Our Worship Philosophy
- God-centered: Vertical focus is the highest priority of our Sunday morning service. The ultimate aim is to so experience God that he is glorified in our affections.
- Bible-saturated: The content of our songs, prayers, welcoming words, sermons and poetry will always conform to the truth of Scripture. The content of God’s Word will be woven through all we do in worship and will be grounds of all our appeal to authority.
- Corporate and unified: We put a strong emphasis on the gathered body of Christ worshipping together, as opposed to a group of people worshipping as individuals in a crowd. The prevalent instrument should be the voices of God’s people praising him in unison.
- Expectant: We do not just direct ourselves toward God but earnestly seek his nearness according to the promise of James 4:8. We believe that in worship God draws near to us in power and makes himself known and felt for our good and for the salvation of unbelievers in our midst.
- Thoughtful: We appeal to clear biblical truth as the driving force behind our worship. We strive to kindle and carry deep, strong, real emotions toward God without manipulating them.
- Earnest: Avoiding a trite, flippant, superficial or frivolous atmosphere, we set an example of reverence, passion and wonder.
- Excellent without distraction: We will try to sing, play, pray and preach in such a way that people’s attention will not be diverted from the substance of worship by poor quality, excessive “finesse,” elegance or refinement. Natural, undistracting excellence will let the truth and beauty of God shine through.
- Historic and contemporary: Matthew 13:52 reads, “Therefore every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a householder who brings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”
*Much of this Worship Philosophy comes from one outlined by John Piper at http://www.desiringgod.org/resource-library/articles/what-is-the-philosophy-of-worship-that-unites-us.
How do you select songs?
We seek to sing and play songs that are rich in truth and stir believers’ affections toward Jesus. Thus, we believe that the songs we sing should primarily be about God (his attributes, Gospel and glory) or to God (our response to those truths). Stylistically, we love all types of music, but we strive to select songs relevant to the people of CrossPointe. As mentioned above in our Worship Philosophy, we believe that this should be a healthy mix of historic and contemporary music. Additionally, we believe that music is a tremendous blessing and gift from God to his Church (James 1:17). However, the lyrics, not the music, are the most important part of a worship song. The music should serve as a conduit to communicate and complement the truth of the lyrics and should not detract from the truth of God and his Word.
Why doesn’t CrossPointe have “special music” on Sundays?
The overarching theme of our Sunday morning worship service is the unified, corporate worship and adoration of Jesus as a body of believers. The worship team is simply serving as a guidepost to God’s people as we all sing together in worship and adoration. While “special songs” can do much to edify the people of God in certain contexts, they can also subvert our efforts to promote this unity by creating a subtle consumerism. Additionally, despite the best efforts of the performer, “special songs” can put an inordinate focus on one person. With that in mind, we generally play some instrumental music or worshipful chorus while the offering is being collected. Still, someone may occasionally play a song with particular relevance to Sunday’s sermon.
Who do I contact if I’d like to get involved in the Worship or Tech ministry?
- Tech Team (Brandon Barnes)
- Band (Paul Fincher)