Worship Leaders Collaborate in The Village Hymns

Imagine musicians from various denominations throughout South Florida joining together to spread the Gospel and glorify God through the gift of music. The Village Hymns fulfills this dream. They are a group local worship leaders and songwriters who come together to write songs for the local churches and in November they will be releasing their first CD. In talking to one of its founders, Josh Bramos, I learned about the vision of the group.

 

The Vision

By using the creative talents that God has given these songwriters and musicians, they hope to glorify God in a unique way. The Village Hymns recognizes that though the collective worship songs that we sing in church are good, there is a need to listen to the Spirit for each church’s individual needs and spiritual growth. For instance, worship could be in conjunction with the current Bible series a church is studying. The congregation may be going through a transitional time. Maybe they are mourning a loss or undergoing a revival. Shouldn’t the music, as well as the sermons, reflect that? And we Floridians are experiencing a different season than our neighbors in the Northwest. With hurricanes come a range of emotional, physical and spiritual needs that are unique. Singing songs that address these current issues, topics that hit close to home, has a greater impact on us and, in essence, in our worship.

 

What is worship?

Josh brought to my attention that worship is a sacrifice. I never really thought about it as such because I love music and singing. But the more we talked, I had to admit that sometimes I don’t feel like going to worship-only services and had to realize what I was doing: making my worship to please me, not God. So, yes, worship is a sacrifice. It may be even more so for those who don’t like to sing. Josh elaborated in describing what worship should be: “Finding a truth in that song, putting it in your mind, praying over a scripture in your mind, and then engaging that in the song.”

 

Worship nights

Originally, The Village Hymns was created for having worship nights with the intent of having multiple worship leaders from different churches involved. Now, it is a nonprofit organization made up of worship leaders and songwriters from various churches with the plan of having quarterly worship nights. Dates TBA. Participating already have been members from Victory Life Church, Riverside Church, Coral Ridge Presbyterian, and New Life Baptist — just to name a few. The Village Hymns welcomes even more churches and denominations to take part in this wonderful journey in impacting our worship to God.

The three-fold purpose of this is “to bring awareness to local songwriters; writers that are aware of how God is moving in His church, to bring awareness to songs written for the local church to sing, and to gather local writers and develop a community which would hopefully birth new songs and new relationships among different churches.”

In the New Year there will also be a monthly “Village Hymns Create.” It will be a day where these worship leaders and songwriters come together to collaborate in writing as well as seminar training dealing with topics of the local churches, teaching on character, how to lead in church worship, and songwriting critiques. For those of us who long for this kind of musical worship collaboration, a few months seem like an eternity. But with Christmas approaching, most worship leaders are extremely busy during this season. I guess we’ll just have to be patient and use the time to work on songs.

 

Save the date!

On November 3rd at 7 p.m. The Village Hymns will hold a CD release celebration at New Life Baptist Church in Davie, 2400 S. Pine Island Rd. Free admission includes performances by The Village Hymns, a peek into the making of the songs and the cd, food and fellowship. In addition, we will be praying over the CDs so as to further the ministry of worship and to glorify God. CDs will be available for $5. These make great gifts for Christmas as well as tools for reaching others through the joy of music. Come on out and see the beautiful culmination of what The Village Hymns is all about. Talk with them and see how you can be a part of this innovative team and use your talents for the Kingdom of God.

For more information on The Village Hymns go to www.thevillagehymns.com. If you are a worship leader, songwriter, or want to add your talents click on “Get Involved.”  There is also a page to donate if you are able to give to the ministry.

 

Chris Alexander is a freelance writer and an aspiring humble servant of Our Lord Jesus Christ.  To collaborate musically contact her at [email protected]. To check out her ‘GuitArt’ for sale go to www.MusicArtLove.com .

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