Be silent before the Lord GOD!

"I avoid dead time at all costs because a congregation can become disengaged very quickly," says a well-known worship innovator. Nonetheless, this may not be an innovation Christ's bride should make. Something older may be needed.

When I began my career in public relations, I joined some coworkers at ToastMasters meetings. Every time the club president--who was clearly the most talented public speaker in the lot--approached the lectern, he literally ran there from the back of the room. This model presenter demonstrated the importance of keeping the audience engaged by quickly moving through each component of the meeting. I wonder if our corporate gatherings have gotten too corporate, that is to say, too professional.

I've heard them both: Silence is awkward, and silence is golden. In most contemporary church environments, the former controls, where the latter may be needed. I'm so thankful Mark Dever has put into words what was so profound for Kelli and me in our time at Capitol Hill Baptist Church. Namely, the moments of solemn silence sprinkled deliberately throughout our worship services. Those quiet times did all that Mark suggests. They gave us time to transition between elements like prayers of confession and songs of assurance. They gave us time to take in what our minds had just been considering. They gave us time to discern an appropriate response and to resolve to be faithful, by God's grace.

Please read Mark's "Making Silence Together". Heartily, I commend his advice. Even if implementing these silences is innovative, or even awkward, to your gathering, I'm quite confident they'll soon become valued.