There is no question that worship over the centuries has been at the center of debate at one time or another in most churches. Fifteen or twenty years ago, we had heated disagreements over drums and clapping. Thirty years ago, we had heated debates over the guitar. A hundred years ago or more, the debates were over whether the hymns sung in church should so closely resemble pub songs. Today, the debate continues over lights, haze, and the accusation that worship leaders everywhere are making church “like a rock concert.”
It’s interesting, the line of thought that goes into these heated debates. Most often, the argument comes down to a singular point: we want the worship to be about God, not the _______ (fill in that blank with the word being debated at the time: drums. lights. guitar. singer. pastor. musical style.)
The department I manage at New Life would be called something like Worship Arts or Creative Arts at most other churches. Here, our group is called the Reach team. On Reach team, our mantra is very simple. As the name implies, we have only one goal, and that is to reach people for Jesus Christ. We will use every tool at our disposal to reach people. All ages, races and genders. We are happy if people enjoy worship, but our priority is on reaching the lost for Christ. It’s not just about making it younger and hipper. We are seeking to hit a target rich environment of lost people. This year, we made a conscious decision to start incorporating more creative elements into our worship services to help us realize the goal.
We actually didn’t wake up one day and decide that we were going to do rock-n-roll church. Rather, we thoughtfully decided that every element in the room needed to be executed at a level of professional excellence that would glorify God. We wanted to use every tool at our disposal to reach people for Christ who had not otherwise been reached in any other church in our community. That meant doing things a little differently. OK, for some, it was a lot differently. In our transition in worship, this boiled down to introducing three new visual elements: additional colored lights, haze and staging. We have also worked with volume and EQ levels, and introduced some usage of multitracks for the worship teams. The sermon series are now themed and the theme is supported with logos, bumper videos that precede the sermon, and social media reinforcement of key scriptures and biblical ideals.
So when we add all this, aren’t we worried about distracting people from God? Let me answer that question with another series of questions. When you go to the Maroon5 concert, is there any concern that an awesome light show will make you forget you’re there to see Maroon5? Is there a worry that the haze on the stage will obstruct the view of Adam Levine? Does the stage design detract from the meaning of the music or the quality? Of course not. When we go to a concert, it is an expectation that the artist puts on a highly professional, produced show worthy of the money we paid for the ticket.
Let’s translate that example to post-modern, “rock concert” worship. Through our stage elements, song lyrics, posture on stage, and surrounding activities, we make it quite clear who the star of the “show” is: Jesus Christ, our one true God. How much effort should we then put into worship of OUR star? He paid the ultimate price for us; more than we could ever fathom paying for a ticket to a show. Why would we settle for anything less than an all-out, no-holds-barred worship experience that lives up at least to the standards of what we would expect when we come out to see our favorite secular artist? Our God is worthy of EVERYTHING we can give. Every tool, technology, light, sound and creative offering. Yes, what is created is cool — but isn’t that the point? Shouldn’t the worship we offer up to God be amazing in every way? In addition, when we open ourselves to methods of worship that the unchurched can relate to, we close the door on exclusivity and elitism that plagues so many churches. The unchurched — remember them? Oh right. They are the whole reason we exist as a church. If there is any doubt, read the great commission in Matthew 28:20.
But wait! As a church, isn’t it important that we stay rooted in our core beliefs and values? Of course it is. Lights and haze are no further from our core beliefs than stained glass and incense. All of the above are expressions of worship. Think for a moment about one of the major contributors to the value system of the United Methodist and Wesleyan churches, John Wesley. Wesley was a structure guy. He valued discipline and order. But did you know that he also valued corporate worship and corporate involvement, and sought to find ways to reach people for Christ? In The Way to Heaven: The Gospel According to John Wesley
author Steve Harper explains that Wesley understood transition and the need for evolution in the church. Wesley believed, “We have no other age to serve but the one we’re in, and we recognize it to be one of substantial and radical evolution.” Wesley strove to see the Gospel influence the culture. But then, how do we influence culture? By being completely apart from it or by leveraging the cultural tools of our time? I argue the latter. I’ve seen it work SO MUCH. When you speak – or worship – in the language
of people you are trying to reach – deliver messages in a medium people understand and engage with — we then have a chance of delivering the truth of the gospel to folks who may not have otherwise given this message a chance. In this way we turn culture inside out. Media, lights, haze are all tools. You can use them to glorify secular rock stars, or turn culture on its head and use all this awesome technology to glorify the Lord.
These things are just things, they are not God. We use these things to glorify God.
Now back to Wesley. Wesley’s structure, discipline and appreciation for doctrine did not mean he was stuck in his ways. He sought to use this theology “to address the time and place in which he lived,” according to Harper. Doing all this creates a kind of tension between two truths, one that has existed for all of humanity. On one hand, we are called to not conform to the patterns of this world. On the other hand, we must meet people where they are in order to reach them and make disciples for Christ.
Let’s take a look at David, a shining example of a great worshiper in the Old Testament. In 2 Samuel 6, we read that David is bringing the ark of God to Jerusalem. They are worshipping “with all their might.” Then in 2 Samuel 6:5 we see that “David and the whole house of Israel were celebrating with all their might before the Lord, with songs and with harps lyres, tambourines, sistrums and cymbals.”
What does it look like when we worship with all our might? With all of our energy?
What does it look like when we worship with everything we have at our disposal to lift up to the Lord?
Keep reading there in 2 Samuel. A little later, Michal is watching David worship this way and didn’t like it at all. In 2 Sam 6:16 we see her reaction to his showy worship: “As the ark of the Lord was entering the City of David, Michal daughter of Saul watched from a window. And when she saw King David leaping and dancing before the Lord, she despised him in her heart.”
Not everyone will like the style of worship as it evolves today, tomorrow or ten years from now. Why?
– They judge it as insincere or fake
– They mistake who or what is being worshipped
– They are distracted by the thing we are using to exalt
In this story, I like to imagine Michal looking at that ark, shaking her head. I envision her thoughts: “Ridiculous. They could have used the money and energy of building that ark to help people. What a waste. There they are out there dancing and singing and having a good old time. You know they aren’t thinking about God. They’re just having a go-go and not thinking about anything but jamming with the band!” Do you think she thought they were worshiping the ark? What thoughts do you suppose were going through her mind? The bible doesn’t say, this is just what I envision.
When it comes down to it, we know a few things about modern worship. Within a few years, the thing we’re doing today that is effective in reaching people will fade and something else will be in the toolbox. The thing that is shocking today will be commonplace and well accepted in a few years, because there was nothing wrong with it in the first place. Regardless of our methods, the important thing is the heart of the worship leaders and the sincerity of the tech team. Are we doing what we’re doing to be cool? Or to reach people for Christ? If we keep our goal at the front of our minds… if we make “reaching” a priority… then we are doing exactly what Jesus called us to do. Rock on.