We all know the truth in the phrase "actions speak louder than words". At its heart, it states the actions we make show what we really believe.
With that in mind, I ask, "What does the church think worship is?"
If you have a worship pastor, what does he do in his "worship pastor" capacity?
Churchstaffing.com has a job description for a worship pastor. I think it is fairly typical of what we expect out of a worship pastor. We have narrowed worship down to the service on Sunday mornings, and this is shown by the expectation we have of a worship pastor. In some cases, worship seems to be narrowed down to being just the singing portion of a Sunday gathering.
I think it would be more honest if we called the position "music minister" or "gathering director". When we label the position "worship pastor" we do a disservice to the people of the church because we fall right into teaching the stereotype that narrowly defines worship to be only that which happens through music.
Romans 12:1 states: "I appeal to you therefore, brothers and sisters, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship."
If we were to use the word properly, a worship pastor would be in charge of teaching people to present their whole life as a living sacrifice to God. The pastor would focus on how to turn your vocation into worship, how to turn your parenting into worship, and how to turn your social life into worship. True spiritual worship is turning our whole life into worship, not just the time we spend in the "worship service" or under the direction of the "worship leader".
Watch out for the potholes.
