“It’s Your Breath in Our Lungs”: Sean Feucht’s Praise and Worship Music Protests and the Theological Problem of Pandemic Response in the U.S.

In response to U.S. government restrictions imposed as part of a nationwide response to the COVID-19 pandemic, charismatic worship leader Sean Feucht began a series of worship concerts. Feucht positioned these protests as expressions of Christian religious freedom in opposition to mandated church closings and a perceived double-standard regarding the large gatherings of protesters over police violence against Black and Brown persons. Government restrictions challenged the sine qua non liturgical act of encounter with God for evangelicals, Pentecostals, and Charismatics: congregational singing in Praise and Worship. However, as Feucht’s itinerant worship concerts traversed urban spaces across the U.S. to protest these restrictions, the events gained a double valence. Feucht and event attendees sought to channel God’s power through musical worship to overturn government mandates and, along the way, they invoked longstanding social and racial prejudices toward urban spaces. In this essay, I argue that Feucht’s events reveal complex theological motivations that weave together liturgical-theological, social, and political concerns. Deciphering this complex tapestry requires a review of both the history of evangelical engagement with urban spaces and the theological history of Praise and Worship. Together, these two sets of historical resources generate a useful frame for considering how Feucht, as a charismatic musical worship leader, attempts to wield spiritual power through musical praise to change political situations and the social conditions.

Pujian dan Penyembahan Sebagai Strategi Pemuridan di Bethany Church Malaysia, Ipoh-Perak

Indonesian Migrant Workers (PMI) in Ipoh-Perak, Malaysia mostly have multi-dimensional problems from home; generally experience low self-esteem, have no ideals, are relatively young, and have poor experience. Pressure after pressure from the work environment, economic problems, bad relationships and worries about the future in foreign countries actually add to the negative psychological impact. The church is an important part to provide mentoring and strength of faith to the PMI, the church manages, regulates and involves the congregation in ministry and maintains true teaching. This study aims to: (1) determine the strategic importance of the role of praise and worship as adiscipleship strategy at BCM Ipoh, Malaysia, (2) find out the function of praise and worship as a continuous way of restoring self-image. This paper uses descriptive qualitative research with a literature study approach. As a result, praise and worship can become a strategy in discipleship that is, as teaching that will lead people to the right understanding so as to produce a response andfaith (Rom. 10:17). Praise and worship has an important role to make people aware of their position in Christ and awaken to sin, so that they repent and turn to God's way, personal experience with God, brings God's presence that builds faith, hope and love so that it becomes the opening key in restoring self-image PMI in Malaysia.

“My Worship Has Been Hijacked”

Chapter 1 combines historical research with autoethnographic narrative to contextualize the dramatic musical shifts that have taken place in evangelicalism over the last four decades. In the 1980s and 1990s, “praise and worship” music—a genre with roots in the Pentecostal and charismatic movement—began to enter the evangelical mainstream. Evangelical churches struggled with how to negotiate the ethos and aesthetics of these new songs into their services, leading to a period that many commentators dubbed the “worship wars.” Subsequent developments, including the formation of Christian Copyright Licensing International (CCLI), a concerted push by secular distributors to sell worship music to churches, and the rise of new kind of performer (the “celebrity worship leader”), exacerbated internal congregational tensions and debates.

Prinsip-Prinsip Hidup yang Berkenan di Hadapan Tuhan dalam Pujian Penyembahan Menurut 2 Tawarikh 5-7 dan Aplikasinya bagi Orang Percaya Masa Kini

Praise and worship are the foundation of every believer’s live. In almost all aspects of the believer’s life, worship is contorted with praise. Praise of worship became the focus of ehaven and especially in Old Testament times, praise worship became the center of worship tog God. However, it is still not too focused on the life of worship and praise. Whereas in worship praise, Jesus was present and touched His people. Sometimes what happens praise worship also becomes a routine in achurch. Even the lives of believers are not in accordance with God’s Word, so God is not present in worship praise. Because it cannot be separated between the life of believer and the praise of worship. A life that is in holiness is and absolute requirement for praise and worship to be pleasing before God. The context of this discussion is focused on the praised and worship that Salomon did when consctrating the Temple, where the Lord was present. This study uses a descriptive method, which is to leanr about the Principles of Living A Good Life Before God in Praise and Worship According to 2 Chronicles 5-7 and its Application for Believers Today. The goal is that through writing, namely : First, believers understand how important praise and worship are; Second : believers understand and have an attitude of life that is pleasing before God in praising and worshiping Him; Third, God is present in the worship of every believers.

From Hipster to Hillbilly: Death, Bluegrass, and Gospel According to David Crowder

Even with the widespread adoption of rock-styled “praise and worship” music in American churches, bluegrass and gospel musics still serve as potent musical signifiers, especially among the white southern evangelicals comprising praise and worship's primary demographic. Drawing repertoire and influence from Hank Williams, Loretta Lynn, and Bill Gaither, evangelical artist David Crowder uses strategic musical references to establish his own sense of “hillbilly” religiosity but often deploys these references in ways that align him with a “hipster” community of young musicians and music fans. In this paper, I demonstrate the ways that strategic references to bluegrass and gospel music allow Crowder to situate himself within these multiple discourses of evangelical authenticity.

Reading Psalm 100 from an African (Yoruba) Perspective

Psalm 100 is one of the most popular psalms of praise and thanksgiving. Almost every scholar accepts this psalm as a hymn commanding the congregation to praise Yahweh in thanksgiving. This song is so vital because to praise and worship Yahweh is to live and to live is to praise and worship him for his majesty and all the things he has done for ancient Israel. Psalm 100 is also called the imperative psalm because of the seven imperative verbs that seem to dictate the structure. The content of this psalm not only resembles ancient Israelite worship but also typical African worship. This article aims to apply an Africentric interpretation to Psalm 100 in order to demonstrate how the praise and worship in African churches reflect the description of Psalm 100 (without saying that they are the same). This article aims to demonstrate how African religion and culture can be used to understand Psalm 100 without condemning Eurocentric approaches.

Noise and Silence in Rwanda’s Postgenocide Religious Soundscape

This article explores conflicts around noise and silence in Rwanda’s postgenocide religious soundscape. After the genocide, new Pentecostal (or abarokore) churches grew rapidly in the country and offered up noise and a specific understanding of praise and worship music (guhimbaza Imana) as important ways to enact healing. However, Catholics emphasised silence and viewed the new Pentecostal churches as distracting interlopers. Far from being trivial differences, I argue that these conflicts around sound hint at wider divides in Rwandan society and a worrying new convergence between religious and ethnic identity. Focusing on aural conflicts between Christian denominations can therefore help us gain a better sense of the limits of Pentecostal conversion. Instead of assuming that Pentecostals are necessarily ‘noisy’, I suggest we pay closer attention to the ways in which they may also cultivate silence, and how this relates to wider power structures.