“We confess our dependence on God for everything, and seek to deepen our intimacy with Him by living prayerfully.”
Access digital exclusive resources including: music, sermon outlines, interactive art projects, and worship practices.
Additional resources for all categories are available in the downloadable Compelling Worship workbook.
Music
Facilitating a Shared BIC Identity Through Music
We’ve selected five songs centered on Relying on God to serve as a resource for musical worship and as a catalyst for new creativity and imagination. For each featured song we’ve provided all the information you need to use it in your next worship service, including:
- links to download chord charts and lead sheets (some free!)
- optimal keys
- licensing coverage
- recordings
Access Song Recommendation & Resources
Abide
A. Keyes/A. Williams/J. Fauber
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: F, G, A
Licensing Coverage: CCLI, Multitracks.com
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, praisecharts
Recording(s): Dwell Songs(Aaron Williams); Abide (Christy Nockels)
Goodness of God/La Bondad de Dios
B. Fielding/B&J Johnson/E. Cash/J. Ingram
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: G, A, Bb
Licensing Coverage: CCLI, Multitracks.com
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, praisecharts
Recording(s): Believe For It (CeCe Winans); La Bondad de Dios (Essential Worship)
Lord, I Need You/Señor, te Necesito
C. Nockels/D. Carson/J. Reeves/K. Stanfill
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: D, E, F
Licensing Coverage: CCLI, Multitracks.com
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, praisecharts
Recording(s): Hallelujah (HeartSong); All the People Said Amen (Matt Maher), Señor, te Necesito (Blanca)
‘Tis So Sweet
L.M.R. Stead/W.J. Kirkpatrick
Song Perspective: Personal
Optimal Keys: D, Eb, E, F, G
Licensing Coverage: Public Domain
Chart/Lead Sheet: Compelling Worship, #420 HPW*
Recording(s): Compelling Worship (Towel and Basin Worship Collective)
What A Friend We Have in Jesus
C. Converse/J. Scriven
Song Perspective: Corporate
Optimal Keys: D, Eb, E, F
Licensing Coverage: Public Domain
Chart/Lead Sheet: CCLI, Reawaken, #452 HPW*
Recording(s): Oh! Great Is Our God! (The Sing Team), What a Friend We Have in Jesus (The Worship Initiative)
Additional Songs
All Things Together (Aaron Williams), El Espiritu De Dios Esta En Este Lugar (Martin Azurdia), Firm Foundation (Cody Carnes), Hungry (Kathryn Scott), How Long? (Porter’s Gate), Living Hope (Phil Wickham), Take My Life and Let it Be (#359 HPW*).
*Hymns for Praise and Worship © 1984 Evangel Press
Word
Teaching and Studying Our BIC Core Values
The act of reading Scripture together is itself an experience of God’s love, through which we preach to our hearts the good news of Jesus, and reshape our experience of the world around this reality. Through sermons, teaching, and corporate study, our core values move from being abstract ideas to convictions written on the hearts of each one of us. These sermon outlines are designed to equip churches to teach and study through our BIC core values.
The outlines for Relying on God begin on page 115 and include:
- Calm in the Chaos | Mark 4:35-41
- Do Not Worry | Matthew 6:25-34
- Trusting the Source | Jeremiah 17:5-8
Art
Engaging All Five Senses
A survey of God’s creation reveals works that engage all five of our senses. Yet, when we engage in corporate worship, we tend to rely on only one or two senses. What if we broke out of the mold and engaged all five senses God has created?
These ideas are meant to give you a starting place to explore new ways to worship. Use your creativity to adapt them to your specific setting and context. Involve all generations in exploring these ideas together!
Sign Language
Utilize anyone in your congregation who knows sign language or invite a community member who speaks sign language to come and offer artistic interpretation to a song that demonstrates our reliance upon God. Another option is to research sign language online and offer your own interpretation.
This is slightly different than translating a song or spoken text into sign language. Translating tends to happen after the spoken words have been shared in a slight delay. Rather, this use of sign language is meant to be an artful and even drama-like “visual singing” of the song in rhythm to the beat of the music. Some song suggestions for relying on God might be “Lord, I Need You,” “Abide,” and “Tis’ So Sweet To Trust in Jesus.” This can be done as a special music selection or as congregational singing.
This example combined music, sign language, visual arts, photography and personal testimony into a special presentation.
“The original version was done live. The images were displayed on the screen and I did the sign language in person. In 2013, the last verse of the video was updated to be a personal testimony of what God was doing in a personal life. Since I was at the hospital with my son, I recorded the sign language portion and it was shown as a video presentation.“
Practices
From Spectators to Active Participants
These practices aim to whet our spiritual appetites with many different practices that can help us to live lives of worship with our church families. Some practices may seem out of your comfort zone as a congregation, but you may be surprised to observe the reactions that come from trying something unexpected in the life of the church. There is so much beauty in seeing a congregation transform from a group of spectators to active participants in meaningful worship.
The Psalms
Our experience of Relying on God and learning to pray as a church is intimately connected to the presence of the Psalms in the life of the pastor and congregation. One of the first ways to practice Relying on God is by joining in the prayers that have marked God’s people for millennia. A Psalm (or portion thereof) could be read as a normative part of your corporate worship.
But how does one decide which one to read?! Here are a few suggestions with how to choose:
- • The easiest way to choose a Psalm is by allowing someone else to do it for you! The Lectionary is a resource used by a number of traditions in the global church, and each week there is a reading from the Psalms selected for you. Imagine – you are reading and praying this with God’s people throughout the world!
- • The Vanderbilt library hosts a quick and easy online guide to Lectionary readings.
- • The ’30 Method’- Simply take the day of the month and find the psalms for that day by adding 30. For example, on the 4th of the month you’d read Psalm 4, 34, 64, 94, and 124, etc.
- • Is there a Psalm that speaks to a particular happening in the life of the congregation or the world? Use it as a way to pray together.
- • Read widely. Read the Psalms that are uncomfortable. Allow the language of the Psalms to give language and breadth and permission to the prayers of the congregation.