Deepening Our Worship

I'm not sure what the picture of the atomic bomb explosion is supposed to mean, but in looking through the "My Pictures" folder I came across that one and thought it was an interesting juxtaposition for a post on worship music. Draw your own conclusions.

In the previous post I fear I may have been a bit negative. After I posted it I considered going back and revising it, but I didn't because it's how I felt at the moment. But there is another side to this thing as well. You need to understand that although I'm an "academic" I am sometimes irritated by academic people. During my seminary years, at times I had to sit in a class taught by a professor whose only vocational experience in the local church was way back in college, when they were a youth minister for a couple of years before becoming what we affectionately called a "seminary rat." Or, it was a teacher who had never actually worked in a church, although they seemed to have all the answers to the problems plaguing the local church. Sometimes I would get lucky and have a professor who simultaneously taught and served part time in a local church. This is a good scenario that helped them to ground their teaching in practical realities, but part-time and full-time ministry are not really the same thing. The simple dynamic of having your entire salary come from one local church (as opposed to only part of it) introduces a complicated set of dynamics that only a full-time minister can appreciate.

I'm partly setting up a straw man, only to knock him down, but anyone who has been to seminary knows what I'm talking about. It's not difficult to find people in Bible colleges and seminaries who teach ministry-related subjects while many times having only limited ministry experience (or experience that happened decades ago). At times their proposed solutions (and rants and raves) concerning the ills of the local church ring hollow because it's easy to criticize something, but much harder to deal with in reality. It's one thing to teach a class or do a seminar, and quite another to deal with the day-to-day rough and tumble of full-time ministry.

Let me pause for a moment and offer a side note. This problem seemed more pronounced in seminary than when I attended Bible college. In fact, I don't recall ever feeling that way as a college student, but I can recall many times from seminary. I loved seminary and wouldn't be in my current position with the training I received there, but truthfully I sometimes felt a disconnect between the theoretical and the pastoral. Perhaps this is a dynamic that is more prevalent in grad school than in college.

I'm saying all this to point out the fact that it's easy for me to offer my observations and opinions of the worship movement as a whole, but at least at this point in my life I don't have to deal with day-to-day realities of paid ministry in a local church. It doesn't mean that I'm wrong or ill-informed, but it does mean that my public opinions don't work themselves out in a local church as they would if I led worship week to week. So in that sense it may appear that I'm an armchair critic.

I'm not anti-seminary or anti-academic. On the contrary, I'm all for education, college, seminary, and another means by which we can more fully develop people's minds and equip them for ministry. But the academic community(at least those that I have been affiliated with) exists to serve the church. Our mission is tied into the mission of the local church. So the bottom line for me is this: How does all of our reflections, critique and ideas about worship actually affect worship leaders in the church? How does a worship leader deal with the realities of a consumer culture where beauty, truth, depth, honesty, an awareness of history and creativity are sometimes lacking in corporate worship, particularly music? I'd like to offer a few humble suggestions of actions steps a worship leader might take to deepen their worship.

Deepen your study. I'd like to suggest first of all that any change a person wants to bring about in a church must begin with themselves. Are you convinced of the importance of worship? Is your relationship with God growing? Are you learning more about worship and its related aspects--history, theology, music, new worship songs, ancient traditions, etc.? The well of worship is so deep no one can ever plumb its depths, but that's no excuse for not trying.

Sometimes the most inspirational and creative ideas don't come from reading "worship material." For instance, lately I've been doing study on astronomy for a class at church I'm teaching. That has helped me see the glory and beauty of God's creation in a new way. A few days I also started reading a phenomenal new book called Getting to Know the Church Fathers by Bryan Litfin. I studied the church fathers in passing in a couple of classes before, but the subject is a lot more exciting now that I'm doing it on my own. Both of these subjects I'm exploring right now have deepened my understanding and sense of worship in ways I didn't expect.

It should go without saying that a worship leader ought to be constantly growing in their study of God's Word. (It should go without saying, but it needs to be said.) The point here is to be a constant learner. If you aren't growing spiritually and intellectually, then any attempts to bring about change or renewal will ring hollow and won't be authentic.

Deepen your planning team. If you don't use a planning team to help put together congregational worship, you ought to consider it. You know how I used to plan worship? I would sit in my office, choose worship songs, special music and other elements, and inform people in the worship ministry of the "plan." Then I finally wised up and began using others in the ministry to help give input, ideas and evaluation.

The reason a planning team is so helpful is because no single person, including a gifted worship leader, can come up with great ideas week after week. You need the creative ideas of other people to bring out the best. But more importantly, congregational worship is a community activity, and I believe worship planning is best done in community. Each person will approach it differently, but the point is to get other people involved in making choices about what's included in the service. In addition, you should be helping these people to deepen their own understanding about worship.

Deepen the congregational participation. One of the casualties of modern evangelical worship is congregational participation. Modern sound amplification, the use of worship bands and a general "spectator" mentality all make it more difficult for group singing to be a really meaningful experience. Sound systems almost always overpower the congregation. The point of congregational worship is not to hear the instruments or the worship team perform; it's to lead the people in singing. And if the people can't hear themselves sing, it's too loud.

Another factor is the music itself. Most worship leaders are tenors, and they naturally put songs in keys that are comfortable for them. But men with lower voices often can't fully participate because the songs are pitched too high. The worship songs you hear on CD's are arranged for the lead singer's voice, not for your congregation. So don't be afraid to lower the key a bit to compensate. In addition to the key of the song, the rhythm sometimes is hard to learn for the average person. The song should not be so hard to learn that the average person can't get the hang of it after a couple of times.

Our worship leader at Harvester does a really nice job with these elements, and is a good example of how to effectively balance all of these concerns. He is top-notch at helping the congregation participate. And our sound guys do an excellent job of providing sound while not overpowering the people. One of the challenges I have at SLCC is helping our students who lead worship move from "standing and singing" to actually leading the people. There is more to worship leading than just performing music.

Deepen your musical content. A related issue is the content of our worship songs. It's important to take the time to think through the lyrics of the hymns and worship songs we use. Yes, I include hymns also because many of the "good old hymns" are just as stupid and trite as some modern worship songs. Don't be fooled into thinking that a hymn is good or even true in its theology just because it's printed on paper and bound into a hymnal.

In looking at the songs used for worship, it's important to ask at least two questions: 1) Is it true? (Does it square with biblical teaching?) 2) Who is the focus? (Do the lyrics point to God and his character, or to me and my feelings? Songs of testimony are OK, but we use too many songs that talk about "me" and too few that talk about God.)

There is encouraging news in the modern worship movement. We have a few prominent songwriters who are providing some really good material--people like Chris Tomlin, Paul Baloche, Matt Redman, Martin Smith (from the group Delirious), among others. But you often have to wade through a bunch of material before finding a gem.

The primary question you have to ask about congregational worship is this: What are you trying to accomplish? What is the purpose? The answer to that question will provide direction for almost every issue I'm raising here. The best resource to help you think through the process for selecting worship songs is the book God Songs: How to Write and Select Songs for Worship by Paul Baloche.

Deepen your love. This really gets to the heart of the matter. I simply ask, Do you love the people you lead? Are you committed to them? It's tempting to say a quick "yes" and move on, but you must search your heart. Pastoral love changes our motive for everything. We will lead, choose songs, make tough choices and do everything else in ministry based on whether we love people and want to serve them.

A couple of years ago I sent our traveling worship team from SLCC to a supporting church where the people raved about their worship leader. My first impression was that the worship leader must be a really good musician. When I heard a recording of the worship team I thought it was well-done, but I wasn't blown away. The worship leader was talented, but the real difference in his relationship with the people was that he loved and cared for them. He was a great pastoral leader. His musical skills were solid, but that didn't form the basis for the people's affection for him.

So worship leaders, take heart--you don't have to be a world-class musician to make a difference. Love really is the most important key to a solid ministry.

These are just a few suggestions on what a worship leader can do to help deepen congregational worship in their church. Something I rarely hear talked about, but is an important concept, is the role of a worship leader as a change agent. Worship is all about change--recognizing who God is, who we are, and the transformation that happens as a result of Christ's saving power. We can't get a glimpse of God and stay the same (Isaiah 6.1-8).

But don't take my word for it. After all, I'm just an academic. :)