I have been attending church all of my life but it wasn't until I was 21 years old that I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior! During my unsaved years, I learned about the things that a Christian couldn't do. One thing that I remember people saying in the church that it was a sin for a Christian to DANCE.
Well, since I was a sinner, I danced. As a young person I took tap, ballet, modern and jazz dance. I loved to dance and I was a good dancer. I was born with a natural rhythm! I can remember one of my dance instructors telling me that when we had a visiting instructor come to teach our dance class that the instructor remarked to my teacher how good of a dancer I was! Then after I accepted the Lord as my Personal Lord and Savior, I remembered what they said about dancing being a sin. I didn't stop dancing right away but after some time, the Lord told me that I couldn't go into the clubs any more. I left the clubs and my dancing stopped.
Even though I attended a denominational church the first few years of my salvation, it was a very spirited church. The people would shout and do a dance that was called a holy dance. That dance was acceptable to do when a person was happy about Jesus. There was even a style of music called "shouting music” that would play after someone would start doing the holy dance. Because I loved the Lord, I enjoyed dancing and shouting because of what He had done in my life!
When the Lord called me into the ministry, I left the teaching profession, moved to Tulsa, Oklahoma and attended Rhema Bible Training Center. I joined Faith Christian Fellowship. This was a spirit-filled church that loved to praise the Lord in a hilarious way! Many times we would dance and run around the church. People called us "the wild bunch."
Faith Christian Fellowship had a strong teaching ministry. They taught us the benefits of what we had in Jesus Christ. I remember one person saying about dancing that she didn't stop dancing but she just changed partners. She went from dancing with the devil to dancing with the Lord!
One of the things that I learned at Rhema and at FCF that the devil doesn't have anything original. Everything he has stolen from the Lord! He is the master counterfeit! So if the devil had stolen the dance, provide "clubs" full of lust and seduction then the Lord must have a place in the church where we can dance under the power of the Holy Sprit and free from seducing spirits.
During my time in Tulsa, liturgical dance was reintroduced into the worship service. Liturgical dance is an expression of prayer or worship through body movement. The church and organization that I attended didn't embrace liturgical dance because they thought that it was "worldly" and was a distraction to the message of the song.
The Lord then took me on a journey to learn about celebrating Him in the dance! I remember when one of my minister friends got married, I attended her wedding. She is an awesome psalmist and her brother who married her was a pastor. The wedding was beautiful! They had a reception after the ceremony. I will never forget my reaction when I saw them in a group and dancing! They were just singing and I think if I remember jumping up and etc! My friends' brother, the pastor, was the "ring leader" for the dance activities. I was in total shock and thought "these Christians are worldly." I was in total disgust!
Well, when I moved to Atlanta, Georgia that was the first time that I saw liturgical dance in a church service. I even attended a wedding and there was liturgical dancing. All liturgical dancing that I saw in the church, the people were modestly dressed and the movements were graceful and lust free! It was simply beautiful! I enjoyed how the dance helped to emphasize and embellish the message the song was conveying. The Lord was beginning to show me His plan about dancing.
I joined a church in Atlanta that was very strong in the prophetic gifting. The pastors loved the Lord and from all I could determine were living an uncompromising walk with the Lord! Whenever a member of the church got married, there would be dancing at the wedding receptions. The majority of the dances where line dances but there was some ballroom dancing. Even though I hadn't danced at a wedding reception in a long time, I felt comfortable because it was clean, innocent and FUN! The Lord was beginning to teach me that dancing was a form of worship as well as an expression of celebration and joy.
I remember Norvel Hayes say that whatever the Christians don't handle and the devil is allowed to steal then the devil will pervert it. That is what has happened with dancing. The devil has perverted dancing by producing provocative moves, little or no clothing when you dance as well as using dance to seduce! There is a clear example of in the Bible of dance being used to seduce. In Mark 6:22 Herodias' daughter used dance to seduce Herod to so she could convince him to give her John the Baptist's head! That is truly perverted! But the Lord has a place for dance as celebration in His church!
Last month I attended a beautiful wedding held at a beautiful church. The bride had been a widow for almost five years. The Lord brought a wonderful man into her life. Both are ministers of the gospel and their wedding was truly a celebration.
During the ceremony, the bride's son, shared a teaching about dancing. He shared that dancing expresses different levels of joy and God is the initiator of all joy. He taught there are three types of dancing that express this joy.
1. Choreographed - different steps and beautiful movements and everyone follows it. Example would be "The Electric Slide" or even a "Square Dance." 2. Non-Choreographed dancing that is described in II Samuel 6:16 where David danced with all his might. The Hebrew word for dance is karar which means to whirl. It is described as hopping and dancing with your whole being. It is an expression of unbridled joy! This describes the holy dancing style that can be seen in some church services. 3. Free dancing like the "Horah." This dance is seen at Jewish Weddings. This is a dance that Jesus did at the wedding feast at Cana. Men dance around in one circle and the ladies dance in separate circle. Remember Jesus first miracle was done at a wedding reception. Celebration is important to Jesus Christ!
After the wedding ceremony, we left the sanctuary and all of us went into the "Fellowship Hall" of the church for the reception. There we celebrated this new couple with all the dancing described above. We were all Christians dressed modestly, celebrating and just having FUN! There was a spirit of innocence and purity! Truly we as Christians have taken back the dance, purified it and have learned how to “Celebrate the Lord through Dance!”
Dancing isn’t a sin but as a Christian you must be in an atmosphere where the Lord abounds absent of lust and seduction. Your movements must be done decent and in order. I do all my dancing with my church family and even when I am all by myself. During my prayer time, I will dance which signifies that I am celebrating my victory that I have prayed about in faith! As Christians, lets take advantage of all that the Lord has provided for us.
I have put together a video that has samples of the dancing done at the wedding and from my church. I did dance at the wedding but you don't see me because I was the one behind the camera!
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I have been attending church all of my life but it wasn't until I was 21 years old that I accepted the Lord Jesus Christ as my Personal Savior! During my unsaved years, I learned about the things that a Christian couldn't do. One thing that I remember people saying in the church that it was a sin for a Christian to DANCE. 