The Presence of God in Worship—What Many of Us Miss

Perhaps Robin Parry, an author and theologian, said it best in his blog Theological Scribbles:

We need to appreciate that God is transcendent in His immanence and immanent in His transcendence. In other words, the God who is immanent in creation is the transcendent God. The God who transcends creation is the immanent God.

Jared Wilson suggested in his article that worship leaders need to stop inviting God’s presence, and to stop saying “God showed up.” I understand what Wilson is trying to say, but I believe that if we took his critique seriously, we would be at risk of diminishing the power of worship.

I would instead encourage worship leaders to make these statements even stronger, but with a greater depth of understanding and intentionality. Let’s get to a place where our leaders and congregations celebrate God’s divine initiative and our ability to respond to him. Matt Redman has a song called “Here For You” that I see as a prime example of understanding God’s presence by inviting and welcoming him, while posturing ourselves to respond.

So, how do we best seek and respond to the presence of God in our daily lives and corporate gatherings? How do we know whether we’re experiencing the immanent presence of God or merely caught up in emotion? What are some ways that worship leaders can better facilitate God’s presence in gathered worship, while engaging the heart and mind of those they’re leading? Lastly, why is it that God “showing up” seems to be the exception rather than the norm?

Seek and Respond

The clear manner in which we come to a transcendent God is through prayer and worship. There’s an interesting dichotomy of sorts that we see about worship in Scripture. In one sense, we are invited to come as we are in prayer and worship, which means we don’t have to pretend or be anything other than our true selves. Scripture also calls us to sacrifice, to seek God with all of our hearts, to posture ourselves physically in pursuing him and to respond with a life of sacrifice.

Beyond our posture, there are also Biblical implications that God responds to communities that are marked by unity and love. I love this quote from Bob Mumford, a leader in the U.K. Vineyard Church:

When a particular church or gathering is more spiritually oriented and spiritual unity is in the midst, in reality, the Lord sovereignly chooses to manifest His presence in one way or the other. This is not supposed to be unusual but rather the normal Christian gathering.

Discerning His Presence

Gordon Fee said:

By the Holy Spirit, God’s presence (immanent) has now returned to His people, to indwell them corporately and individually so that they might walk in His ways.”

A lot of the songs that we sing are accurate, yet incomplete. There are many songs that invoke and celebrate God’s presence, and I wish more of them would include the “so that.” One of the most powerful questions we can and should ask when approaching Scripture is, “Why?” It is far too tempting for us humans to seek experience for the sake of feeling good, and that was never the purpose of God giving us his immanent presence.

I would suggest five primary outcomes that often accompany encountering the immanent presence of God:

1. Transformation. When God reveals more of himself to us, we see more of his character, which leads us to repent and transform more to his image.

2. Action. When we spend time in God’s presence, he calls us into action. As Matt Redman says in his book Mirrorball, “Singing is easy. The proof is always in the living.”

3. Love. The very act of God drawing near to his people is a tremendous act of love. When we receive more of God’s love, it is so that we can then extend his love to those around us.

4. Healing. While there is still debate around this topic, the streams I run in firmly believe that God, in his kindness, heals his people. Prayers for healing are asking and inviting God to come and bring the necessary healing (physical, emotional, spiritual). How wonderful would it be to see more people undeniably healed in our corporate gatherings?

5. Power. We gain courage and hope from spending time in God’s presence. Courage to face our fears and strength that comes through the Holy Spirit to do all of the above: transform, act, love and heal.

(In addition to these five, I would also look to the fruits of the Spirit outlined in Galatians 5 as a guide.)

Bob Kauflin has great thoughts in his book Worship Matters around God’s presence, and this statement further articulates how we discern when indeed God is at work:

The Holy Spirit is indeed present and at work every time the church gathers. We just need to understand Biblically what that means. When people grasp something of God’s glory, the Spirit is at work. When people are convicted of sin, the Spirit is at work. When people receive hope and strength in the midst of trial, the Spirit is at work.

Emotionalism

One of the great arguments within corporate worship is in how we assess whether or not God “showed up.” If we are honest, the common measure for this is often volume of voices and the percentage of hands raised.

Worship leaders are in a tough spot. There are expectations that have been placed on them to get the room to respond in a certain way, while modeling authenticity at the same time. As a worship pastor, I was certainly guilty of having a bag of tricks I could go to at any time to get a desired response. While I don’t believe I was intending to be manipulative or disingenuous, it certainly was confusing at times.

It is far too easy to get a room to respond through the right songs, sounds and visuals. It’s much more difficult and necessary to encourage people to show up honestly, and to pursue God without pretending, in a way that leads to transformation.

As I have attempted to lay out above, if we are just gathering people and chasing an experience in order to feel good, we are wasting our time and being selfish. A true encounter will always lead to transformation. That is the test. Gathered worship is nothing more than human emotion if it does not include a revelation of who God is that leads us to transform more into his likeness. Period.

The last thing I would like to say about emotionalism is to be careful not to overreact against emotion in worship. There is definitely an imbalanced emphasis in today’s worship songs on the human experience. I’ve also seen many churches that have swung the pendulum too far as a reaction and have chosen formation over emotion, keeping experience out of the equation.

Both formation and emotion are necessary in worship. Remember this quote from Bishop David Pytches, which can be applied to so many issues in the church: “The opposite of misuse is not disuse but right use.”

Consider This

For all of you who have the wonderful opportunity to lead others in worship, here are a few humble recommendations:

1. Refine your language around the presence of God. Teach your congregation that while God is always present, he also responds to our seeking of him. Look for those teaching moments when you can connect what is happening in their hearts to their minds.

2. Find songs that speak to God’s transcendence and immanence. When you sing songs that are specific to one attribute, consider surrounding that song with another song or prayer that widens our understanding of God’s presence. It doesn’t take many words to distinguish God’s transcendence and immanence, while also acknowledging the overlap and outright mystery. In short, consider what you are feeding your church with the songs you are choosing and pursue a balanced diet of theology through song.

3. Go big! Do not shy away from leading people into a pursuit of God’s presence. Be intentional in how you lead, and walk the line of encouraging and challenging people, while also giving permission to be honest.

4. Don’t settle for mediocrity and false experiences. It’s too simple to rely on the power of music, which is a tremendous and useful tool. Push toward a genuine and transformative encounter, regardless of what that looks or feels like.

What If …?

What if true encounters with the living God became normal in our corporate gatherings? I believe it is possible and has far more to do with us showing up with an expectant heart and perhaps with less of a critical eye.

A good friend and mentor of mine, Stan Endicott, said something once that I will never forget. He said, “I want to be among the easily impressed.” In a culture where it has become increasingly difficult to be impressed, and where we are constantly judging and comparing, what if we chose simplicity instead? I love that thought and personally hope to grow in that way.

I’ll end with one last quote, because other people have articulated this far better than I ever could. David Wilkerson was a spiritual giant, and in December of 1998 he taught a powerful sermon on the presence of God. He said, “If a church has the manifest presence of God, there will be a calming peace, a quiet rest, and everyone who walks through the doors will sense it.

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if worship leaders didn’t even have to acknowledge that God is present from the front because it would be so obvious to everyone in the room? It seems to me that this would be a great goal.

Caleb Clements has led worship in Southern California for 15 years, previously as the worship pastor at ROCKHABOR Church in Costa Mesa and Mariners Church in Irvine. In 2015, he left full-time ministry to pursue emotional and spiritual health, while investing in marriage and family. This article was originally published on UnrivaledWorship.com.

Keep Calm and Minister

Can you pass the "Timothy Test?"

4 Ways God’s Spirit Leads His People

We don't always have the full picture, but discerning how God is leading you is not unclear.

Fit for the Kingdom

The Lord prompted Reardon to think about combining Christian fellowship with fitness in order to create a new small group for men.