From the birth of CCM and the resulting change in many church worship ministries, to the “worship wars” of the 90s, to the modern hymn movement and missional worship practices of a growing number of young church-planting churches, we can easily see how much things have changed in just one generation. The way churches now “do worship”, including the way worship arts pastors are trained, is vastly different than it was thirty years ago.
Sojourn Worship Arts Pastor Mike Cosper sat down with Dr. John Witvliet, author, seminary professor and Director of the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, to discuss these and other topics that you can hear in this short audio feature, either by downloading our free podcast, Sojournmusic.com Radio, from iTunes and other podcast directories, or by clicking the audio player below:
- the trend away from the traditional role of a “worship pastor”
- the pressure on worship leaders to manufacture significant emotional experiences
- the “worship music industry” and the inherent dangers such a business causes
- congregational worship music versus worship music that is strictly radio-friendly
- ways that local churches could train and raise up worship leaders and pastors
- ways in which songwriters can learn from and work with old hymn texts
- the importance of growing your church’s song repertoire
Links to resources Dr. Witvliet mentions in the audio interview:
- The Worship Sourcebook
- the Book of Common Prayer
- Hymnals from the Hymn Society of the U.S. and Canada
We hope you have enjoyed this series of interviews that Pastor Mike has conducted with Dr. Witvliet. If you missed the first two series, talking about covenant renewal and the Calvin Institute of Christian Worship, check them out:
