Abstract
The first Symposium on Church Music & Worship was held at Excelsia College in February 2024, with unique insights, seasoned expertise, and diverse experience from a “line-up of experts!”, chaired by Excelsia’s new William Byrd Fellow – resulting in a very wide-ranging discussion across two days on campus in Macquarie Park. Coming from a variety of very different musical and church backgrounds, we touched on the topics of tradition, theology, excellence, community, issues, education, and inspiration, and considered questions such as: Where do we each come from in terms of musical and liturgical (or non-liturgical) traditions, and what have we inherited? What is the foundation of our music-making in worship, and what is the role of God the Holy Spirit? What are our benchmarks for musical excellence, and how important is it anyway? Who are we as a Christian music-making community, and what connections are we underusing? What are the main problems facing both worship communities, and young musicians seeking to serve God as (part of) a career? How can we best equip the next generation with musical, theological, and practical tools? What are the exciting possibilities in front of us, and how can we together think (and worship) outside the box?