{"id":2485,"date":"2013-01-25T17:30:00","date_gmt":"2013-01-25T22:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?p=2485"},"modified":"2013-01-25T17:30:00","modified_gmt":"2013-01-25T22:30:00","slug":"still","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/","title":{"rendered":"Still"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Today\u2019s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church<\/a>\u00a0in Lenexa, KS.<\/em><\/p>\n

Over the last few months I\u2019ve been part of a \u201ccohort\u201d (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We\u2019ve been discussing what it means to be \u201cmissional,\u201d the sent people of God. The missional church movement, with its roots in the emerging church movement (which was soooo \u201990\u2019s) has been a strong critic of Consumer Christianity; we are not here for ourselves, we have been \u201ccalled out\u201d to be a blessing to the world. It\u2019s all very biblical stuff, it\u2019s a message our churches desperately need to hear, and it\u2019s a message we desperately need to enact because it is a call to return to the roots of our faith.<\/p>\n

In and amongst the large questions of \u201cmissional,\u201d however, we worship pastors can often feel lost. It\u2019s all very senior-pastory stuff, very big-vision, very theological and in some ways, very abstract. But when the rubber meets the road, it also calls into question one of our fundamental reasons for being worship pastors: the worship gathering. It\u2019s why we were hired in the first place: the (usually) Sunday morning gathering has long been a staple of Christian practice in the West – in one form or another – for more than a thousand years. So long, in fact, that many of us tend to forget why we do this; \u201cwe\u2019ve always done it that way\u201d; \u201cwe have to gather, that\u2019s when we worship\u201d; \u201cJesus said to do it that way;\u201d and other such nonsense.<\/p>\n

The gathering tends to take the brunt of the critique because, in many minds, the gathering IS church. A whole generation of pastors preached this; we still often call the buildings in which we gather \u201cchurches,\u201d as if they can be that apart from the group of people who gather there. I still find myself slipping into that talk when I talk about it with my kids; we have no other word for it!<\/p>\n

Now, most of us can agree that worship is first and foremost a way of life; to live oriented towards God is to worship. The two can be equated, I think. Mark Labberton makes a case for this in his book, \u201cDangerous Worship\u201d, to which I hope he makes reference at Midwinter this year<\/a> (and everyone going gave a shoutout). In Romans, Paul makes a good case for this too: \u201cTherefore, brothers and sisters, in view of God\u2019s mercy, offer yourselves as living sacrifices, holy and pleasing to God; this is true worship.\u201d There are good reasons to gather together weekly. Scripture DOES say we shouldn\u2019t forsake gathering together. Jesus spent large amounts of time teaching his disciples apart from the crowds.<\/p>\n

But Jesus also said, \u201cgo.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus also said \u201cmake disciples of ALL nations.\u201d<\/p>\n

Jesus said we were to go to the very ends of the earth.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>And how we emphasize this in our gatherings is important. It’s not an either\/or, but a both\/and: we gather, and we are sent, gather, and send. We worship pastors are discipleship pastors too, but for us, it means discipling a whole congregation all at once through our art, through music, and through the liturgy we write. How we choose to lead can emphasize this rhythm of gather and send. A benediction, literally a \u201cgood word,\u201d is a time for us to remind ourselves of our sent-ness. The good word is that we do not cease to be this gathered people when the doors swing shut on our way to the parking lot, because being sent is a part of offering ourselves. It means that, when Monday comes, we\u2019re still the Church.<\/p>\n

When we\u2019re cut off in traffic, we\u2019re still the Church.<\/p>\n

When our coworkers invite us to the suspicious wing joint next door, we\u2019re still the Church.<\/p>\n

When our kids do that one thing that always makes us angry, we\u2019re still the Church.<\/p>\n

When we know that it\u2019s time to study – but Facebook sits there beckoning – we\u2019re still the Church.<\/p>\n

And how we respond is worship too.<\/p>\n

Report This Post<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Today\u2019s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. Over the last few months I\u2019ve been part of a \u201ccohort\u201d (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We\u2019ve been discussing what it means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":119,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[84,8,40,47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2485","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-culture","category-leadership","category-missional","category-order-of-worship"],"yoast_head":"\nStill - Worship Connect<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Still - Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Today\u2019s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. Over the last few months I\u2019ve been part of a \u201ccohort\u201d (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We\u2019ve been discussing what it means […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Worship Connect\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Chris\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Chris\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Chris\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\"},\"headline\":\"Still\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":721,\"commentCount\":1,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/guillermosgonzalez.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Culture\",\"Leadership\",\"Missional\",\"Order of Worship\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/\",\"name\":\"Still - Worship Connect\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/guillermosgonzalez.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/guillermosgonzalez.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"http:\\\/\\\/guillermosgonzalez.com\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2012\\\/03\\\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/2013\\\/01\\\/still\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Still\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/\",\"name\":\"Worship Connect\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d\",\"name\":\"Chris\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Chris\"},\"description\":\"Chris is an ECC Worship Artist currently serving at First Covenant Church of Omaha, NE. Though he was born and raised in Rochester NY, Chris is a third-culture child, a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. In addition to voice and guitar, he is also plays French Horn and Saxophone. His wife Liz is also a musician, and they have been married since 2004. They have three kids, a daughter named Aurora (Rori), a son named Caedmon (CJ), and a daughter named Brielle (Bria). He graduated with a self-designed B.A. in Music in Christianity from the University of Rochester, studying and writing on the interactions between music and the Christian faith in the postmodern paradigm. He received his M.A. from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008 in Intercultural Studies, an Anthropology and Sociology degree that specializes in Christian Missions. He\u2019s been a missionary in Australia, India, Mexico, and Haiti, and has served as a worship pastor previously in Mitchell SD and Lenexa KS. His passion is to see worship become a missional endeavor, that the Church understand their faith in the broader context of the imitation of God and participation in the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than as an event on Sunday mornings. He hopes one day to do a PhD in Anthropology, studying how our worship practices ought to be understood in relationship to the changing cultural landscape of the Western world. Chris is also a photographer, and enjoys days out with his family and camera. He loves to read, to scuba dive, and to kayak. It\u2019s hard for him to say no to a Hawaiian pizza, and has been known to frequent coffee shops for a caramel latte or an iced Chai.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\\\/\\\/randomthoughtsbychris.blogspot.com\"],\"url\":\"http:\\\/\\\/blogs.covchurch.org\\\/wc\\\/author\\\/chrisl\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Still - Worship Connect","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Still - Worship Connect","og_description":"Today\u2019s post is written by Chris Logan, Pastor of Worship Arts at\u00a0Community Covenant Church\u00a0in Lenexa, KS. Over the last few months I\u2019ve been part of a \u201ccohort\u201d (whatever that means) of other pastors around Kansas City Metro, led by Brad Brisco and Lance Ford of the FORGE:America Mission Network. We\u2019ve been discussing what it means […]","og_url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/","og_site_name":"Worship Connect","article_published_time":"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg","type":"","width":"","height":""}],"author":"Chris","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Chris","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/"},"author":{"name":"Chris","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d"},"headline":"Still","datePublished":"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/"},"wordCount":721,"commentCount":1,"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg","articleSection":["Culture","Leadership","Missional","Order of Worship"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/","name":"Still - Worship Connect","isPartOf":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg","datePublished":"2013-01-25T22:30:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/guillermosgonzalez.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/go-and-make-disciples-laura-ogrodnik.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/2013\/01\/still\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Still"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#website","url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/","name":"Worship Connect","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/#\/schema\/person\/e2a9c0653d22be1c964cd7f0645e111d","name":"Chris","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/5a4b3e4efadbb183a0f0f581f13e3ba4a6ee252291cedf6042820ed3ff05a34a?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Chris"},"description":"Chris is an ECC Worship Artist currently serving at First Covenant Church of Omaha, NE. Though he was born and raised in Rochester NY, Chris is a third-culture child, a dual citizen of the United States and Switzerland. In addition to voice and guitar, he is also plays French Horn and Saxophone. His wife Liz is also a musician, and they have been married since 2004. They have three kids, a daughter named Aurora (Rori), a son named Caedmon (CJ), and a daughter named Brielle (Bria). He graduated with a self-designed B.A. in Music in Christianity from the University of Rochester, studying and writing on the interactions between music and the Christian faith in the postmodern paradigm. He received his M.A. from Asbury Theological Seminary in 2008 in Intercultural Studies, an Anthropology and Sociology degree that specializes in Christian Missions. He\u2019s been a missionary in Australia, India, Mexico, and Haiti, and has served as a worship pastor previously in Mitchell SD and Lenexa KS. His passion is to see worship become a missional endeavor, that the Church understand their faith in the broader context of the imitation of God and participation in the Kingdom of Heaven, rather than as an event on Sunday mornings. He hopes one day to do a PhD in Anthropology, studying how our worship practices ought to be understood in relationship to the changing cultural landscape of the Western world. Chris is also a photographer, and enjoys days out with his family and camera. He loves to read, to scuba dive, and to kayak. It\u2019s hard for him to say no to a Hawaiian pizza, and has been known to frequent coffee shops for a caramel latte or an iced Chai.","sameAs":["http:\/\/randomthoughtsbychris.blogspot.com"],"url":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/author\/chrisl\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/119"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2485"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2489,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2485\/revisions\/2489"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2485"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2485"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/blogs.covchurch.org\/wc\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2485"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}