Music & Worship

Our Purpose

All of life is worship.  Every single day, everywhere we go, we are worshiping.  It is why we were made, and it is who we are.  We are all worshipers.  The question is not- “am I a worshiper,” but rather “who, or what, am I worshiping?” Simply stated, worship is our response to what we value the most.  When we gather together for Sunday morning worship, we are proclaiming corporately that Jesus is worth more.  He is worth more than our possessions, worth more than any earthly relationships, worth more than our prestige or positions in life, worth more than our hopes and dreams.  Worship is about seeing Jesus as being the supreme treasure in all the universe.

Music is one way that we can proclaim the surpassing worth of Jesus Christ, and is a gift from the Lord.  Over and over again in the Psalms, this truth is affirmed.  Psalm 92 says: “It is good to give thanks to the LORD, to sing praises to your name, O Most High; to declare your steadfast love in the morning, and your faithfulness by night, to the music of the lute and the harp, to the melody of the lyre.  For you, O Lord, have made me glad by your work; at the works of your hands I sing for joy.”   Psalm 29 tells us that when we worship, we are ascribing to the Lord the glory due His name.  God is the only one worthy of our worship.  When we gather for corporate worship, we are doing much more than merely making music.  We are joyfully declaring the works of the Lord and ascribing worth, or value, to His name!

Music is also a teaching ministry.  In Deuteronomy 31:19 and following, the Lord teaches Moses one of the first songs recorded in Scripture.  He tells Moses to “teach it to the people” so that when they are tempted to turn away from the Lord, “this song shall confront them as a witness.”  Here we can see that it is actually the Lord’s idea to use music as a vehicle to teach theological truths (for the full song, see Deut. 32:1-43). 

Lastly, worship through the means of corporate singing is a unique form of expression that the Lord has given us to connect our hearts to His.  Oftentimes, it is when we are going through the deepest valleys in life that our worship is the richest.  Indeed, the whole book of Psalms was written as a song book for the people of Israel. You will not only find songs of joy and exultation, but you will also find in the Psalms songs of lament. In fact, this is the largest single category of Psalms.  Can’t you relate to this?  Often times we feel like worship services are a place for perfect people to come and sing happy love songs to Jesus, when in fact the very book of Psalms contains some 67 songs with phrases like “I am in despair” (Ps.69:20), “I am forgotten” (Ps. 31:12), or “I am surrounded on every side” (Ps. 118:11).  Worshiping God through singing is a way for us to express our hearts to God, whether we are on the mountain tops or in the valleys.  The principal here is that when we come into worship, we are not coming to forget about all of our problems or to pretend like they don’t exist.  Rather, we are coming to affirm that God is bigger than our problems, and that regardless of what the last week, month, or year held, the name of the Lord is worthy to be praised. 

Who we are

We are intentionally label-less in our worship here.  We believe that there are songs written in every generation that accomplish the purpose of worship and accomplish them well.  There are also songs from every generation that do not fit our vision, particularly of heralding correct, Christ-centered theology through the music that we sing.  A quick overview of how music has developed over the last several thousand years, accompanied with a proper biblical understanding of what worship really is, will immediately dismiss the notion that God is particularly pleased or displeased with any particular style of music.  On Sunday mornings you are just as likely to hear a hymn written in the 1600’s as you are to hear a brand new song produced in the last year. 

We are thoroughly Biblical in our approach to worship.  Whereas many churches are asking questions like “how can we attract more people to our services,” we are asking the question “how can we become more biblical in our worship.”  This means that the emphasis in worship is taken off ourselves and placed on Christ, and that the music that we sing will largely be based on actual texts from scripture.

We are multi-generational and multi-ethnic in our approach to worship.  This is the biblical model for worship and discipleship and presents a clear picture of what the gospel is intended to produce–a unity that cannot be explained apart from the blazing center of the gospel of Jesus Christ.  When people look at our church, we want them to see a group of people from all ages, races, and walks of life loving and serving each other, even in the music that we are singing.  You will see this nowhere else, and in no other religion except Christianity. Every other group of people comes together based on their own preferences and desires.  Not so with the followers of Jesus Christ.  The most honoring worship to Christ is when we set aside our preferences and desires to serve someone else and sing a song that meets their needs.  In this way, we wear the “towel” of service, and thus identify that much more with the heart of Jesus, who came to serve and not to be served.  This is a beautiful picture of the gospel!

What we do

The Lord has blessed us with some extremely talented people who love to give of their time and energy to serve Him.  We are always trying to expand the worship ministry here, as we feel that it is a primary part of the reason the church exists. There are multiple ways to connect to the community of musicians and artists here, including:

• The Worship Choir
• The Sunday Morning Band and Orchestra
• The Praise Team
• The KidZone Worship Program
• Signing Ministry
• Piano and Guitar Lessons

We are constantly seeking new ways to use and develop musicians and singers, whether they have been playing for years or are just learning.  If you are interested in joining any of the above groups, or are just curious about the worship here, please contact Josh Sutton.

Our Mission

The worship ministry at MPFBC exists to help people see the surpassing worth of knowing Jesus Christ (Phil. 3:7-11), and the glorious truth of the gospel (Rom. 1:16-17, 1 Cor. 9:16), through the particular means of truth-drenched worship music (Jn. 4:23, Ps. 33:3, Titus 2:1), personal discipleship (Mt. 28:18-20), and missional living (1 Cor. 9:20-23), for God’s glory (2 Cor. 4:15, Jn. 17:24, 1 Cor. 10:31) and their joy (Jn. 15:11, Jas. 1:2, 1 Pet. 1:8-9, Jude 1:24-25).