“I say YES...” to our Kerith Worship Team
If you call Kerith your home and you aren’t already serving - would you join us on the journey? Over the summer we have been spotlighting different ministry teams so you can be praying which one to join. Of course even if you’re in a team already, please do take a read of these blogs, as it’s so encouraging to hear what God is doing. You’ll also hear the vision our ministry leaders have to help people find their way back to God through communities growing in their love for God and love for people (for those newer to Kerith - that’s our vision statement as a church!) Read on to learn from Josh Boyle, one of our Farnborough worship leads, about what it means to be part of our worship team community.
One thing I ask from the Lord, this only do I seek: that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to gaze on the beauty of the Lord and to seek him in his temple.
Psalm 27:4
We have been given a special, personal invitation from God to Gaze on the beauty of the Lord. On a Sunday when we gather, we have an opportunity to spend time in His presence together as One. We don’t need to seek Him in the temple in the same way as the psalmist wrote, because thanks to the Holy Spirit dwelling in us, we carry His presence with us - but when do gather, our goal as a worship team is to make it as easy as possible for every person - young, old, new to faith or a weathered believer, to deeply encounter the presence of God.
Every week we get to enjoy a time together lifting high the name of Jesus and to come before Him with all that we are carrying. There’s an invitation to come with our joy, our anxiety, our grief, our thanksgiving, our pain, our questions - and to cast it all at the feet of Jesus. Our times of sung worship on Sundays is a time to bring God our thanksgiving and our praise, but it also isn’t a time to ignore our feelings, it’s instead a chance to fix our eyes on Jesus and see what he may have for us.
We believe that being a part of the worship team isn’t just about musical talent (although this is important to help create distraction free spaces for people to encounter God!), but it’s as much about a heart posture positioned to loving God, wanting to be more like Him and a desire to help others encounter the fulness of God’s presence.
Together as a worship team we also get the chance to share life together and spend time in community. We come together weekly on a Thursday to rehearse before the Sunday but also as a chance to connect with each other and a chance to pray into each others lives wherever we may need prayer. As a team we’ve experienced some really special times of worship on a Thursday when we choose to focus on God and all He has for us, rather than our plans and the things we have on our agenda to rehearse and prepare.
So, if you have a hidden musical talent, a desire to go deeper into God’s presence and a heart for helping others seek the Lord, well maybe the worship team is the place for you! All our teams have their own ‘onboarding’ processes, but the first thing to do is to speak to either Josh or Yinka on a Sunday if you’d like to know more. (If you don’t know who they are - ask someone in the band and they will point you in the right direction!)
Let the message of Christ dwell among you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom through psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit, singing to God with gratitude in your hearts. 17 And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.
Colossians 3:16-17