Meaning Based Worship

This past summer I had the privilege of attending the Leadership Summit hosted by Eaglebrook Church originating from Willow Creek Church in Chicago land. One memorable quote among many that had a profound impact on me can now be read on my computer desktop. It goes like this (I suppose that I should find out exactly who said it in order to give the author due credit):

If you want to reach people that no one else is reaching, then you have to do things that no one else is doing and stop doing the things that everyone else is doing.

If simply being unique is the goal, then the focus is on the person or persons doing the reaching. But if the goals are God’s goals (and only He can sanctify us, purifying our motives even in His work), that of making disciples in this whole world that He so personally and intensely loves, then we must keep praying and thinking and dreaming and working to see His will accomplished in this world. We need to resist the “we’ve always done it this way or that way…we know what works and what doesn’t work…”

Background on the Praise and Worship Movement

When I first arrived at North Central Bible College to teach in 1992 I inherited a class called Music in Ministry. Part of the curriculum required that I expound on the history of church music particularly in the evangelical church. I attempted to expose the students to a very brief snapshot of the church and the role of music within it ending up in the current period I labeled the Praise and Worship movement. In many, many ways I am incredibly grateful for the past 30 years or so at which time we have seen a true worship renewal in the church. There has been a flood of new average person accessible music with a praise and worship focus that has taken the focus off of Sunday AM only personal worship time to any day, anywhere. I remember listening with absolute intense excitement and awe to those first Integrity Hosanna Worship tapes (yes cassettes!). They were so pure, so fresh, so spiritual, so wonderful. They helped elevate a person’s moment-by-moment sense of God and allowed one to participate in His worship outside the context of Sunday only. And they were musically excellent and enjoyable…finally. Maranatha! Music contributed so beautifully as well with their Praise series. Along came Vineyard Music and the Passion Movement and Hillsongs and… The outflow increased at such a rapid pace that the major music labels (whether “sacred” or “secular”) took notice and began pumping money into this burgeoning praise and worship market birthing what actually became a bona fide musical genre: Praise and Worship (short form – Worship).

The Law of Unintended Consequences

My longtime colleague Larry Bach talks frequently of something he calls The Law of Unintended Consequences (I am not sure whether or not it is original to him but I am grateful to him for helping me understand it nonetheless). Simply stated: For every good and timely decision there are a whole list of potential downsides that tag along as perhaps unforeseen, certainly unintended results.

While the quality of the music has improved, as demanded by the market, perhaps the quality/sincerity of the heart has been somewhat compromised by the bandwagon jumpers intent on cashing in the demand of the market.

While worship has enjoyed a deservedly growing focus, perhaps it has become all about the music, with the problem being that worship time is judged by what the music did or did not do for a person (“Worship wasn’t that great today” meaning the music was lacking…or…”We changed churches because the worship is better over here” meaning the music is great…)

While there has been a burst of wonderful new music there is an ongoing polarizing worship war between the old and the young, between hymns and praise choruses.

While there has been a renewed focus on intimacy with a personal God, perhaps some of the necessary fear and awe of a Holy God has been replaced by the nonchalance of a buddy-buddy relationship with Him.

And perhaps we have come full circle in performance based worship whereby we went from worship being done for us by professional choirs and orchestras to worship being done by us with personal praise and worship choruses to worship once again being done for us by aspiring worship artists.

So should we just ditch the music because of the abundance of potentially detrimental (or at least distracting) consequences? Or should we perhaps continue to sing a new song as instructed repeatedly in The Book of worship? And who will restore true meaning to this divinely instituted activity if not us?

A Return to the Meaning

As a lifelong worship leader my first question when preparing is usually “What songs are we going to do?” The answers are usually based on combinations of what I sound good at, what the band/singers can pull off, what is new and fresh, what sounds great, what I like, what the people like, what “moves” me, what “moves the people” and so on. The deeper meaning fueling the whole exercise traditionally comes second in my considerations. “What is the will of God for our gathering? What are the biblical patterns we ought to follow?” Perhaps a simple reordering of these questions and their subsequent answers would lead towards much more meaningful and satisfying (to God and to us) worship. Perhaps we could begin effectively leading people to significant, life changing encounters with creator God fulfilling the task He has graciously called us to (that of teaching theology and facilitating a response to God).

Let me know your thoughts!