Dance appears throughout Scripture as an expression of joy, celebration, and worship. Miriam led the women of Israel in dance after crossing the Red Sea. King David danced "with all his might" before the Lord as the Ark of the Covenant was brought into Jerusalem. The Psalms repeatedly call God's people to praise Him with dancing and tambourine. Ecclesiastes tells us there is "a time to dance." Even the story of the prodigal son ends with music and dancing to celebrate a homecoming.

Not exclusively — the Bible also records dance used in ungodly contexts, such as around the golden calf in Exodus. The pattern in Scripture isn't that dance is good or bad in itself; it's that dance, like any expression, is shaped by the heart and purpose behind it. Our conviction is that when dance is offered to God, in reverence and joy, it becomes worship — which is exactly the tradition we're stepping into.

Some churches and traditions are cautious about dance for a few common reasons:

• Concerns about modesty and distraction

• A more restrained view of what belongs in corporate worship

• Association with secular or worldly dance

• Concerns about order

We take these concerns seriously. Our approach at Dancing The Bible is based on more than ten years of producing dance productions for churches. We have developed an expertise that presents dance in a way that these concerns no longer have to be concerns. Through reverent, Christ-centered, modest, and intentional dance film — dance in church an be done in a way that honors those same values of order, reverence, and focus on God, rather than working against them.

By showing dance in its worshipful nature, you encourage others in the congregation to stop viewing dance in the “patterns of this world.” How will they ever see dance as a way to worship God if the only experience watching “Dancing with the Stars” or Broadway musicals or the Nutcracker?

By showing dance as worship in church, you are part of redeeming the art form. You are encouraging all generations to offer their bodies to God through movement whether that is dance, athletics, or physical exercise.

Our goal is to take dance out of the categories people usually put it in — performance, competition, entertainment, nightlife — and place it back where Scripture puts it: as a worshipful offering to God. God designed our bodies so he should be worshipped with them.

That means choreography rooted in the concepts and patterns of Scripture, storytelling centered on the gospel, and a tone that is reverent rather than showy. We want every movement on screen to point back to God, not to the dancer.

When dance is show on a screen and not on a stage or in the congregation, this creates space for the members to feel comfortable. Dance often feels awkward, not only if the choreography is strange, but if it is too close to the members. Often church stages and aisles are not built for movement anyway. This can lead to the dancers feeling uneasy performing and the members feeling bombarded in not handled correctly.

Dance film is a great approach for churches who have never brought dance into their services, because it feels like watching a video and that distance helps members feel more relaxed. Dance film is also more compatible with a wide variety of church venues.

We take the position that dance should be used as Scripture defines it — as a joyful expression of worship. We also take the position that dance can be used to communicate a Biblical concept for the viewer — similar to a parable. The Bible shows clear examples of both worship and storyelling.

When the Bible talks about prayer or prophecy, it never says to “dance.” Dance is never given as an example to prophecy or prayer. It does show dance as a way to appease gods like in the story of the golden calf and the prophets of Baal. We aren’t given context if these dancers were using movement as prayer, but they worshipping their false gods in dance. So again, we see dance as worship even in a negative way.

For this reason, we hold the position that those teaching that dance can be used as prophecy and prayer are moving away from God’s intent and design of the art form.

Some would argue that prayer and prophecy is a form of worship. We would ask, “Do you sincerely pray and prophecy while working at the gym?” You might pray short prayers, but when your body exerts energy it’s challenging to focus either on God or on your body. You have to pick one or the other.

However, we would also ask, “Do you every listen to worship music at the gym?” Many more people find it easier to listen to worship music at the gym. Now worship music may not be good for every workout, but generally there is a flow between the body moving to worship music? That is because the body as a whole was made to move to music as worship.

Prophecy and prayer are best left to specific parts of the body, mind, and spirit, not using the body as a “whole machine.”