August 26, 2008
When worship or praise dancers dance are they preaching?
This question was addressed to us and we will go to the Bible to answer this question. Our answer is yes as it relates to making a declaration.
First we want to establish that dancing in NO way can ever take the place of audibly preaching the Word of God. Throughout Scripture we are given the example of preaching and teaching through audible means.
“How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they nave not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” (Rom.10:14)
“So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17)
These Scriptures (and others) teach us how God intended for the Church to preach or proclaim the gospel message – by using our mouths. There is NOTHING in Scripture that teaches us to preach the gospel message any other way than the SPOKEN WORD. Did prophets demonstrate a Word from the Lord? Yes, but the words or the meaning of what they demonstrated ALWAYS followed.
“And as we tarried there many days, there came down from Judaea a certain prophet, named Agabus. And when he was come unto us he took Paul’s girdle, and bound his own hands and feet, and said, thus saith the Holy Ghost, So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle, and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.” (Acts 21:10-11)
In Ezekiel chapters 3 and 4, Ezekiel was used by God in demonstrating signs to the house of Israel (4:3), and the interpretation of what God did by way of demonstrations was told by spoken word to them.
Scripture teaches that there is a place for dance amongst God’s people. Sometimes as people we like to overemphasize things and make them out to be more than it really is –over spiritualizing things. Yes, dance is a wonderful and powerful tool that we can use to comfort and encourage each other about the wonderful works of the Lord. We can even use dance, since it is a language, to proclaim through movement doctrinal truths. When we dance we usually dance to music, this is why it is very important that we size up the music with the Word. Just because the music/song is labeled as “gospel music” does not mean that it is doctrinally correct. If a song is doctrinally correct, the words of the song will deliver the message to the hearers, but as dancers we dramatically act out or interpret the message with movement, which is something that is so very powerful, because in our display of emotion, technique, experience and knowledge of the truth (His Word) we become the visions of God to the people- meaning we are the subjects of His awesome work and when we dance we proclaim to those to whom we minister to that they are too or can be (ie. An heir of salvation). With excitement, love and joy we dance about the wonderful works of the Lord and we celebrate Him.
Scripture puts dance in its place by saying this: Ps. 150
“Praise ye the Lord. Praise God in his sanctuary; praise him in the firmament of his power. Praise him for his mighty acts; praise him according to his excellent greatness.”
How are we to praise Him for the above?
“Praise him with the sound of the trumpet: praise him with the psaltery and harp. Praise him with the timbrel and dance: praise him with the stringed instruments and organs. Praise him upon the loud cymbals: praise him upon the high sounding cymbals.”
Are there any restrictions on who should praise the Lord? NO
“Let everything that hath breath praise the Lord. Praise ye the Lord.”
Also see our post on “Dance in the Bible” http://praisedancecentralministries.wordpress.com/pdcms-teachings/dance-in-the-bible/
In conclusion Scripture teaches us that we are to preach the Word of God with our mouths. For those who are hearing impaired, of course sign language is used for them because of their inability to hear, but for those of us who can hear, we hear the Word audibly. When we dance the message of the gospel it should always be accompanied by the spoken Word of God. In doing so we are in line with Scripture and there will be no misunderstanding or confusion about what the dance meant. For example, if a soul has never heard the gospel message and the death, burial and resurrection of Jesus is acted out in a dance or dramatic expression, they may simply think that it is sad story. How will they know that Jesus died on their behalf? It is important to understand that every dance or dramatic expression is not done with music or words. Even if these are present in the dance (which is often limited in the song to words such as “he died for me”), still some may not understand. It is not enough to know that He died, but we also have to tell the lost WHY He died and the RESULT of it. We can not give them half of the gospel. Sometimes the dance coupled with the song is self-explanatory like “Lord we love you, we praise you and adore you”, but when it comes to the gospel of Jesus Christ- it MUST me done using the spoken word.
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