Hello Everyone,
I hope you all are having a good week so far. I am writing this email to let you all know what is currently happening in our church and the disagreement surrounding being able to sing Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs during the English Services (Songs like Come Thou Fount, In Christ Alone, At the Cross, Create in Me).
Since the Choirs have combined there has been a struggle for the EnglishChoir Leaders when picking songs to sing during Worship. They have been told that ONLY Hymns are to be sung and that Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs are not permitted. Our church has always had Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs included in Services so this new rule is a huge step back for the English speaking generation. Instead of trying to think of ways to encourage Worship, they are taking away the little we have.
To be clear we are not questioning Liturgy or the importance of Hymns. Our disappointment comes from certain people's efforts to take away important parts of the English Worship Service, while keeping what they want. As you may have noticed every week there is a new Maramon Convention Song but English Choir sings the same Hymns. During Choir practices all the efforts are put into learning new Malayalam songs and no attention given for learning English songs.
There has been several private meetings regarding this issue and both English leaders are being spoke to as if they're concerns in taking out Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs is not important. Thirumeni was also contacted to find out his opinion on the matter and we were told that we are "allowed to sing 10 Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs only for the YEAR as per our Achen's decision, and that 10 songs are better than none". We have heard the excuses that Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs are not doctrinally sound, the congregation can't sing cause it's too hard, the songs aren't approved by the Mar Thoma Church etc. Yetmany Mar Thoma churches sing these songs and there is no issue. All of this is just a way to take away Songs that have been sung in our Church for years and have caused no harm.
Settling on this decision without voicing our concerns is not fair. We are the upcoming generation of this church and as youths, young families, adults and members of the church we need to let the Church know we are not happy with the imposed decision.
Since we have started to make this issue known, there has been several attacks on the members who want to keep Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs. This email is sent to clarify what exactly is happening and that we have tried to fix it by going through the right channels. This isn't an attack on our Achen or anyone, but a request to keep the songs that have a place in Christian Worship.
I am not sure how you may feel about this issue but I am asking on behalf of the Church Members who find value and importance in Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs for you to please think- Is this new rule right? Base your support only on is it fair and ok to take away Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs from Worship? To us it looks like a way of saying "your needs in Worship have no space in this church". So if you agree in keeping those songs we have always sang in our Worship Services please sign the petition by clicking the link below. These signatures will be sent to Thirumeni requesting a General Body to discuss this concern.
Also we ask for you to pray over this matter. This is not about hurting anyone'sfeelings or being disrespectful. We do not want division but an understanding that Worship is number one and that just as much freedom is being given to Malayalam Choir that same treatment should be given to English Choir and English Worship.
Updates
April 2, 2015
The momentum behind this push proves that our community is fed up with being silenced by leadership. Theodosius Thirumeni can no longer ignore the fact that we are demanding an open meeting to address these unfair restrictions on our worship.
39 Comments
A choir should be flexible enough to sing both English and malayalam songs and that's what a choir is supposed to do. We don't even do parts in our choir, so I don't understand what the difficulty is in learning a new or a tougher song. We all are made to adapt and to overcome challenges. I have been to a couple of churches outside of the SIMTC and I have seen and heard them sing all these beautiful songs(regardless of language) with much joy and no hesitance. I don't get why things as trivial as singing a song should cause so much of a problem that we have to resort to signing petitions. I pray this doesn't go unresolved or lead to unnecessary fights within the church.
I agree with this email and I believe that new English songs must be sung during the service to keep the youngsters more involved in the service. If the youngsters who do not know Malayalam try their best to sing Malayalam, then I think that effort of theirs should be honored by trying to learn new songs in English too.Choir is supposed to listen to what the leader says and not complain about how hard the songs are.What would anyone lose by just trying to learn?
We need to pray that our church can come together to sing hymns and praises, new or old songs, to worship and glorify God.
Continue to pray and let God lead this. We have to remember this isn't for anything else but only to keep Worship the way it was.
Praying our voices be heard and for change to happen!
I believe in this!
!
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Hello Everyone,
I hope you all are having a good week so far. I am writing this email to let you all know what is currently happening in our church and the disagreement surrounding being able to sing Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs during the English Services (Songs like Come Thou Fount, In Christ Alone, At the Cross, Create in Me).
Since the Choirs have combined there has been a struggle for the EnglishChoir Leaders when picking songs to sing during Worship. They have been told that ONLY Hymns are to be sung and that Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs are not permitted. Our church has always had Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs included in Services so this new rule is a huge step back for the English speaking generation. Instead of trying to think of ways to encourage Worship, they are taking away the little we have.
To be clear we are not questioning Liturgy or the importance of Hymns. Our disappointment comes from certain people's efforts to take away important parts of the English Worship Service, while keeping what they want. As you may have noticed every week there is a new Maramon Convention Song but English Choir sings the same Hymns. During Choir practices all the efforts are put into learning new Malayalam songs and no attention given for learning English songs.
There has been several private meetings regarding this issue and both English leaders are being spoke to as if they're concerns in taking out Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs is not important. Thirumeni was also contacted to find out his opinion on the matter and we were told that we are "allowed to sing 10 Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs only for the YEAR as per our Achen's decision, and that 10 songs are better than none". We have heard the excuses that Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs are not doctrinally sound, the congregation can't sing cause it's too hard, the songs aren't approved by the Mar Thoma Church etc. Yetmany Mar Thoma churches sing these songs and there is no issue. All of this is just a way to take away Songs that have been sung in our Church for years and have caused no harm.
Settling on this decision without voicing our concerns is not fair. We are the upcoming generation of this church and as youths, young families, adults and members of the church we need to let the Church know we are not happy with the imposed decision.
Since we have started to make this issue known, there has been several attacks on the members who want to keep Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs. This email is sent to clarify what exactly is happening and that we have tried to fix it by going through the right channels. This isn't an attack on our Achen or anyone, but a request to keep the songs that have a place in Christian Worship.
I am not sure how you may feel about this issue but I am asking on behalf of the Church Members who find value and importance in Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs for you to please think- Is this new rule right? Base your support only on is it fair and ok to take away Praise and Worship/Contemporary Christian Songs from Worship? To us it looks like a way of saying "your needs in Worship have no space in this church". So if you agree in keeping those songs we have always sang in our Worship Services please sign the petition by clicking the link below. These signatures will be sent to Thirumeni requesting a General Body to discuss this concern.
Also we ask for you to pray over this matter. This is not about hurting anyone'sfeelings or being disrespectful. We do not want division but an understanding that Worship is number one and that just as much freedom is being given to Malayalam Choir that same treatment should be given to English Choir and English Worship.
Updates
April 2, 2015
The momentum behind this push proves that our community is fed up with being silenced by leadership. Theodosius Thirumeni can no longer ignore the fact that we are demanding an open meeting to address these unfair restrictions on our worship.
39 Comments
I believe in this cause but I also believe one meeting to discuss this particular issue will NOT solve the source of the problem. This problem lies within the system of the church which centers the decisions of the church with one who is not part and parcel of its community. It is the marthoma church that should be petitioning YOU to stay. To meet all your needs for spiritual inspiration and growth. You should not have to petition the church for something as simple as this. Let it be known that there are other churches that can and will meet those needs.
A choir should be flexible enough to sing both English and malayalam songs and that's what a choir is supposed to do. We don't even do parts in our choir, so I don't understand what the difficulty is in learning a new or a tougher song. We all are made to adapt and to overcome challenges. I have been to a couple of churches outside of the SIMTC and I have seen and heard them sing all these beautiful songs(regardless of language) with much joy and no hesitance. I don't get why things as trivial as singing a song should cause so much of a problem that we have to resort to signing petitions. I pray this doesn't go unresolved or lead to unnecessary fights within the church.
I agree with this email and I believe that new English songs must be sung during the service to keep the youngsters more involved in the service. If the youngsters who do not know Malayalam try their best to sing Malayalam, then I think that effort of theirs should be honored by trying to learn new songs in English too.Choir is supposed to listen to what the leader says and not complain about how hard the songs are.What would anyone lose by just trying to learn?
We need to pray that our church can come together to sing hymns and praises, new or old songs, to worship and glorify God.
Continue to pray and let God lead this. We have to remember this isn't for anything else but only to keep Worship the way it was.
Praying our voices be heard and for change to happen!
I believe in this!
!
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I believe in this cause but I also believe one meeting to discuss this particular issue will NOT solve the source of the problem. This problem lies within the system of the church which centers the decisions of the church with one who is not part and parcel of its community. It is the marthoma church that should be petitioning YOU to stay. To meet all your needs for spiritual inspiration and growth. You should not have to petition the church for something as simple as this. Let it be known that there are other churches that can and will meet those needs.