Whenever there are instruments involved in anything, there are decisions about volume. That is certainly true when it comes to corporate worship in the church. On this subject, Mike Cosper has written a helpful article over at the TGC Blog, “How to Make an Appropriately Loud, Joyful Noise.”

Cosper shares a number of helpful insights and even specific suggestions for church musicians and audio techs, but here are some of the more helpful parts for the rest of us:

It was nearly time to begin the service. The congregation was gathering in the building, some clustering in the aisles and halls, others dutifully making their way to the space inside the large auditorium. At five minutes ’til, the musicians took their places, running through an instrumental version of one of the tunes we’d all be singing later in the meeting, and I winced in pain. A sinking feeling ran from head to toe: this was going to be a LOUD service.

As a musician who spends a lot of time recording, I’m nervous around loud sounds. I cover my ears when sirens pass. I rarely sit in the front rows of concerts. I don’t like playing with loud drummers. So as the volume swelled, I reached for my trusty iPhone, opening up the Sound-Pressure-Level meter app. The peaks were around 110 or 112 decibels, which is loud—near the damage threshold, in fact. I put the phone away, determined to do my best in participating without wincing, praying that they would turn it down.

The irony of this story is that the music was as traditional as it gets. The only instrument playing as I took SPL readings was a pipe organ.

…Many assume only contemporary music is loud. This is simply untrue. While a rock ensemble is capable of painfully loud volumes (and it’s often easy to get to these levels), so is traditional or classical instrumentation.

…Music that’s described as “too loud” is often more of an issue with harshness than volume. Imagine the sound of your worship band as though they’re running through your car stereo. Turn the bass down. Turn the treble all the way up. Now listen at a normal volume level for four or five minutes. It’s will make you feel like your ears are going to bleed. In reality, it’s probably not dangerously loud. It’s just dangerously bad. Music regarded as loud, especially in the church where musicians and techs work desperately to tame volume levels, is often simply harsh, imbalanced sound.

The goal of music in the gathering isn’t great sound or even great music. It’s a church gathered and united in song.

Good pastoral decisions related to sound will include wise decisions about songs and dynamics, ensuring that services create space for the congregation to hear themselves, to hear one another, and to join their voices in song.

Mike Cosper writes regularly on the gospel and arts at The Gospel Coalition Blog. Click here for more of his articles.

We know that the preacher and service leaders have a job to do on Sunday morning. That’s obvious enough.

But what about the congregation?

Colossians 3:16 tells us, for example, that we are all involved in singing: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God.” That we are all involved in singing shouldn’t come as much surprise. But this principle of participation applies to our hearing of the Word as well, as James 1:22 says, “Be doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves.”

In short, when we come together around the Word, we should come easily edified. We should hear in order to apprehend, absorb, and appropriate the God’s Word. Sermon listening is not a passive activity.

That’s the point made by Jay Thomas in his helpful post, “Easily Edified.” Below is the intruduction to his post, followed by five points he goes on to make. Go here to read the whole post, including an expansion on each of the five points below.

I recently ran across a statement that has stuck with me. It is this: spiritually mature people are easily edified. . . .What does that mean? There are some people who are almost always blessed by sermons. They do not need to be coaxed into a sermon. The introduction, supporting material, and conclusion are not that important to them. The mannerisms, inflections, and voice command of the preacher are not the make it or break it parts of a sermon for them. They listen closely, but to the right stuff, not the side comments or statement a preacher makes that often trip up and cause many listeners to over analyze or get distracted. The irony is these people often have a great deal of Bible knowledge. They should be the pickiest listeners, but they aren’t. Why?

The easily edified person has a built in hunger, curiosity, and receptivity to the Word of God. By the time the preacher takes the pulpit, they are ready, Bible open, heart unfurled, happy to take in the Word of God – even when it rebukes.

1. Don’t expect the preacher to be the totality of your spiritual interaction every week.
2. Pray for God to give you a love for the Bible.
3. Put to death a critical spirit.
4. Focus on the content and faithfulness.
5. Keep short accounts with the preacher if there is a relational issue that is getting in the way.

For a helpful resource on the subject of good sermon listening, check out, Expository Listening: A Practical Handbook for Hearing and Doing God’s Word, available at the Resource Center.

Thom Rainer is CEO of LifeWay Christian Resources and a reliable commentator on trends within evangelicalism.

Last week, Thom published a two-part article, “Trends in Healthy Churches in 2012” (Part 1, Part 2). Here, Rainer is not setting out what he thinks should be trends in healthy churches, or trends he looks for in order to identify a healthy church. This list is his informed opinion based, in part, on research conducted within the United States among churches that are firmly committed to the gospel.

Here are Rainer’s 12 “Trends in Healthy Chuches“:

1. The churches have a high view of Scripture.
2. A large number of church members read the Bible daily.
3. The churches have a priority and focus on the nations.
4. The churches have a missional community presence.
5. The congregations have membership that matters.
6. The members are evangelistically intentional.
7. These healthy churches have pastors who love the members.
8. The churches allow their pastors to spend time in sermon preparation.
9. There is clarity of the process of disciple making.
10. These churches do less better.
11. The process of discipleship moves members into ongoing small groups.
12. Corporate prayer is intentional and prioritized.

Stated this way without explanation, this list is only so helpful. Check out Part 1 and Part 2 of Rainer’s article his expansion and and explanation of each point.

The take away is simple: to praise God that these trends are taking place within the church, and to pursue more fervently these priorities here at DSC.

Several years ago, DSC cast a vision to be a church that plants churches. Some of us are sending, and some of us going, but we’re all excited about DSC’s first church plant, Redemption Church, Rio Rancho.

Today, Redemption’s lead planter, Carlos Griego, published an update on progress toward a new launch date of February 19. Read Carlos’ update here, and take note of Redemption’s specific needs for prayer:

How can you pray for Redemption?

Pray that our leaders and those going to Redemption will continually fix our eyes on Jesus and follow Him. That we would not worry or grow anxious in this, but trust him fully and completely.

Pray that our permits will go smoothly and quickly through the city of Rio Rancho. The only thing that would delay this launch more would be if the city would require more work to be done something we won’t know until we start on the renovations.

Pray that people even in this delay would meet Jesus and be transformed. We are praying for 4 baptisms on our 1st Sunday! We are excited about a new location, not because we want a comfortable space, but because we are excited about the opportunities for more people to meet Jesus, that’s why we exist.

For more information about DSC’s church planting strategy or how to set up your online giving, visit DSC’s Church Planting pages.

Christopher Hitchens, a prominent and widely influential atheist, died yesterday. If you aren’t familiar with Hitchens from his book, God is Not Great: How Religion Poisons Everything, then you may know him from TV interviews or articles in any number of magazines.

On the occasion of his death, a few articles are worth reading. Justin Taylor has a helpful reflection at his blog, and Douglas Wilson was asked to reflect on his death for Christianity Today.

Doug Wilson, by the way, was Hitchens’ debate partner in a multi-article debate hosted by Christianity Today in 2007 (Part 1, Part 2, Part 3, Part 4, Part 5, Part 6). That debate was eventually turned into the documentary video, Collision: Is Christianity Good for the World?:

[RSS and email readers, click here to view this video]

We can genuinely hope that Hitchens died in Christ, since we know he heard the gospel many times. That is never impossible if someone has heard, but that is unlikely. Doug Wilson reflects a bit on this in his article. To the question of deathbed conversion, Thomas Gurhrie, a 19th century Scottish preacher has a timely word: “It cannot be too often, or too loudly, or too solemnly repeated, that the Bible, which ranges over a period of four thousand years, records but one instance of a death-bed conversion—one that none may despair, and but one that none may presume.” (chapter 1 of Early Piety).

Christopher Hitchens was deeply impassioned about the non-existence of God. It really does seem, though, like he really was debating against something, or Someone, instead of nothing. And we believe that he was. How much more should those of us who know the True and Living God be known for our loving, impassioned, and authoritative persuasion with the gospel.

HT: JT