Featuring Pastor Ron Man □ Director of Worship Resources for Greater Europe Mission

1. How would you define Biblical worship?

Biblical worship is our response to the glory of God—all that we are responding to all that He is: recognizing His glory with our minds, cherishing His glory with our hearts, proclaiming His glory with our mouths, and celebrating His glory in all of life.

2. Do you use a specific liturgy or follow a pattern for worship on Sunday? And if so, how do you select songs for worship to fit?

I am not now regularly planning and leading worship (my focus is on teaching now); but when I did I followed a very thematic and blended approach. As a congregation we found thematic worship to be a very rich experience, as we took time to really focus, meditate on and respond to a particular aspect of God’s nature and character; and this approach also allowed to blend a variety of styles of music and sources of readings while maintaining a cohesion based in the Biblical theme itself (rather than in a particular style or type of music).

3. Should the culture of your particular city play a role in the music ministry at the local church? And if so, how?

Sure—there needs to be a careful balance in our worship between unchanging biblical principles (what dare not change about our worship) and cultural sensitivity. We must not make our traditions into biblical doctrines, but neither should we adopt cultural practices without carefully holding them up to the scrutiny of God’s Word.

4. If a young musician felt called to become a lead worshiper for their church, what advice would you give them to help in their preparation and education?

Above all, solid biblical training! And this should include foundational studies in the theology of worship. This will pay rich dividends in the long run. At least 12 evangelical seminaries in the U.S now offer Master’s degree programs in worship studies, and many Christian colleges offer a worship emphasis on the Bachelor’s level as well.

5. How important is personal preparation and worship before coming before God’s people and leading them in song and prayer?

Very! I need to be spiritually as well as musically prepared when I enter into leading worship. At the same time, we need to realize that ultimately God’s blessing on our worship services will always and ever be a gift of His grace, and not a factor of my spiritual stature or worthiness or “prayed-up-ness” Nothing I do in preparation can force God’s hand or make something happen. And that also means that He can move and work even if I go in feeling spiritually dry or out of tune—this is not ideal, of course, but thank God He is not limited by my spiritual state.

6. Worship is often a contentious subject in the church, what key factors from a leadership perspective will help a church find unity and get beyond the worship wars?

The leadership must study biblical worship together, and also study their congregation and culture together. Then in dialogue with the congregation and through much prayer to God, they must work through what worship is going to look like for that particular congregation at that particular time—realizing that worship practices must always be subject to review in light of unchanging biblical principles.

Then it is critical that the pastor and other leaders preach and teach on worship in the church—reminding the people Whom worship is for; and calling them to rise above the rank individualism and self-focus of our society (which often goes unchecked in our churches as well) and to commit themselves to unity and the focus on others which is to characterize the body of Christ and to be ready to make concessions to one another (and to one another’s preferences) for the common good. This kind of exhortation must be an ongoing emphasis because of our tendency to revert back to our inherent selfishness—we must apply to our worship Pauls’ commands to “consider one another more important than yourself” (Phil 2:3) and to “ be devoted to one another in brotherly love; give preference to one another in honor ” (Rom 12:10). I think this kind of teaching and preaching and teaching and living is the greatest need in the worship wars today.

7. You’ve been doing this for a number of years now. If you could go back to the beginning of your ministry, what thing(s) would you do differently?

I never had a worship course in seminary—such options were not even available back then. Now there are lots of opportunities, and I would take advantage of them

8. Favorite book on worship?

Worship, Community and the Triune God of Grace by James Torrance opened up a whole new understanding for me of the role of the living Christ in leading our worship. (The last chapter, by the way, I find to be unfortunate and out of place; but the rest of the book is pure gold!)

8. Favorite Hymn? Why?

“Praise to the Lord, the Almighty.” To me the text speaks powerfully of God’s majestic greatness, and the music conveys that sense of majesty as well. And the text also contains powerful articulations of our response to God as well.

10. Parting thoughts: You are involved in a missions ministry. In what ways can the local church, and specifically, musicians and artists, play an important role in missions in their local context?

In your church’s worship, draw upon some of the riches of other cultures’ musical and other expressions of praise to God. (There are plenty of such materials and resources available today.)

There are opportunities to send worship teams on short-term mission trips to provide help to missionaries in outreach endeavors. Also teams can go and lead worship for conferences for missionaries themselves—the opportunity to worship in their heart language of English is unspeakably precious and meaningful to them.

Support gifted and culturally sensitive musicians and artists into crosscultural missions, joining a church planting team or other established ministry.

Send out an entire church planting team, including a worship leader!

Rev. Ron Man earned a Master of Music degree from the University of Maryland and a Master of Theology degree from Dallas Theological Seminary. He served on the staff of the International Chapel of Vienna, Austria for five years; was Pastor of Worship and music at First Evangelical Church in Memphis, Tennessee for twelve years; and since 2000 has served as Director of Worship Resources for Greater Europe Mission, spending about fifteen weeks a year overseas teaching on the biblical foundations of worship in Bible schools, seminaries and churches. In addition, he produces the monthly worship newsletter Worship Notes, which he provides along with many other resources at the Worship Resources website, Worship Resources. He is also available stateside as a preacher, teacher and consultant on worship.