Monday, February 3, 2020

Highlight from The Worship Pastor

Zac Hicks proposes the use of the term "church lover" instead of "churchman" to describe a faithful person who stays on a church despites the many painful experiences in between. He goes on to list a few characteristics of such a person; one of which struck right in my heart and is quoted below. It is helpful to remember not to take such attacks personally but to ask for God's love to minister to these wounding people...

From The Worship Pastor: A Call to Ministry for Worship Leaders and Teams

A church lover willingly enters into their church's wounded and wounding nature. As worship leaders [ministers also], we are ever tempted to wander into the temporary comforts of bitterness to cope with the perpetual pain the church inflicts on us. The criticisms are endless-from sound levels to song selection, from intolerable theology to inappropriate outfits. Our church is always wounding us. Many a wise counsellor has said, "Hurt people hurt people." ...The wounds that the church inflicts on you can become the very vehicle for your ministry to her woundedness. A pastorally oriented worship leader embraces this counterintuitive dynamic out of raw, Spirit-borne, gospel-rooted love for the church.