveals more stuff the more you read it. Back then it really seemed to be talking to me about the songs we use, and how they’d direct people to God, but now I can see more of what God is saying through it and it’s right for right now! This year’s Empower Conference is all about “GO!”, and comes after Andy’s messages last year and the launch of Portsmouth North reflecting our transition into becoming a missionally-motivated church. This verse starts with the command to GO – go, leave the city, get out there, beyond what’s safe and what we’ve come to know. It’s a sending out with a purpose, though – to make the road into the city ready to take all the people coming in.

The road must be made strong and built up.

The path must be cleared of rubble and obstructions.

The people must have clear direction as to the way they should go.

This verse speaks to so many areas of the worship team, including the songs that we use and the music we play, as well as our attitude and commitment, our selflessness and boldness.

1) Go. Let’s think outside of ourselves, not looking to what is comfortable for us but to what will help others. The Bible calls us to prefer others above ourselves. That’s got to be in our thinking and our actions.

2) Build. Let’s make what we do strong musically, and let’s make each other strong by encouraging and supporting each other. Music creates a pathway for people, and so does community.

3) Clear. Let’s not allow anything to be left that could cause anyone to stumble, or to be hurt. When a road gets used a lot, the top layer crumbles and can cause more damage through use – it’s part of life. But let’s keep all that we do clear from offences, worries or niggles, and when they show, clear them away quickly.

4) Lead. Give people something to follow, something worth following. People aren’t led by great musicianship, they’re led by passion. Praise and worship without passion is just religion.