Worshiping God
At Crossway, we are convinced that God alone is worthy of all praise, and we find joy in worshiping Him. Worship includes all aspects of our lives, and it also includes the time when we gather together to give specific attention to Him.
In our worship gatherings, we come together as one people, and we praise God and listen to God together. This includes singing and reading Scripture and praying and listening to the message of God’s Word through a sermon. Many different people are involved in various aspects of our time together as we seek to worship in a way that is for, of, and by all our people.
Why do we sing in multiple languages?
It is challenging and stretching for all of us. Here are some reasons why we chose to do it:
– We want “healthy discomfort” as our norm. We sing in different languages from time to time, which means no one person is able to sing comfortably with all of those languages. It takes learning and practicing to do so. By doing so, we can learn what it is like to adjust our own “comfort” for the sake of other people’s comfort. Also we strive to be able to honor others more than keeping “Me and My culture” as the center.
– We learn from many different people and realize that our God is more than just “our” God. We believe our worship experiences can be richer by including different music styles and different languages as an expression of diverse cultures. When we sing in different languages, it gives us realization that our God is the God of all nations and peoples.
– We want to be welcoming and inclusive. Imagine if you are in a foreign land and learning a new language – everyday feeling insecure and inferior among foreign people who are fluent in the language you are trying to learn. Yet Sunday morning you come to the church and the whole congregation is trying to learn a song that came from your culture and to sing in your language! What do you think that would make you feel? While there are many ways to be welcoming and inclusive, the worship team thinks that this is one of our ways we can show welcome and include diverse people in our church.
With these reasons in mind, we put some limits when we choose which languages/songs to use in the service: – We use the languages that at least one person in our congregation speaks as a heart language. The exception is that sometimes we keep singing the songs, even when speakers of that language have moved away, since the songs have become important parts of our worship together.
– We will do our best to honor the language and culture where the song was written. Even if song is written in English or in someone’s heart language, if the music style of the song is unique to the culture where it was written and if it is beyond the worship team’s ability to reproduce while honoring the culture, we will not use the song unless someone from the culture can join/help.
– The worship team members commit to put utmost effort to learn the language (especially those who serve as a vocal) and music style so that we can honor the language and its speakers.
Would you like to serve with the team?
You can learn more about the roles on the worship team and related expectations in “About Leadership Roles in Worship at CMC“.
Would you like to serve with us? Please complete this request to participate form. (You can complete it electronically and email it, or in print.) You are also invited to reach out to Pastor John at johnbell@crosswaymchurch.org.
Worship music video
We love to introduce new songs in different languages regularly. Because of this, we like to post music videos of those songs on this “Worship music videos” page so you can reference them at any time. If you believe we are missing some or are curious about anything, please reach out to Wendy at admin@crosswaymchurch.org.