What is worship?
Worship is our response to who God is, and what he has done! Because of the Gospel of Christ, we are free to worship God in all aspects of our lives, not just in song. Worship is a daily action and isn’t a once every Sunday practice where we leave out God the rest of our week. We can worship whenever, wherever, because of the Gospel.
At Anchor, singing is a large part of our corporate worship as a church. Scripture calls us to regularly gather to worship collectively. Our worship not only sings praises to God, but also proclaims the Gospel to those around us. Since all parts of the Sunday service teach the word of God, the songs we sing must be biblical and cover the entirety of the Gospel message: creation, rebellion, redemption, restoration.
Anchor Music Goals
- Honor and glorify God through musical worship
- Proclaim truth in our music according to sound doctrine
- Represent the entire Gospel in the music set
- Incorporate prayer & scripture into musical worship
- Cultivate an authentic response of worship for our congregation
- Build upon the historical model of church worship, just as we do in all parts of our liturgy
- Engage the non-churched as well as the churched in musical worship
- Promote creativity between all worship teams
Song Catalog and Song Selection
We want song selection to be a high priority at Anchor. All songs should be grounded in scripture. They should not only be theologically robust, but clear in their content. We want to avoid songs that are ambiguous or weak.
We aim for our entire collection of songs to reflect the full Gospel message. We also strive to cover the entire range of Joy and difficulty in the Christian life. The collection of songs should evolve over time, bringing in new worship music as older music is phased out.
We desire for all songs to have a high singability. Songs chosen for service should have a balanced selection of comfortable ranges for both men & women in the congregation. While creativity is promoted, song arrangements should be recognizable and follow the traditional vocal melodies of the original song for both verses and chorus.
If you are interested in listening to some of the music we play during Sunday worship, please check out our Worship Playlist on Spotify. This playlist will evolve overtime along side our collection of songs.
Worship Director
Primarily, the worship director must be a mature Christian with evidence of Christian growth in their life. Complimentary to that, they must be a member of Anchor Church, and agree with Anchor’s confession of faith and the Acts 29 distinctives.
As a leadership role, the director is responsible for raising up new musicians and band leaders to serve in the music ministry at Anchor. The director is expected to pray for the ministry and its leaders, as well as meet with them to encourage, share vision, and address concerns.
Beyond the leadership responsibilities, the worship director will also be in charge of managing the song catalog for Anchor’s worship. They will help ensure that song lyrics are accurate, and meet the criteria of the song selection process. They will also seek to rotate in new music over time, and if desired, manage the process of writing new worship songs for the church.
Worship Members
All musicians who wish to participate in the worship ministry must have accountability and growth outside of the ministry. They must be regular attenders of Anchor Church, though Anchor does not require them to be members. Musicians must be teachable and willing to be trained. This involves a willingness to engage in fellowship with other volunteers in the ministry.
Worship members are expected to be well prepared for the weekend service. Our goal is to prepare well musically so that we can focus our mental energy on modeling an authentic response of worship to the church. Worship members are encouraged to authentically perform, but our performance should never compromise the Gospel focus. Instead, it should reflect a posture of worship before God and humble shepherding of the church.
Biblical References
- 1 Corinthians 12:7-11
- 1 Corinthians 15:1-5
- 1 John 3:20
- 1 Peter 2:9
- 1 Thessalonians 5:9-10, 23-24
- 1 Timothy 4:12
- 2 Corinthians 2:7
- Colossians 3:23-24
- Ephesians 5:18-20
- John 4:23-24
- John 15:26-27
- John 17:17
- John 21:15-17
- Mark 1:15
- Matthew 22:37-40
- Philippians 4:13
- Proverbs 3:9
- Proverbs 27:23
- Psalm 23
- Psalm 32
- Psalm 33:13-14
- Psalm 46
- Psalm 115:3
- Psalm 145:18
- Psalm 147
- Revelation 21:1-3
- Romans 8:15-17
- Romans 12:1-2
- Romans 12:6-8
- Titus 2:1
- Titus 2:7-8