Celebrate the worship team!

An experience to share: the birthday party of the worship team of ICF-Noord in Rotterdam…

It may sound crazy, but I had never experienced it before. Typical Dutch down-to-earthness perhaps… If anyone believes in the importance of worship in church, it is me. But it had never occurred to me to celebrate the birthday of a worship team. While celebrating someone’s birthday we honor the value of someone’s life and pay attention to someone we consider important. All good reasons to celebrate the birthday of a worship team. Suddenly it is very clear.

In ICF-Noord in Rotterdam I attended the second anniversary of the worship team on January 25. It was a special evening in which ICP allowed me to inspire the team and in which the ICF-Noord team taught me something new and encouraged me. So WIN-WIN.

Why worship?

We talked about what it takes to experience unity and unconditional acceptance in a diverse group of people. In worship you will find the place where you can learn to see yourself with the eyes of God. There is no room for awkward self-consciousness, which often leads to shame and insecurity. Self-awareness creates distance instead of connection. It is the core problem that arose in the garden of Eden. There man became aware of himself, his own nakedness. The result was that man hid from God, but also from others and perhaps even from himself. When we look at ourselves, we all find reasons to keep our distance…

Worship is the place where God offers you safety in His presence and where you are fully focused on Him. Where shame will not color your face and where uncertainty has no right to speak. When you look at your environment from that place, your view is determined by God’s love and unconditional acceptance. Then you are so connected to God that you are better able to connect with others. No matter how different the others are.

Why celebrate?

Found on the internet: “Birthdays are important because they give the birthday person a day to feel special and notice how much the people around them love them.”
Yes, the worship team should feel special and should certainly notice that the congregation loves them and is grateful for their service.

And do you know this statement? “What you pay attention to grows.” Yes, the team in ICF-Noord is also a testimony to this. Take care of these people, give them space to develop. Celebrate with them exuberantly that they are special and that they have grown. Sometimes the best way to celebrate is with a feast and a real birthday cake!

Why should you surround worship and the worship team at your church with attention and care?

Here you can read what a local worship leader and the pastor experience.

Carlos (worshipleader ICF-North Rotterdam):
Well, the team evening on the 25th was a reflection of the commitment of the leadership of the worship team and the church to nurture unity amongst us, especially because we are a very diverse church. It is also a way to show the importance of the worship team in everything we do. That’s why I think it’s important for church leaders to consider worship as a core element in everything that is done in the church. Because through worship we are able to serve the lives of other people, reinforce what is taught in the Bible, and create an environment for prayer and the moving of the Holy Spirit. In addition, worship is a great way to nurture fellowship and to represent each other’s culture.

Fred Kappinga (Pastor ICF-North Rotterdam):
Our worship team celebrated its two-year anniversary. ICP has coached our team from the start and now Anne-Marie came to inspire us again. She always knows how to strike the right tone for us, through her rich practical experience and her noticeable love for the heart of worship.

View the message on the ICF-Noord website here . The ICF worship team turns 2!

Are you also interested in attention, support or training for your worship team or for the congregation or for leadership, and are you looking for tailor-made advice? Then you can contact ICP by email: office@icpnetwork.nl

Here you will find more information about ICP-worship and what we can do for you:

More info on worship training

ICP Worship Vision Morning – April 15 in Veenendaal

“Missions Exist Because Worship Doesn’t Exist”…

A strong statement by John Piper in his book “Let the nations be glad!” He describes why worship is so important, especially when we are engaged in missionary community building. For as important as we consider our mission, they are a means to an end: “Let the nations praise you, O God; let all nations praise you! Let the nations rejoice and sing for joy!” (Ps 67:3-4).

We would like to invite you to our Worship Vision Morning on April 15 in Veenendaal. View the invitation here:

Quote from John Piper’s book:

“Missions is not the ultimate goal of the Church. Worship is. Missions exists because worship doesn’t. Worship is ultimate, not missions, because God is ultimate, not man. When this age is over, and the countless millions of the redeemed fall on their faces before the throne of God, missions will be no more. It is a temporary necessity. But worship abides forever.

Worship, therefore, is the fuel and goal of missions. It’s the goal of missions because in missions we simply aim to bring the nations into the white hot enjoyment of God’s glory. The goal of missions is the gladness of the peoples in the greatness of God.”

Worship is the purpose of our missions, but it’s also the fuel, Piper says.

“But worship is also the fuel of missions. Passion for God in worship precedes the offer of God in preaching. You can’t commend what you don’t cherish. Missionaries will never call out, “Let the nations be glad!” who cannot say from the heart, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will sing praise to thy name, O Most High” (Ps 104:34, 9:2). Missions begins and ends in worship.”

Let’s put it loosely: Missionaries (or evangelists, or church builders, or followers of Jesus) will never cry, “Let the nations be glad!” if they themselves cannot say from their hearts, “I rejoice in the Lord…I will be glad and exult in thee, I will praise thy name, O Most High.”

If you don’t know the real meaning of worship, if you don’t walk the path of worship to God’s throne yourself, if you have no idea what it’s like to be in God’s presence in worship…or if you just kind of forgot how in worship your heart is first served by God Himself… then how can we lead the nations in that, bring the people to that place, into God’s presence, in His glory…?

Watch this short video and get inspired…

Piper concludes, “Missions begin and end in worship.”

At ICP we have a dream: all nations before the throne of God, in worship, focused on the Lamb. All nations, tribes, languages, colors, backgrounds… One heart, one voice, one Body.

On Saturday 15 April we are organizing a Vision Morning in Veenendaal. A morning for worship leaders, musicians, technicians, pastors, leaders; worship teams who want to delve together into worship in today’s intercultural church.

Register quickly via this link…

I sign up for the ICP Worship Vision morning