Jodie McNeill lives in Jamberoo, NSW, Australia, and is the Senior Minister at Jamberoo Anglican.
Home: 20 Tate Place, Jamberoo NSW 2533 Australia. Email: jodie@jodiemcneill.com Phone: +61 425 222 338
Choosing songs at church can sometimes be harder than it seems.
Sometimes we seem to have too many new ones. Sometimes there are too many old ones.
So, here’s a guide to choosing the right mix of oldies and newies… using the same formula as the radio stations.
Read the article here at sydneyanglicans.net.
In my mind, what makes a great church band is one that both understands the idiosyncrasies of playing in a band with fluid membership, and short and frequently-under-cooked rehearsals, yet also recognises the need to share the common vision of serving the congregation as they join together in one voice to praise their great God in the assembly of his people.
For this reason, I want to TWIST the arm of the congregational leaders in our churches. I want to TWIST the arm of the rectors, assistant ministers, wardens, and anyone who has a key role in our churches.
I want to TWIST your arm to encourage your church musicians to be a part of one of the TWIST (‘The Word in Song Together’) music events this year run by Emu Music and Youthworks.
To read the full sydneyanglicans.net article, click here.
For more details about TWIST, click here!
At this year’s TWIST Away Conference on Friday 19th August to Sunday 21st August 2011 at Port Hacking, we’re focusing on getting the bare essentials right.
As we put together the various hands-on training seminars, I’ve been trying to reflect on what the various issues are that our everyday, garden-variety church bands need to grow in.
Have a read of my sydneyanglicans.net article to see my list, and feel free to add any suggestions in the comments, or email me directly.
Here’s the link: http://www.sydneyanglicans.net/ministry/modernministry/the_bare_essentials_of_church_music/
Plus, if you’re keen to find out more about the conference, then visit www.twistconference.com for the details. It will be a great weekend of encouragement plus practical training in music ministry.
As a result of many attempts to ‘contemporise’ our services of corporate worship, we have ended up with a casserole of theology and a soup of subjectivity.
Yet, attempts have not gone smoothly as we have sought to restore liturgy to its rightful place as a common word from a common people. There is still resistance to having our prayers pigeon-holed and pre-fabricated by prayer book poets.
Ironically, our latest generations are happy to sing pre-written words and tunes with feverish repetition, but are not comfortable speaking pre-written prayers. Even praying prayers from the Bible is seen as rigid and uninspiring.
Yet, if people are happy to express their feelings to God through pre-written song words, then why are they unhappy to express their feelings to God through pre-written prayer words?
Read the full article at sydneyanglicans.net
Imagine if you could split up the church into different venues for the singing time, and then have the same sermon delivered at the same time to all groups of people?
This exact scenario is what I encountered at a recent visit to Saddleback Church, in California.
It was great to see that this church is so keen to meet people where they are at that it seeks to deliver music that meets the needs of the congregation. It was also a clever way to deal with the need to provide overflow seating for their overflowing venue.
However, I couldn’t but help that this was market-driven ministry that had gone too far.
Read my full article at www.sydneyanglicans.net
