Our Role

We work to lead an unrehearsed, half-unmusical choir (the congregation) to sing as unselfconsciously to Jesus as possible, for his glory and our joy, week in and week out.

Our Vision

Our Triune God is worthy of all honor, worship, and praise. We are commanded to worship him with loud clashing cymbals, to lift our voices to him, to bring our cries to him, and to praise him in the congregation. He has loved us with unfathomable love and rescued us up into his triune life. He has spared not his own Son. He keeps us. He leads us. He provides for us. He judges the wicked. And his new creation is coming, when we will sing as we see him as he is. All of these reasons, and so many more, lead us to sing his praises on Sunday.

Therefore, the musical worship of the congregation matters. It aids and forms the soul of the individual believer, the health of the congregation, and our testimony to unbelieving guests. Even more than all that, it pleases our Lord.

Knowing this, we seek to lead Redeemer in musical worship with great grace, skill, and joy. We cultivate a love for the congregation and people as individuals. We work to grow in musical breadth and depth as well as our skill and confidence as lead worshipers. We understand the difference between musical form and lyrical content and seek always to bring the two into harmony without turning inward but always with an eye outward toward the congregation, whose voice should be the loudest in worship and who therefore must continue to be led.

Our Philosophy

Worship at Redeemer is characterized by:

• The priority of congregational singing, guiding song selection, keys, and the visible leadership of the worship leader
• Lyrical fidelity to Scripture
• Greater focus on the Lord than on ourselves in worship
• Christ-centeredness and a grace-driven shape and feel in each weekly gathering
• Variety of arrangements and dynamic range
• Variety of lyrical voices — e.g., us singing to God, us singing to each other about God, us singing to Creation/the lost about God, God singing to us, “we” songs and “I” songs, etc.
• A Scripture-shaped theological diet in song lyrics, leading us to meditate on various attributes of God and the three persons of the Trinity, sometimes with greater verbosity and sometimes succinctly but meditatively, as fits the week’s sermon text
• Shared leadership with an eye toward developing leaders who develop leaders
• Dress and musicality that minimize distractions and serves the congregation