Music Philosophy
At Sherwood Baptist Church, music plays an integral and important part of the ministry. We strive for a balance, using it in most of the services and other activites, but realizing it is only a “part” of our worship of God. While we can worship and praise God with music, we understand that we are not limited in our worship to music or singing alone. True worship of God involves all areas of our life as we live in obedience to the revealed will of God as found in His Word.
When we do express our worship and praise with music, it is our goal to use music that reflects the character and nature of God in his holiness and righteous. This should be done “in spirit and in truth” with an attitude of humility and graditude. Though done with the best of our abilities, it isn’t done to entertain, but with reverance, to exalt the gracious and merciful Lord we adore.
We find the basis for the purpose of the music ministry of the New Testament church in Col. 3:16.
“Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord.”
Yes, when we worship and praise God through our music ministry, the focus is on teaching and admonishing (to caution or warn) one another. We encourage families to continue this at home, as this spiritual activity (Ephesians 5:18,19; 1 Cor. 14:15) is not limited only to the church services.
Minister of Music – Mark G. Fulton
The following quotations and links help express our beliefs in the areas of music and worship.
“Worship is the submission of all our nature to God. It is the quickening of conscience by His holiness; the nourishment of mind with His truth; the purifying of imagination by His Beauty; the opening of the heart to His love; the surrender of will to His purpose — and all of this gathered up in adoration, the most selfless emotion of which our nature is capable and therefore the chief remedy for that self-centeredness which is our original sin and the source of all actual sin.”
William Temple (1881-1944) “Readings in St. John’s Gospel”
“The light of nature shews that there is a God, who hath lordship and sovereignty over all; is just, good and doth good unto all; and is therefore to be feared, loved, praised, called upon, trusted in, and served, with all the heart and all the soul, and with all the might. But the acceptable way of worshipping the true God, is instituted by himself, and so limited by his own revealed will, that he may not be worshipped according to the imagination and devices of men, nor the suggestions of Satan, under any visible representations, or any other way not prescribed in the Holy Scriptures.”
London Baptist Confession – 1689 (Chapter 22, Article 1)