The Heart of Worship in a Church

Transcript:

Pastor Priji: Welcome to Church Talk! We pray that you gain knowledge to be a better worshipper and a minister of God! Today, we have Pastor Richard Pillay from New Hope Christ Centre in South Africa. He visits different nations for ministry. It is a joy to have him in today’s conversation! Welcome, Pastor! Pastor Richard, could you take a moment to greet our listeners?

Pastor Richard: I’m so grateful to be here to be with you Pastor Priji. I had a great opportunity to befriend Him. I’m very excited to communicate a little of God’s heart. Greetings to all my brothers and sisters in the Lord! Thank you for the privilege, Pastor Priji.

Pastor Priji: The first time I saw you at the conference, you were ministering to the leaders. Our audience is mostly people who are church planters and ministers of God. Pastor, from your perspective, I would like to know how important is the role of a worship team in a church.

Pastor Richard: We must understand what true worship is all about to know whether we need a worship team or not. When we look in the Bible, Nehemiah:11&12, two teams were proclaiming the name of Jesus. We need to understand is so fundamental to the life of the church and believer. It is good to have a worship team and is better when the worship team understands the true heart of worship. We cannot lead the church in our agendas but in a Biblical agenda. Worship is taken as a performance. It is not about us being happy in worship but God being glorified. If we do not have a good understanding of God’s word we will never the right way to worship Him. Worship has to be a lifestyle. Personal devotion to God is greater than a public performance.

Pastor Priji: Completely agree, Pastor! We focus on our public worship rather than our personal devotion. Worship needs to be a lifestyle and not a weekend thing. What do you recommend that worship leaders or pastors do to train their team to have their discipline in their personal relationship with God?

Pastor Richard: We need to teach Godly leaders to understand His word and Kingdom and have a deep dedication. To expose a man to the presence of God is not easy but takes a man who is deeply rooted in God and discipline. When man’s performance dies, God reveals His presence to us. It is necessary to teach them about their private and personal relationship with God. Without Holiness, we cannot the acceleration of God.

Pastor Priji: Amen! When we see a society change, how does a worshipping church play a vital role in bringing the presence of God to a broken world? How does our worship help our broken world? How to make our worship a prophetic act over our nations.

Pastor Richard: That’s a powerful question. When we gather as a church, the fundamental is that even though we are confounded in space, our worship must go beyond. Our aim is to proclaim His name. In order to penetrate the community, we need to be a church without walls. When we focus on glorifying God, our worship penetrates.

Pastor Priji: Wow, that’s so powerful! We need to be the ones without walls. We have to be a church that is passionate to serve outside our walls. One of the common traits, I’ve noticed is that the worship team feels that they are important than other teams in the church. How can we explain the importance of being disconnected from the Body?

Pastor Richard: It’s a worldwide problem! It’s a strategy of the enemy to separate the team from the church. We need to advise our worship leaders of how they are one with Christ and the team. Humility is the backbone of breaking the enemy. We must be completely devoted to truth. If the worship leader is not aligned to the Truth, the church will be divided.

Pastor Priji: What are the non-stage forms of worship? How do we worship without a stage or music?

Pastor Richard: It’s such a powerful statement! When we worship right through the week, our weekend will worship right! We find ways to live out by carrying the word of God every day. The mark of a Spirit-filled worshipper is the one abiding in the Word of God. Do not separate a work environment, family environment. If we cannot worship there, we are just performing.

Pastor Priji: That’s so powerful! Pastor, do you want to give a final word to our worship leaders before we conclude?

Pastor Richard: I wanna just say to the worshippers that we are the ministers before the throne of the Lord and we are the most powerful ministers. We must not fling our hearts in giving to God. Put down your instruments and songs and go back to your knees for revival which leads to the residue to connect people. Learn to be a broken vessel.

Pastor Priji: Thank you so much Pastor Richard for your time! If our listeners need to contact you, what would be the best way?

Pastor Richard: We could connect on our Facebook page!