I listen to a lot of music and a lot of worship music. Recently, as any reader of this blog will know, I have been listening to a lot of Elevation Music, and also Bethel Music.
In our church we are doing now around 4 of the songs from Elevation’s new album. And more to come. Why is this? Because they are keenly biblical, singable and most of all fresh. What brings this freshness? This is the intangible element I have been thinking about.
I spoke to my worship pastor about this and she said that many churches are now doing Elevation worship songs. This surprised me, I thought this was our little secret! It can be a risk to go away from what you have always done. A bit like moving from hymns to the ‘Brown Book” all those years ago. (Obscure reference, let the reader understand).
Then I had a long and frank conversation with a key leader in a large church and she too was sharing how they are now doing Elevation material. We discussed why this is.
My conclusion is that when God is doing something, He is doing something. And the freshness comes not from listening to what contemporary secular artists are doing. Although actually that is important to. The freshness comes from hearing what God is saying, to the church, right now. And churches are picking up on this. They are listening for the Spirits voice. Hearing and responding to what God is doing, today. Yesterdays message was wonderful, but it was for yesterday. Todays message is what we need to hear.