Worship policy documents?

[WithinThePale]

Does anyone know of any example worship policies for churches? I'm thinking of documents which detail the place of Elder/Deacon/Member/Non-member in 'speaking parts' in worship services, how the worship team is to be managed, and the bounds of what is permitted in a worship service. I'm aware of the church orders and directories for worship of the Regulative Principle churches, but haven't seen any for non-RPs, Baptists in particular, and I'm very surprised that I haven't, as scripture does state that there are limits to how God may be worshiped and I would expect that at least some churches would think to make that unambiguous.

 

[1689owen]

You don't mean liturgical directions as in Reformation Worship (Gibson&Earngey), do you?
Maybe The Pastor's Book (Hughes) gives some regulations on things you are interested in. I haven't looked into it recently.
Also, as far as I know, what you are looking for is not condensed in singular works/books, but mostly spread through several articles. I know of one German church, which composed a church leader guide, containing regulations of the kind that you are asking for (if I understand correctly), but it's not published.

 

[sgemmen9]

Does anyone know of any example worship policies for churches? I'm thinking of documents which detail the place of Elder/Deacon/Member/Non-member in 'speaking parts' in worship services, how the worship team is to be managed, and the bounds of what is permitted in a worship service. I'm aware of the church orders and directories for worship of the Regulative Principle churches, but haven't seen any for non-RPs, Baptists in particular, and I'm very surprised that I haven't, as scripture does state that there are limits to how God may be worshiped and I would expect that at least some churches would think to make that unambiguous.

I'd know if they're consider "policy" but there's numerous examples of historical liturgies, contemporary liturgies, and guides to the offices, et al. I personally find some of the older directories interesting. There's the Reformed Worship book. Richard Baxter's Directory is interesting, although it's been a while since I looked through it, I don't immediately recall if it has anything specific to liturgy but it might. Otherwise I'd check your church order, Scripture, commentaries, and books that deal with worship. For instance, I found an old used Reformed Worship book that has been helpful to see how various elements of worship are incorporated.

 

[WithinThePale]

Thank you, I'll look into those. Really what's at the heart of my question is whether there's any examples of churches writing policies about the role and composition of worship bands (where there's someone to lead the songs and a few instruments), and how they are governed.

 

[1689owen]

Some quick thoughts that I had just now.

Thank you, I'll look into those. Really what's at the heart of my question is whether there's any examples of churches writing policies about the role and composition of worship bands (where there's someone to lead the songs and a few instruments), and how they are governed.

As of my impressions (I may be totally wrong), Most of churches with worship bands do not have official/approved polices on these matters, but rather their leaders write books with guidelines on these matters.

Bob Kauflin's two books "Worship Matters" (for leaders) and "True Worshippers" (for congregants).
His podcasts show how he is proceeding in his church, e.g.: https://sovereigngracemusic.com/training/resources/how-do-you-audition-members-for-your-team/

Emu music has a course on this: https://wordinsong.com/the-course/

But, as I understand, you are looking for official church documents.

Here's on of a Roman Catholic dioceses that in its form (not content!) looks like something you might be looking for: https://archden.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/USCCB-Sing-To-The-Lord.pdf

Lutheran churches (at least in Germany and historically) also have some orders/policies on musical matters, and they include organs, and since the 1980s increasingly include other instrumentation as well.

 

[JP Wallace]

I'm aware of the church orders and directories for worship of the Regulative Principle churches, but haven't seen any for non-RPs, Baptists in particular, and I'm very surprised that I haven't, as scripture does state that there are limits to how God may be worshiped and I would expect that at least some churches would think to make that unambiguous.

Thomas - i'm not making a snide comment here, but I think it has been my observation in 45 years as a Christian - if a church does not hold to the biblical regulative principle, then anything else really is subjective - and that has been my experience. I'm not even sure that most baptist churches even recognise the limits you speak of in your post, other than, mostly, that women are not permitted to preach.

And in a sense, I agree with their position - if they are not going to regulate according to Scripture, then any man-made regulatory framework would be in the words of Jesus "to teach as doctrine the commandments of man."

However I want to also say, that as often as not the pastor, or the deacons do legistalte, but according to their own preferences.

Again, I'm not trying to score points, but just explain where I think the problems lie, and why you aren't finding such documents as you are looking for.

 

[WithinThePale]

Thomas - i'm not making a snide comment here, but I think it has been my observation in 45 years as a Christian - if a church does not hold to the biblical regulative principle, then anything else really is subjective - and that has been my experience. I'm not even sure that most baptist churches even recognise the limits you speak of in your post, other than, mostly, that women are not permitted to preach.

And in a sense, I agree with their position - if they are not going to regulate according to Scripture, then any man-made regulatory framework would be in the words of Jesus "to teach as doctrine the commandments of man."

However I want to also say, that as often as not the pastor, or the deacons do legistalte, but according to their own preferences.

Again, I'm not trying to score points, but just explain where I think the problems lie, and why you aren't finding such documents as you are looking for.

Thanks, this has given me good food for thought this last couple days. Mostly, I just wish that the preferences would be written down so that people actually know what they're dealing with, instead of it being an odd relational thing.