Christian Jihad

In recent years we have learned all-too painfully that Jihad means “Holy War.”  As Muslims flew airplanes into the Twin Towers we saw just how committed a person can be to a belief system as they took their lives and that of thousands.  In their mind such action was not a sin, but an act of obedience to God.  I still shake my head in both indignation and sadness over such evil committed in the name of God.  

Then, a few years ago, Trevecca Nazarene University President Dan Boone challenged me in his book, “Charitable Discourse.”  He challenged me by leading me to ask if there is any way that I as a Christian participate in Jihad.  At first, I pushed back and thought, “Of course not!  I don’t strap bombs on my chest, walk into a café and blow it up for God’s sake.”  But, then Boone, in his incredibly gentle and logical way, helped me to see that while I may not blow people up in God’s name literally, I might as well do it because of the less bloody, but just as damaging “Holy Wars” in which I have been tempted to or have actually participated. 

Perhaps the most well-known Christian Jihad in the last few decades has been what the American church has labeled, “Worship Wars.”  God forgive us for even putting those two words in the same sentence, but nonetheless the battle goes on…Hymns versus choruses.  Guitars verses organs.  Hymnals versus projectors and screens.  Choir verses praise teams.  Gaither verses Tomlin. And on and on the list of worship war battles go.

In the name of God we attack, hurt and even sever relationship with one another because that is not  how “I like worship.”  O, we don’t say that…we say, “We have to be respectful of the older generation” or we say, “We can’t ignore being relevant to the younger generation.”  Or we make it really spiritual and say certain instruments are somehow less holy than other ones.  Or we pretend to be concerned that if we don’t pass on the music we had growing up in the church then the next generation will miss something good (as though the next generation not learning the same songs will make them somehow less spiritual).  Or we pretend that the New Testament Church was our model for worship when in reality it was the church of the ‘80’s, 70’s or 60’s or may be some earlier decade.  Or we act like somehow “being cool” in our worship is honoring God because we want unbelievers to think he is “cool.”  But let’s face it, at the end of the day, no matter how spiritual sounding we try to make it the ugly truth is that the reason we war over worship is because we each want what we want.  The reason worship has become a fighting word is because we started using two or three simple and seemingly innocent words, whether we say them out loud or not, “I like…” or “I don’t like…”

And so here we sit CFNAZ overlooking this bloody battlefield.  With Pastor Tim approaching his final two weeks of worship ministry with us, we will directly confront this question of our hearts as individuals and as a church family:  Will we use this time of interim to fight for worship to be the way I like it or will we lay down our weapons and plead, “Father, give us a heart of worship that is not dictated by our preferences, but driven by a heart for you and to worship in spirit and truth in such a way that our corporate worship is a powerful witness to non-believers of who God is and what he has done in our lives and for our world?” 

I believe that your heart for God is bigger than your personal preferences.  I believe that your desire to win the community and world for Christ is greater than your own need to have worship exactly as you want it for 30 minutes on Sunday.  I believe rather than making this transition time a time to declare Jihad, we will use this time to make worship not about us, but about HIM.  I believe that, though we rather not lose Pastor Tim, we will seize this transition as an opportunity to keep growing in heart of and moving forward in the practice of worship through music. 

So, CFNAZ family, what do you say?  Will we declare war on one another in the name of God or will we lock arms, look up and lift up the name of the King of kings and Lord of Lords, the Alpha and Omega, the Prince of Peace, the Bright and Morning Star, the Everlasting, Savior and Sustainer, Jesus Christ?

I would very much value your feedback on this.  I am saying that I need to hear your response to this be it via Facebook, email (Chad@cfnaz.com ) or phone (330-492-5698).  Also, below I have included the questions and decisions the church board voted to raise and let guide us through the interim process and search process.

June 10, 2014 CFNAZ Board Meeting Considerations for the Future Worship Ministry:

•First, we acknowledge the talent of Pastor Tim Pitzer and express our appreciation for his service. We continue to pray for JoAnn’s healing and for their transition to Kansas.

•Second, due to Pastor Chad’s understanding of hurtful situations being created by using people within our church family to lead worship in the past, he asked and it was agreed that we only consider both for the interim and the permanent, part-time paid position bringing someone in who does not presently attend CFNAZ. 

•The following two questions were discussed at length:

1)       Could it be said that in our attempt to please all we have pleased few, if any?  Do we have a band or an orchestra?  Presently, it would seem we have both.  Would it not make more sense to choose one?  In light of our present culture, and in our attempt to let our worship be a witness to non-believers, we would recommend we move to a band that would incorporate the same instruments that we now have in a different way.

2)       Could it be said that our choir and our band/orchestra function as two separate entities on the same stage and worship setting?  Is it not in fact treated as such since the band and choir do not practice together?  Is that point not further made by the fact that when Tim is absent he have one person lead worship and one person lead the choir? Furthermore, our band does not play the music for our choir specials and so doesn’t that further create the dichotomy? What could happen if our choir and worship musicians were treated as one entity; all working together to lead people into the presence of God through praise and worship? We voted to move in this direction to see what good God could bring.

• We voted to extend a call to hire, for 10 hours a week, an interim worship leader who will be asked to begin leading our musicians to play as a worship band while more intentionally and specifically making our worship band and choir one team.  This person would also lead any and all choir specials.

• We committed the next month to prayer concerning the matter with the intent, unless otherwise led by the Spirit, to begin the formal search process after the July board meeting.

•We recommend that if the above are approved we provide a copy of the considerations and recommendations to the church membership.

The above was discussed at length and approved with a unanimous vote.