The worship wars have been raging for decades. When I first began pastoral work almost 40 years ago there were Christians who thought the presence of guitars and drums in a church proved that the antichrist had infested the music department. These days if you\u2019re not blowing people\u2019s eardrums out and offering Starbucks at the \u201cbreak time\u201d you\u2019re way behind the curve. Lots of medium-sized books have been written about this subject and opinions (as you know) proliferate. But there are at least ten questions that it seems to me every pastor should be asking about worship no matter which particular \u201cflavor\u201d of praise happens to be the favorite.<\/p>\n
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1. Does praise play a central role in our worship gathering?<\/strong><\/em> This may seem obvious, but in many churches, even though the lyrics mention the Lord, the \u201csinging time\u201d is not about him. It is a relatively brief opportunity for late-comers to get seated and a warm-up for the preaching. In some cases it is a warm-up for the announcements<\/em>. Biblically, singing praises is a specific and crucial way in which the body experiences the presence of the Spirit and the importance of the gospel (compare Eph.5:15-21 and Col.3:16). It is every bit as important to healthy body-life as good preaching or praying.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 2. Does our praise lead directly into the Word?<\/strong><\/em> Many churches insert the announcements or a \u201cfellowship time\u201d between praise and teaching. Feel free to disagree, but I think this is a mistake. Praise puts a Christian\u2019s mind in a spiritually receptive mode (or it should). That\u2019s the time to get into the Scriptures and hear the Lord\u2019s voice. Put the announcements at the very beginning of the service and get them out of the way fast. Don\u2019t let Sunday degenerate into a club meeting.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 3. Can (and do) the men sing this praise music?<\/strong><\/em> Two thoughts here: Are the songs pitched so that non-voice-trained men can sing them? Many of the hymns and choruses are played above the range of most men in our culture, unless they\u2019re trained to harmonize. And second, are these songs overly sentimental? We call some contemporary praise offerings \u201cJesus My Boyfriend\u201d songs. Frankly they sound like a woman should be singing them to her lover. This does not inspire men to worship. If the average men can sing the music, then everybody can. And if the men do sing in a church, everybody is probably singing.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 4. Does the music serve the congregation?<\/strong><\/em> Ideally there is a balance between music that the worship leaders respect and music that is useful to the congregation in expressing love and loyalty to the Lord. But not always. Some music is so technically sophisticated that normal folks just stop and listen instead of entering in. If the people are actually singing<\/em> and meaning<\/em> it, then we\u2019re on track. But if it\u2019s great music that few can or will sing with, something\u2019s wrong. <\/p>\n 6. Can the people hear their own voices?<\/strong><\/em> We do contemporary music at our church. Part of contemporary worship is volume (though not always). On the other hand some contemporary praise is so loud that it raises questions about the essential nature of the activity. Biblically, praise is happening when people sing real lyrics to real music. If they can\u2019t hear their own voices, does this enhance the purpose of worship? Human voices are miraculous instruments of praise. They should not be habitually drowned out by other instruments. Try using a decibel meter if you haven\u2019t already, and keep things under 90 if you can. BTW: Just knowing you measure the sound will quiet some complaints.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 7. Is the music appropriate to the surrounding culture?<\/strong><\/em> This may sound odd. Isn\u2019t our worship music for us? Well, yes and no. The church is not a living museum where visitors observe actors in period costumes performing quaintly irrelevant activities from a bygone era. The music we use as the vehicle of praise should in some way make sense to non-Christians who hear it, even if they themselves don\u2019t have a heart for the Lord (1 Cor.14:20-15).<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 8. Could we serve communion with this worship set?<\/strong><\/em> This is more or less an acid test for me. If the praise music would be totally inappropriate for communion, we should ask if it is New Covenant worship or just a fun concert.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 9. Are the musicians \u201cperforming?\u201d<\/strong><\/em> This is something that all good worship leaders discuss regularly. Worship is not a gig. It\u2019s an opportunity to help \u201cnon-musician\u201d brothers and sisters lift their voices to the Lord. Good worship music comes in under the voices and lifts them without drawing too much attention to the people on the stage.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n 10. Does the PA system work?<\/strong><\/em> This may seem terribly mundane, but it is just as spiritual as any other aspect of public praise in our world because it affects everything else that\u2019s happening on stage and in the pews. We live in a very sound-savvy culture. Cheap or poorly handled sound technology detracts from worship. If you use a PA (no law says you must) then treat it as an \u201cinstrument.\u201d Budget for the best sound reinforcement and training you can afford according to the sort of music you normally use in a worship setting. Pastor Rick<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The worship wars have been raging for decades. When I first began pastoral work almost 40 years ago there were Christians who thought the presence of guitars and drums in a church proved that the antichrist had infested the music department. These days if you\u2019re not blowing people\u2019s eardrums out and offering Starbucks at the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3592,"featured_media":12273,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false},"categories":[405,4136,4138],"tags":[2018,1753],"class_list":{"0":"post-12263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-pastor-how-to","8":"category-pastoral-leadership","9":"category-worship-leadership","10":"tag-rick-booye-articles","11":"tag-worship"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/blogrouting.sharefaith.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/05\/WorshipQuestions_750.jpg","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"yoast_head":"\n
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\n5. Does it point to Christ and the gospel?<\/strong><\/em> Many contemporary worship songs (and some older hymns) focus much more on the church than on the Lord. Praise music should focus our minds on God, in Christ, by the power of the Spirit, according to the gospel. The best ones are prayers put to music, like the Psalms.<\/p>\n
\nEverybody has specific tastes in worship music and no church escapes critique these days on these subjects. But I have found that asking at least the above questions helps me clarify what I\u2019m looking for in our ministry.
\nJust a Thought,<\/p>\n