A moving motto

Two summers ago at the Tahoe Family Encampment, Chris Goldman, minister of the Cordova church in Rancho Cordova, California shared in his class a statement from Mike Armour. Mike is currently serving as interim Senior Minister for the Southlake church in Grapevine, Texas. During an earlier ministry, Mike said his church had adopted the motto:

"We are the church that sings each other's songs."

The modern worship wars over hymns are not a generational matter but a preferential matter. Everyone knows a senior member within the church who loves the songs the youth sing. The converse is also true.

What is sad is when we place our preferences of hymns above two more important matters. First, what about the Lord's preference? Isn't He the audience in worship in the first place? Isn't worship to be for the glory and honor of Him? Shouldn't we seek to offer as a sacrifice of praise what His Word reveals as His preference?

Second, shouldn't we defer to one another, in view of the New Testament's repeated "one another" admonitions? In fact, Romans 12.10 explicity states we should "prefer one another."

"We are the church that sings each other's songs." What a moving motto for churches who seek a blended worship that praises God and gives preference to one another.