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The Lure of Mission Drift

One of the significant challenges of the Christian life is avoiding the pernicious lure of drift. Drift leads to ambiguity and away from the life-giving clarity of mission. No individual, family or local church ever drifted into faithfulness. In his kindness, our Lord sends us out each morning with something to do. Our charge, wherever we are planted, is to make disciples by bearing witness to Christ in the power of his Spirit to the glory of God the Father. Applying that mission to our daily work, play, and rest requires wisdom and creativity. It requires paying attention to the word of God in the context of the people of God. 

One of the significant challenges of the Christian life is avoiding the pernicious lure of drift. Drift leads to ambiguity and away from the life-giving clarity of mission. No individual, family or local church ever drifted into faithfulness. In his kindness, our Lord sends us out each morning with something to do. Our charge, wherever we are planted, is to make disciples by bearing witness to Christ in the power of his Spirit to the glory of God the Father. Applying that mission to our daily work, play, and rest requires wisdom and creativity. It requires paying attention to the word of God in the context of the people of God. 

In our local churches or in our living rooms, every time we gather to worship, we should be reminded afresh of the treasures of the gospel in Christ. But we don't stop there. Our task is not complete until the people in our pews or sofas are recommissioned–sent back to offices, schools, and neighborhoods with renewed eagerness to bear witness to the goodness, beauty, and truth of Christ. Missiologist Lesslie Newbigin said it well, 

"Only half of the pastor's work is to gather the people together for worship. The other half is to send them back to their daily tasks equipped to be the salt of the earth and the light of the world. If we forget this second part, the other can be positively dangerous." 

Part of our work in the weekly gathering is to consider prayerfully how the songs we sing, the sermons we preach, and the prayers we pray aid in keeping our people on mission and far from the lure of drift. Our gatherings should begin and end with the proper worship of God. We cannot faithfully live on mission without first loving the Mission-Giver. Our worship of God, however, must culminate in a faithful response to his call.

As pastor and prophet, Moses lovingly called the children of Israel back to the clarity of their mission in the great text we call the Shema. Its opening sentence frames the mission of God's people as a response of love, "Hear, O Israel: The Lord our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might. And these words that I command you today shall be on your heart." What follows this call to worship is a cascade of imperatives given to shape and concentrate their mission: make disciples by bearing witness whenever you teach, talk, write, and walk. In other words, all of life should be shaped and bound by the mission of God given by the word of God in the context of the people of God. Below are 10 missional hymns that have been a gift to our congregation as we seek to stay faithful to our Lord's calling:

O For A Thousand Tongues to Sing

Key lyric:
My gracious Master and my God,
Assist me to proclaim,
To spread thro' all the earth abroad
The honors of your name.

One of the great missional prayers from all of Wesley’s hymns: “...Assist me to proclaim”. May that be the prayer of every disciple, family, and church. 

Be Thou My Vision 

Key lyric:
Riches I heed not, nor man's empty praise;
Be Thou mine inheritance, now and always;
Be Thou and Thou only the first in my heart,
O High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

The lure of material wealth or the siren song of man’s praise beckons us with empty promises and tempts us towards mission drift. The message of Be Thou My Vision reminds us of the treasure of Christ and reorients our focus towards our mission and the Mission-Giver.

My Worth Is Not In What I Own 

Key lyric:
My worth is not in what I own
Not in the strength of flesh and bone
But in the costly wounds of love
At the cross


My worth is not in skill or name
In win or lose, in pride or shame
But in the blood of Christ that flowed
At the cross

We are often tempted to find our value, validation, or identity in things other than Christ. Our mission flows from Christ’s work on our behalf. This hymn helpfully tethers us to the truths of the gospel and can serve as a ballast when we are tempted to drift away from our mission or the mission-giver. 

Christ Be In My Waking

Key lyric:
Christ be in my thinking,
And my understanding,
Guarding me from evil,
Walking in the light.
Christ be in my speaking,
Every word a blessing,
Pure and not deceiving,
Grace to all who hear. 

This hymn is a beautiful prayer for strength and guidance to continue walking in faithfulness in all spheres of life. 

All Creatures of Our God And King 

Key lyric:

Let all things their Creator bless,
And worship Him in humbleness;
O praise Him! Alleluia!
Praise, praise the Father, praise the Son,
And praise the Spirit, Three in One;
O praise Him, O praise Him!
Alleluia, alleluia, alleluia! 

This hymn is a call to worship targeted to all of creation. Its trinitarian focus roots us in the reality of a loving God and compels us to call every nation to worship the one true King. 

Facing A Task Unfinished 

Key lyric:
Facing a task unfinished
That drives us to our knees,
A need that, undiminished,
Rebukes our slothful ease,
We who rejoice to know you
Renew before your throne
The solemn pledge we owe you
To go and make you known.

There is perhaps no other classic hymn that more artfully and clearly calls the Church to missional fidelity and joyful evangelism.

By Faith

Key lyric:

By faith the church was called to go
In the power of the Spirit to the lost
To deliver captives and to preach good news
In every corner of the earth

This hymn reminds the Church of the good news of the gospel as we seek to walk in faithfulness. The second verse is a rousing summons to heed the call of Great Commission found in Matthew 28.


When I Survey the Wondrous Cross

Key lyric:

Were the whole realm of nature mine,
That were a present far too small.
Love so amazing, so divine,
Demands my soul, my life, my all. 

One of the great Isaac Watts hymns, this text beautifully threads together the immeasurable love of God, with a clear call towards walking faithfully on mission. 

Hark the Herald Angels Sing 

Key lyric:

Joyful, all ye nations, rise,
Join the triumph of the skies;
With th'angelic hosts proclaim,
"Christ is born in Bethlehem!"

This penultimate Christmas hymn is a call to every nation to respond to the glories of God in Christ come to earth.. 

All People That On Earth Do Dwell (Doxology)

Key lyric:

All people that on earth do dwell,
Sing to the LORD with cheerful voice;
Him serve with mirth, His praise forth-tell;
Come ye before Him and rejoice!

Praise God, from whom all blessings flow;
Praise Him, all creatures here below;
Praise Him above, ye heav'nly host;
Praise Father, Son, and Holy Ghost!

As a call to worship or as a closing hymn, this beautiful text compels God’s people to offer our wholehearted praise to God both in word and deed. 

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Is Your Sunday Service Vital?

I love the word vital. It is a word brimming with meaning; indicating something of critical importance or describing something full of life. When you reflect on the character of your weekly worship gatherings, can you describe them as vital?

There is a sense in which most of our efforts have little to do with the level of vitality found in our worship services. God is the primary actor in our worship, revealing himself to us by his Word and graciously inviting us to respond. That said, our preparation and planning for corporate worship can be used by the Spirit to set the table for our people to respond to God’s initiative with enthusiasm, delight and joy.

3 Groups Who Contribute to Faithful Gatherings 

I love the word vital. It is a word brimming with meaning; indicating something of critical importance or describing something full of life. When you reflect on the character of your weekly worship gatherings, can you describe them as vital?

There is a sense in which most of our efforts have little to do with the level of vitality found in our worship services. God is the primary actor in our worship, revealing himself to us by his Word and graciously inviting us to respond. That said, our preparation and planning for corporate worship can be used by the Spirit to set the table for our people to respond to God’s initiative with enthusiasm, delight and joy.

There are three groups of people I would like to briefly consider as significant contributors to the vitality of the weekly worship service. The stewards, the people and the saints of old. 

The Stewards

Whether you are a pastor or a worship leader, if you have a role in the stewardship of the weekly worship service, you have been given a weighty task. Even the most casual preparation for a Christian gathering ought to be a humbling responsibility as you steward time, songs, prayers, readings and other elements of worship for the great joy of glorifying God and building up his people.

Dr. John Witvliet says it well, “As worship leaders, we have the important and terrifying task of placing words of prayer on people’s lips. It happens every time we choose a song and write a prayer. We also have the holy task of being stewards of God’s Word.”

Here are a few practical ways my own church has set out to steward and prepare for worship gatherings:

  • We keep an ongoing list of the songs, calls to worship, creeds, prayers and sermon texts we have used in our services over time. This helps us watch over the “diet” of our congregation and clarifies where we may be deficient. For example, recently we added more songs and readings that touch on the theme of heaven, a theme that we felt needed more attention in our current season. 

  • We regularly review and curate a master list of hymns and songs used in our corporate worship services. Every church has a different capacity and pace, but we are careful about how many songs we use in our regular rotation. We may sing a few songs more often than other churches, but over time it has strengthened our congregational singing and gives our team clarity in choosing the best songs for our people for the long term.

The People

The worship service is not merely a passive consumption event. Every effort should be made to encourage and invite the active participation of the whole congregation in corporate worship. If vitality seems diminished or waning in your worship services, giving time and attention to cultivating a vision for corporate worship that includes individual preparation during the week and active engagement in your services could help revive what may have become stale or routine.

Here are a few practical ways we have tried to encourage active participation of the whole congregation in corporate worship:

  • We encourage our people from the pulpit and in our weekly communications to read the upcoming sermon text throughout the week.

  • We recently started posting a list of the songs and hymns for the upcoming worship service on social media with a link to listen. 

  • After each worship service we post a QR code that links to a list of all the songs, prayers and readings from that morning. 

  • We often sing a song (or part of a song) unaccompanied to encourage singing in parts. This might include giving time in the service to teach harmony parts. This has served our church well, even for modern worship songs.

  • We include several participatory readings throughout the worship service: call to worship, the Lord’s Prayer, confession of sin, a selection from a creed or catechism.

The Saints of Old

For those of us who are not a part of a theological tradition with a fixed liturgy we can easily miss the treasures of gospel truth from saints that have gone before us. We have much to learn from those who have traveled the way of Christ in different generations and seasons than our own. 

This would certainly include singing sturdy hymns from the past, but here are a few other ways we have included voices from Church history:

  • We regularly invite the congregation to read aloud from faithful creeds and confessions. For example, each week one of our pastors will read a few questions from a source like the Heidelberg Catechism and the congregation will respond by reading the answers aloud. Sometimes we modify the text to make it simpler for public reading. 

  • We regularly include written prayers from Christian voices throughout history, often with a brief overview of their life and ministry. There are innumerable resources that offer prayers appropriate for a worship service, but I might suggest starting with Jonathan Gibson’s, Be Thou My Vision.

  • Our church regularly includes carefully curated quotes from pastors, theologians and Christian writers throughout many generations. Our generation is rarely the first to wrestle with some of the great questions of faith. Listening to the voices of those who have wrestled long before us will often lead to sturdier trust in and affection for Christ.

These three groups of people are really one group—those who were once dead and have been brought to life in Christ by the love of the Father and the power of the Holy Spirit. Let us then labor together in the work of responding to his great love towards us with a vitality rooted in the grace that brought us to life. May all our efforts be guided by, shaped by and bound up in the Word of God. Our weekly worship services need not be flashy or extraordinary, but that hour or two on Sunday morning should be the pinnacle of our week—a reorientation towards the life-giving treasure of Christ himself.

 

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Congregational Singing: Complexity vs. Simplicity

In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1, emphasis added).  The act of creation is a stunning thing to ponder. If there was any question as to whether the cosmos is simply a random collection of particles serendipitously forged to form the material (and immaterial) world, the Bible emphatically says, “no”. 

One of the mysterious riches of God’s creative work is the gift of beauty. “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork…,” so says the poet, David (Psalm 19). In other words, the complex beauty of the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, clouds, birds and the like are a delight to our senses. Why? Principally because that beauty is a signpost that points to the glory of the creator God. 

 In the beginning, God created the heavens and the earth (Genesis 1:1, emphasis added).  The act of creation is a stunning thing to ponder. If there was any question as to whether the cosmos is simply a random collection of particles serendipitously forged to form the material (and immaterial) world, the Bible emphatically says, “no”. 

One of the mysterious riches of God’s creative work is the gift of beauty. “The heavens declare the glory of God, the sky above proclaims his handiwork…,” so says the poet, David (Psalm 19). In other words, the complex beauty of the sun, moon, stars, galaxies, clouds, birds and the like are a delight to our senses. Why? Principally because that beauty is a signpost that points to the glory of the creator God. 

But beauty is not only found in the elaborate complexity of the “heavens”. Beauty can be lavish in the simplicity of the sweetness of honey, the deep crimson of an autumnal maple leaf and the unadorned wildflower (Matthew 6:28).

The same can be said about the beauty given to us in music, and for the purposes of this article, music that is used in corporate worship. I remember the sense of awe I experienced the first time I heard the African American spiritual, Give Me Jesus, sung in a church service. It would be a challenge for anyone to discover or write a simpler lyric and melody. Yet, the haunting beauty expressed in the simplicity of this song cannot help but lead to more adoration for Christ and a deeper hunger for His ways. 

Verse 1:
In the morning when I rise,
in the morning when I rise,
in the morning when I rise,
give me Jesus

Refrain:
Give me Jesus, give me Jesus.
You may have all this world, give me Jesus

On the other hand, one of the great hymns of German reformer Martin Luther, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God, is a masterclass in beautifully complex music and poetry. Sung from top to bottom, the hymn artfully leads me to a more sturdy trust in our sovereign God. Each stanza pedagogically builds on top of the other, weaving in themes of God’s providence, the Trinitarian nature of God and his plan of salvation in Christ. The hymn ends with an explosive assurance of hope: “His kingdom is forever!” The elegant complexity of this song cannot help but lead to more adoration for Christ and a deeper hunger for His ways. 

A mighty fortress is our God,

a bulwark never failing;

our helper he, amid the flood

of mortal ills prevailing.

For still our ancient foe

does seek to work us woe;

his craft and power are great,

and armed with cruel hate,

on earth is not his equal.

Did we in our own strength confide,

our striving would be losing,

were not the right Man on our side,

the Man of God's own choosing.

You ask who that may be?

Christ Jesus, it is he;

Lord Sabaoth his name,

from age to age the same;

and he must win the battle.

And though this world, with devils filled,

should threaten to undo us,

we will not fear, for God has willed

his truth to triumph through us.

The prince of darkness grim,

we tremble not for him;

his rage we can endure,

for lo! his doom is sure;

one little word shall fell him.

That Word above all earthly powers

no thanks to them abideth;

the Spirit and the gifts are ours

through him who with us sideth.

Let goods and kindred go,

this mortal life also;

the body they may kill:

God's truth abideth still;

his kingdom is forever!

Words and music: Martin Luther (1529)

English translation: Frederick H. Hedge (1852)

When choosing new (or old) songs for corporate worship, it can be tempting to make choices based largely on how quickly a congregation can learn a particular song. The question, “Is this song congregationally accessible?”, is a helpful and important question to ask. But, the grid for making that assessment shouldn’t hinge on whether or not the song can be learned quickly. Some hymns are worth the hard work (see, A Mighty Fortress Is Our God). I would caution anyone who is given the responsibility of choosing songs to push back on the temptation to dismiss songs of complex music or poetry.

We can also fall into the opposite trap of steering away from songs that might be deemed too simple. Simple does not necessarily mean insubstantial. Some of the great hymns of our faith (Give Me Jesus, I Need Thee Every Hour, Amazing Grace) are quite simple in comparison to others. 

When I’m helping to make these kinds of choices I often need a reminder to look to the Psalter, the hymnbook of the people of God. Psalm 119 is dense and full of poetic intricacy. However, we also are given Psalm 150 as the grand finale to the Psalter, a remarkably simple call to worship.
There is not an effortless grid to follow when we consider the songs we choose for our church to sing this Sunday. Practically, we must take into account the musicianship available to us, the history and traditions of our local congregation and our own tastes and preferences. 

When we sit down to plan the music for our worship services may we be guided first by the word of God by the power of his Spirit through prayer, preparation and wisdom. But, may we also consider the weighty responsibility we have to put words and melody on the lips of our congregation. Words that catechize and form us. Some of the songs we sing will be sung through the ages, at weddings, funerals and deathbeds. Some of them won’t.

Let’s strive to lead our congregations to sing the best songs, hymns and spiritual songs that we can with the resources we are given. Dig deep into the resources of the Psalter, pour yourself into the great hymnals of the Church and do the hard work of listening (and writing) new songs, complex and simple, that will lead us to more adoration of Christ and a deeper hunger for his ways. 


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My Top 12 Books of 2021

The world was graced with an abundance of great books in 2021! Below is a list of 12 that I found particularly helpful or interesting. The list is in no particular order. If you're interested in a rich and steady diet of bible reading, Emily and I have greatly benefited from the M'Cheyne reading plan (link below). I'd love to know what reading you've benefited from this year!

The world was graced with an abundance of great books in 2021! Below is a list of 12 that I found particularly helpful or interesting. The list is in no particular order. If you're interested in a rich and steady diet of bible reading, Emily and I have greatly benefited from the M'Cheyne reading plan (link below). I'd love to know what reading you've benefited from this year!


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