Blumenthal Performing Arts. This season's feature: Celebrating Creativity. Find news, interviews, reviews, photos, video and more from your favorite artists on MSN Music. Still rockin' after 65 Boybanders who are dads now Wonderwall Joni Mitchell: Most iconic images Yeehaw or naw? Red carpet hits & misses at the 2016 CMAs. The History of Dance in the Church I. INTRODUCTION – WHERE DOES DANCE BELONG IN THE CHURCH? From all the commands and regulations that Israel created in their attempts to be holy, Jesus came on the scene and summed them all up in two perfect commandments: “love the Lord with all your heart, soul, and mind, and love your neighbor as yourself.” In both Mark 1. Luke 1. 0: 2. 7 Jesus made the command even more holistic by including “strength”. These two commandments should both guide and be a measure of proof that a Christian is living a genuinely authentic Christian life pleasing to the Lord. Clearly, God calls His children to worship Him, and from that worship, there should be an outward expression of love for Him that comes from participation of all one’s heart, soul and mind and strength because He is worthy to be praised! From this expression of worship that God commands and still desires for His people, dance has a significant place in worship of Him. The full description of . Jesus also commands the Church to “go into all the world and preach the good news”, as is the great commission. Christians are called to reach a generation that are not interested in religion but instead in real, honest, genuine people living their lives for something more than what the world has to offer. They long for hope in a hopeless world. Using dance and portraying the realities of our sin, the cost of the cross, and introducing the Man that saved the human race from it, allows them to hear the gospel. It speaks their language, and they want to listen, when before, most would walk away from the idea of a religious talk. Recognizing the relevance of dance in the church today, both in worship and in its use as an evangelistic tool, is crucial for the health of the body of Christ for its participation in sharing the hope of salvation to a lost and hurting generation. Download 'Reflektor' on iTunes: http:// Pre-order 'Reflektor' from the Arcade Fire store: http://smarturl.it/reflektorafstore. This act of dance is much more than just a desired movement, it is built within the Body of Christ, and God is waiting for His bride to yet again bring this sacrifice of praise to the altar. Throughout history, each follower of Yahweh, has struggled to know and obey the call to worship the One and only Holy God with all his heart, soul and mind and strength. History shows contradicting examples of good Godly worship with others that God despised, and even killed over. Does a church service confine or contain all that is worship, or can one worship God even when they do the dishes? Does worship have to include words? Does it have to be in a specific place? All of these questions need to be wrestled through by every Christian, because if God has called the Bride of Christ to a full expression of worship, and the Church is choosing to continue on in it’s limited . The psalmist exclaims clearly in 1. Let them praise His name with dancing”. This passage, with many others, needs to be analyzed to find the truth of the calling for today’s church. Now, a lot has changed since David wrote that psalm and many churches to this day hold strong to the conviction that dancing is a sin. There are obviously conflicting sides here, and they need to be explored. As we have seen the Church evolve through time, somewhere down the line dance has been banned in church settings and has been looked down upon by those who would call themselves “Christians”. There are many reasons for this condemnation of dance, and these reasons will be discussed throughout this paper.
As far as today goes, the Bride of Christ needs to be searching for what God’s calling is for her as she worship’s Him. God has called the body of Christ to praise Him through dance as part of their act of worship to Him and through this paper, there will be sufficient evidence to reveal the Truth in this matter. Throughout history the Church has entangled itself with the outward appearance and has become bogged down with controversial discussions over of the physical aspect of dancing, when the real issue, is both harder to reveal and measure, and is far more important to God than just the outward act of dancing. Jesus was scathing with the Pharisees in Matthew 2. He tells them they “. Jesus’ challenge over and over was toward full surrender and obedience. Dance has a huge part to play in the church in allowing followers of Jesus to humble themselves and step out in faith with their inadequacies, and experience true freedom. Dance- with the right heart- can be used by the Holy Spirit in the church because its involvement requires participants to let go of their pride and allow God’s opinion to become the only opinion that matters. Jesus’ example in John 5: 4. His audience thought of Him. To not be in bondage to the fear of man anymore is a very freeing biblical position. Physical dance is not the issue. The movement of the body does not have any magical aspect to it. Dance does, on the other hand, by its act, have vulnerability and heartfelt courage as an individual surrenders to the judgment of those around him. His or her statement says it doesn’t matter what people think because God’s pleasure is of far more worth and significance than the uncomfortable fear and condemnation of fellow believers. To not step out in obedience to what the Spirit is leading, whether it is dancing, kneeling, raising of hands or even crying, is to say that God is worth less than the possibility of disapproval from other fellow believers. Dance is one of the avenues to finding true freedom in worship and experiencing a naked confidence like King David’s. A powerful and effective tool of evangelism. Presently, the culture of North America feeds off the media, it is an entertainment driven culture, which in turn causes the youth of this generation to become bombarded with lies from the enemy as Hollywood defines and dictates who they need to become. Just as the stories told by “the world” in Jesus’ day, were not full of truth, our generation is being fed its own brand of lies. Jesus changed the world by walking into the scene and revealing Himself to be the Truth through His parables and stories. Thousands of people came to watch and listen and were changed for the rest of eternity through witnessing them. This model needs to be an eye opener to the church. For the body of Christ to be proactive in the way they do evangelism, is allowing Jesus to present Himself just as He did when He walked among the crowds(John 1. In the context of dance, the Church needs to connect with the culture where they are and stop expecting the “world” to come to church. Here is another action of abandon and obedience, to “go” out and reach the lost just as Jesus commanded. Dance has become an incredible highlight in our world today. Many countries around the globe express themselves through their own unique cultural dances which may range back hundreds of years. The recent stage of dance popularity for many people has become something that they desire and aspire to, to the point of actually becoming an idol in their lives. Lately, multiple TV shows, just in North America alone, have become the latest craze in pop culture; they promote the best dancers and dancing in general. Just as Paul went into different circles to proclaim the gospel of Christ, using Greek poetry (that originally described Greek gods!), he used that to speak their language and to describe the One and only Eternal God. This is what the Church needs to be doing with dance; out social setting screams opportunity in speaking the language of this generation. The objectives of this paper are to reveal Truth in Scripture where there is currently misunderstanding. To bring insight to the church and challenge the Body of Christ to think about what is missing in congregational freedom and participation in worship, and reveal that God desires more from North American churches when it comes to praising a Holy God; that “worship” is not about singing a song but surrendering a life to Him, dying to one’s self and becoming obedient to the Spirit’s call. Also the objectives of this paper are to allow people to see the great call to the Church to reach the lost where they are. To challenge the body of Christ to begin to think creatively with the gifts that God has given them, to proactively step out “. For too long, many Christians within the church have both, put God in a box, and been living a lifestyle that does not experience freedom, or a renewed life. God has other plans, but His plans will only be accomplished through surrendered lives of service. Assumptions and Limitations Few Resources. There are not a lot of good books on the topic of dance in the church because there hasn’t been a lot of dance in the church. Many books that are out there with the word “dance” in the title are figurative. For example, “The dance of Restoration”, a book on the restoration of marriages or “The Great Dance” which talks about our relationship with God. These books use the word “dance” as a way to describe how something is played out, but without having any information and actual, physical dance. Absence of strong views. Not a lot of people hold strong passionate views of dance within the church, either for or against. And the few that do seem to be swamped by others that don’t. Even others that may feel open to the possibility of dance within the church seem to have the attitude that “you have to choose your battles” and this is one that is not worth fight for. From this understanding, the survey could be very weak because of the lack of open discussion about their views. Mass misunderstanding of the reason for dance. A great assumption going into this paper is that the people of North American culture will not understand the power and significance of dance within a worship setting.
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