Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11095 The question of whether musical instruments should be used in Christian worship has a long and sometimes surprisingly heated history. For most contemporary evangelicals, the question seems settled beyond discussion: of course instruments are used in worship. But a significant minority tradition, most notably represented by the Churches of Christ and some Reformed…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11027 Few words in the Christian vocabulary are more frequently used and more poorly understood than “worship.” In contemporary church culture, worship has become almost synonymous with singing. A “worship leader” leads the music. The “worship time” is the part of the service before the sermon. But the biblical concept of worship is far…
Reading Time: 4 minutesQuestion 11028 If worship is the response of the whole person to the worth of God, the question of how we worship is not a matter of personal taste but of biblical obedience. God is not indifferent to how He is approached. Scripture contains both positive examples and serious warnings about worship, and the pattern…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11030 Few topics in corporate worship generate quite as much variety of opinion as whether Christians should raise their hands during prayer and praise. Some congregations see lifted hands in every service; others would find the practice deeply uncomfortable. The question is whether Scripture gives us any guidance, and if so, what that guidance…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11031 The word “liturgy” produces strong reactions in evangelical circles. For some, it conjures images of dead formalism, robes, and scripted religion that leaves no room for the Spirit. For others, it represents the accumulated worship wisdom of two thousand years of Christian devotion. The reality, as is often the case, is more nuanced…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11054 The connection between fasting and prayer appears throughout Scripture, and many Christians sense intuitively that combining the two should make prayer more powerful. But does fasting actually increase the effectiveness of prayer? The question requires careful handling, because the answer must honour what Scripture teaches without sliding into a transactional view of God…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11048 The use of written prayers, whether from a prayer book, a liturgical order of service, or a personal journal, has divided Christians for centuries. Some traditions rely on them almost exclusively; others reject them as incompatible with genuine, Spirit-led prayer. The question deserves a more careful answer than either extreme provides. The Biblical…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11051 How long should a prayer be? It is a question that many Christians feel but few ask, partly because it sounds slightly embarrassing to admit uncertainty about something so basic. Yet it matters, because wrong assumptions about prayer length can produce guilt, pretence, and a distorted understanding of what prayer actually is. What…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11046 Every Christian has heard it thousands of times. Prayers end with it, hymns close with it, and congregations say it together as naturally as breathing. But what does “Amen” actually mean, and why do we say it? The Meaning of the Word The word Amen (Hebrew: אָמֵן, ‘amen; Greek: ἀμήν, amēn) derives from…
Reading Time: 3 minutesQuestion 11047 The phrase “in Jesus’ name” at the close of a prayer is so familiar that it can become an unthinking formula, a verbal punctuation mark before “Amen.” But it originates in something Jesus Himself said, and understanding what He meant transforms how we pray. What Jesus Actually Said The instruction comes from Jesus’…