Worship Leaders, Music, and Theology

You may remember that old game from Sesame Street. Three pictures are put up on the screen and then the little song asks, "which of these does not belong?" Perhaps that's how many feel when they see a title such as mine. Worship Leaders and music go together. But worship leaders, music, and theology?

Bob Kaufflin on Jan. 10th, 11th, and 12th wrote about "Musicians and Reading Good Books" on his blog Worship Matters. These are blogs well worth reading. As a former worship leader I can say that it was truly not until I took the time to study who God is, which is what theology does, that I felt more prepared to lead my church in worship. Far too many worship leaders sing and think about a sort of generic God in their worship. But by studying theology and reading diligently through the Word we come to see that the God of the Bible is a specific God. Far too many Christian songs could be sung by Jews, Muslims, or deists- the Christian, however, should be enough aware of who the God of the Bible is to sing directly about Him!

Read Kaufflin's blog, and musicians...study theology! There's some good recommendations over at the Spurgeon School on where to begin, I encourage you to check those out. Theology is not for academics and theologians. Theology is the study of God and thus every Christian has a theology, the question now is whether or not it is good theology!