Mission Statement
A. INTRODUCTION
In the mission statement of Westville Christian Fellowship, the first pillar of the church is Worship. It is stated under the heading:
Worshippers and Lovers of God: we aim to be a “multicultural community of believers who worship and love God as a first priority”.
There are three scriptures, which form the basis of our philosophy of worship at Westville Christian Fellowship
John 4:23-24… “But an hour is coming and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and truth; for such people the Father seeks to be His worshippers. God is spirit, and those who worship him must worship in spirit and truth.”
Revelation 5: 9-14 …”And they sang a new song, saying, “Worthy art thou to take the book, and to break its seals; for thou wast slain, and didst purchase for God with Thy blood men from every tribe and tongue and people and nation. And thou hast made them to be a kingdom and priests to our God; and they will reign upon the earth.” And I looked, and I heard the voice of many angels around the throne and the living creatures and the elders; and the number of them was myriads of myriads, and thousands of thousands, saying with a loud voice, “Worthy is the lamb that was slain to receive power and riches and wisdom and might and honour and glory and blessing.” And every created thing which is in heaven and on the earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all things in them, I heard saying, “To Him who sits on the throne, and to the Lamb, be blessing and honour and glory and dominion forever and ever.” And the four living creatures kept saying, “Amen”. And the elders fell down and worshiped.”
1 Corinthians 14:26… ““What is the outcome then, brethren? When you assemble, each one has a psalm, has a teaching, has a revelation, has a tongue, and has an interpretation. Let all things be done for edification.”
B. OUR PHILOSOPHY OF WORSHIP
At Westville Christian Fellowship, we take the above three scriptures as our starting point in defining a philosophy of worship. The following constitutes our standards and values in worship both on a corporate and individual level.
1. According to John 4:23-24, we aspire to worship in spirit and in truth. We are committed to worship according to the leading of the Holy Spirit while at the same time being constantly inspired by revelational truth as God unfolds His ways and plans to us.
- We never want our worship to become stagnant and/or formularized, but wish to have open and willing hearts, excited to walk down roads never ventured on before as per the leading of the Holy Spirit. (Ps 84:5)
- We desire to move forward in an ever-delightful discovery of God according to truth revealed through His prophetic word. We desire to be responsive to His truth, and worship in the light of it.
2. According to Revelations 5:9-14, we are committed to facilitate the worship of God by every tribe, tongue, people and nation in our corporate expression of worship, where, in a spirit of humility, each culture is given dignity in its own right.
- In line with this, we are committed to developing the “ethnos” sound- a rich blend of culturally diverse languages, idioms, musical styles and instrumental sounds that expresses God’s heart for worship in the new millennium.
- One of the driving forces of our vision is to see the nations of the world worshipping God in a rich, non-western dominated style, each person able to express their love for God in their own, yet biblical, way.
3. According to 1 Corinthians 14:26, we strongly ascribe to the biblical principle that corporate worship is a participatory entity. We envisage a rich, multicultural expression of worship both in our services and our cell meetings.
- We aim to develop an atmosphere in which all cultural groups are free to participate and enrich one another in the worship experience.
- We do not confine worship to the singing of songs, but encourage members of the body and the music teams to express their love for God in the way they desire to - whether it be through poetry, prose, prayer, drama, dance, song or reading of a scripture.
- In accordance with this principle, we aim to move away from a “band-orientated” form of worship to a “people-orientated” one, where leadership from all facets of church life (cell leaders, interns, intercessors, etc.) assume greater responsibility in the leading of the worship experience.
- At the same time, however, we are of the conviction that worship teams and leaders should be an example of worship both publicly and privately. They have a responsibility to inspire true worship and set a platform and focus for worship in cell and Sunday meetings.
4. We do not equate the activity of doing worship with being a worshipper, and we strongly desire to be the worshippers the Father seeks (John 4:23).
- Worship is a life experience, and we desire people to embark on a personal, daily discovery of worship in an individual capacity. Unless people are able to recognize and value the presence of God in their lives on a daily basis, our corporate worship experience will never reach its full potential.
- Worship extends beyond the scope of Sunday meetings, for He is worthy to receive glory, honour and praise in all areas of our lives – “whatever you do in word, or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through Him to God the Father” (Colossians 3:17) and “whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1Corinthians 10:31).
C. OUR STRATEGY TO IMPLEMENT THIS PHILOSOPHY
1. Band Practice (Thursday Evenings).
Aims:
- To equip and train musicians and singers in instrumental skills and new musical styles.
- To learn new songs and songs in other languages / from other cultures.
- To develop relationships outside of our instruments and giftings – i.e. friends before function.
- To integrate the sound engineering team into the worship experience.
- To train and equip people as worshippers and worship leaders.
- To be diligent in preparation for the Sunday service.
2. Creative worship Workshops
Aims:
- To assist us in exploring new styles/sounds and to develop confidence in playing these styles. Musicians/singers skilled in different styles and the relevant musical instruments will be invited to such workshops in order to achieve this.
- To set aside time to develop and encourage song-writing skills with a view to seeing original songs from all cultures being written and utilized.
- To meet with worship teams from other churches in order to share ideas and experiences and build relationships.
3. Church Compact Discs / DVD’s
- We are committed to ongoing projects to produce CD’s and DVD’s of original compositions which serve as anthologies of our experiences of worship. In this regard we place our faith in God to provide the much needed resources to make this a reality.
4. Annual Worship Camps
Aims:
- To communicate our vision for worship as God leads us from year to year.
- To inspire worshippers from Westville Christian Fellowship and related churches to participate in the vision and aspire to be the worshippers the Father seeks.
- To build relationships.
5. SWAT Teams:
Sending the prototype worship team to related churches (local and international) in order to:
- Prepare worship teams around the world for Rev 5 and John 4 expressions of worship.
- Build relationships.
