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DISCUSSION FORUM-4: Theology of Communication
After reading selected chapters in Worship and the Reality of God and carefully observing the
presentations by Dr. Lavon Gray, describe the changing role of communicating, presenting, and
preserving the practice of worship in the evangelical tradition.
Hi everyone,
Davis begins his chapter on God, the Church and the Self by making us aware of how the
sense of God has been trivialized in contemporary worship over the years.1 He referred to
Weber’s point which noted that a kind of speculation has taken place and due to this, the sense of
transcendence and holiness of God seems to be missing. Even though these observations were
made way back in 1985 by Webber, it is still evident in our time today. There are so many
opinions of who God is out there which tells us how vital our Christian worldview is, and why
having a solid theology of worship that is based on scripture, and effectively communicating it
cannot be taken for granted.
It was really sad to hear Dr. Lavon's unravel some statistics which talk about the decline
of the church in the area of baptism, and membership of young ones at the age of twenty-three.
All of this impedes a deeper experience of communion with God hence, the need for a new
mindset of worship. This new mindset behooves hugely on our desire and willingness as worship
leaders to communicate, present, and preserve the practice of worship in the evangelical
tradition. It is indeed true that we become what we worship, and we cannot afford for our
churches to be filled with theologically immature Christians. One strategy we can use as worship
leaders, is by teaching and presenting worship through the preaching of the Word to our
congregation that is trinitarian that is God-centered, Christ-focused, and Holy Spirit empowered.
This can be facilitated through small groups, prayer, daily devotionals, the logos we create, and
1 David, John Jefferson. Worship and the Reality of God: An Evangelical Theology of Real Presence,
(Westmont, IL: InterVarsity Press, 2010), 37, ProQuest eBook Central.
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scripture reading. We also teach these principles through music by making sure that the lyrics of
the music we feed our congregation is filled with the truth of the scripture.
One striking point that Dr. Lavon spoke about is the need to plan worship dialogues and
not worship programs. Worship is meant to be a dialogue between the worshipper and God and
this is another way we can communicate a theology of worship to our congregation. Isaiah 6 is a
great reference that shows how people during their worship had a time of praise, adoration,
revelation, atonement, repentance, and etc. We must learn how to engage our congregation in
worship and pray that God will reveal Himself to them and while He does, we must provide
opportunities for them to respond freely to the revelation that they receive. Our primary goal and
assignment as worship leaders is to effectively communicate and present a solid theology of our
worship and faith to the people that God has called us to serve, and also preserve the practice of
worship in the evangelical tradition.
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