Dig Deep

Dig Deep is our worship leaders' development course.

The layout of each week is: The Bigger Issue (talk/discussion): On topics concerning worship. Language of Wisdom (song writing session): A few people will be selected to play a worship song that they've written or are currently writing. Meet the Maker: ministry & worship This course is by invitation only.

A review of the previous course follows below:

Dig Deep 2007 by Joanne Gill It is probably no exaggeration to say that life in the metropolis can sometimes distract us from the things that are most important. Dig Deep, a four week course for worship leaders and song writers, is about getting beyond the superficial and the things that crowd in on top of us. It’s about remembering (and expressing) what is underneath: digging deeper in order to get to the heart of what matters. Over the four weeks we covered a lot of ground, from co-writing to lighting via lessons in thankfulness, but somewhere along the way one particular phrase stuck with me: pay attention to what you are passionate about. For me, Dig Deep was about rediscovering passion. In the midst of tube journeys and wintry evenings, Dig Deep was an oasis, a breath of fresh air to look forward to. Thursday night became the high point of the week because it was a moment in which to learn and throw around ideas in community. A kind of communion, in fact, if we take communion to mean a ‘sharing in common’ with others. The course, although short, gave me a lot to think about with respect to worship. So much, in fact, that it started to affect the way I thought during the rest of the week. The chance to bring our own songs each week to play and work on had me humming on the way to work (a relatively uncommon occurrence) and scribbling lyrics on scraps of paper on the tube. Because of the size of the group it was a safe place – a place in which to take risks and commit the ultimate act of bravery that is singing someone else the song you’ve written on your parents’ piano one Sunday afternoon. Sometimes when it’s just you and a crumpled piece of paper it’s hard to know how good any of it is, and there is much to be gained from taking the leap and giving voice to the lyrics that have been running around in your head for weeks. Somehow the worship was as much in the sharing (and the acknowledgment of a shared love) as it was in the songs themselves. I realised early on in the course what a joy and a privilege it is to sit with others who share similar passions, and to be amongst those who have a gift for encouragement and for inspiring those around them. Along the way there were Jaffa Cakes and many chocolate fingers. There were cups of tea and half-time trips to Starbucks for additional caffeine. There was input from Nick Herbert on co-writing, which taught us the value of working with someone else to craft a piece of music. Jamie Brooks challenged us to think about the centrality of thankfulness to worship. In everything, he said, we are called to be thankful: worship itself is a form of expressing gratitude. His observation that the word eucharist, in New Testament Greek, means thanksgiving, shed new light (for me) on communion and on worship: what else is worship, if not coming together to be thankful together? Andy Hutch came to regale us with adventures in lighting and image, and in doing so he inspired us with his passion for working alongside musicians to usher in the presence of God in new ways. In the final week, Eoghan Heaslip’s frank musings on the journey of the worship leader left us with the challenge to be intentional in the way we live, and intentional in the ways in which we seek God. Wells can run dry, he pointed out, but there’s always more if you are willing to dig deep.

For any questions or enquiries about the course, please email Chris chrisj@stmaryslondon.com