WORSHIP LEADERS
COMBINED CHURCH EVENTS: GOOD INTENTIONS AREN’ T ENOUGH | Grant Norsworthy
Last year’ s combined church event fizzled. This year, it flourished. The difference wasn’ t a better band, better mix, cooler song choices, or a more talented“ worship leader.” It was asking the right people the right questions before anyone planned anything.
This article expands on some ideas I introduced in last month’ s article. For a good story about Pastor Joe and some helpful background, you might want to check it out here: Combined Church Events: Building Unity or Undermining It?
A little context may help. Over the years I’ ve had the privilege of working with churches across multiple countries and cultures, which has given me a different vantage point from which to see how music functions as an expression of worship.
Today I live in an idyllic, rural region at the top of New Zealand’ s South Island— a place locals call“ Heaven on Earth.” The largest town, Motueka( population under 10,000), is home to perhaps a dozen Christian churches. Most are in town. Others are scattered throughout the surrounding farmland and forests. Congregations range from around 150 adults to fewer than 20. No megachurches here! vibrant, enthusiastic churches has organized a combined Pentecost Sunday gathering, hoping the others would join them. We call it Karakia— a Māori word traditionally referring to a prayerful, spiritual song or chant, and in modern usage often meaning simply a blessing or a church service. It seemed a good fit across all our churches.
On the one hand, Pentecost Sunday is an absolutely perfect reason for a combined churches celebration. No matter what denomination, theological emphasis, style, or flavor of church a believer belongs to, we would all agree, I’ m sure, on the imperative of God’ s Holy Spirit— the Helper, the Comforter— for the Church to exist. We all have access to the same radical, biblical account in the second chapter of Acts of the first Pentecost Sunday— 50 days after Jesus rose from the dead. We accept it as a reliable record of actual historical events. We would also agree on our essential need for the Holy Spirit’ s infilling and empowerment in our lives today as followers of Jesus as the Christ.
“ For we were all baptized by one Spirit so as to form one body— whether Jews or Gentiles, slave or free— and we were all given the one Spirit to drink.” 1 Corinthians 12:13
On the other hand, celebrating Pentecost Sunday across denominational lines can be like walking through a minefield. Without significant awareness, sensitivity, and love for the differences in emphasis from one church to another, we can easily create more division than unity. There are significant differences in how individuals experience, think about, talk about— and yes, sing about— the Holy Spirit. Considerable sensitivity will be needed, not only in song selection and lyrical content but also in arrangement, production, volume levels, and more.
I’ ve been involved in Karakia a few times since moving here from Nashville. But I wasn’ t able to participate last year because I was on the road for a More Than Music Mentor work trip. I did hear, however, that attendance was significantly smaller than in previous years, and that some who did attend struggled to connect. Many hardly knew any of the songs. The music felt too loud, the lighting too distracting, and— to some of my more theologically conservative,
The wider church community is beautifully diverse: very young to very old, and a rich mix of ethnicities. There is strong representation of Māori, the indigenous people of Aotearoa( New Zealand), as well as Pasifika people from Pacific nations such as Samoa, Tonga, and Fiji. The majority are Pākehā, the widely accepted Māori term for white-skinned New Zealanders of non-Māori descent. Across all of these are a variety of denominations with quite an array of theological emphases and stylistic preferences.
For several years now, a core group of the more
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