Worship styles
November 9th, 2005 by Travis Swan | Posted in Ministry Philosophy, Song Selection, Theology
Throughout the years I’ve lead worship, I’ve experimented with the style of what our church calls “worship” – we’ve tried a bunch of things, but lately it seems like we’re getting back to the basics. This year I let the band take the summer off and our church (used to drums, two electric guitars, bass, and keyboard) had acoustic nights all summer long – and it was amazing. The people responded like crazy – just as much as they did with the entire band playing.
These days I’m realizing people get stuck in what they like and styles become “sacred cows.” I think that instead of waging wars over style, we must focus on these two things:
Quality of worshippers is the first one. I’m done with trying to be something that I’m not. Quite honestly, I don’t want to sing “The Happy Song” much of the time – I want to be real. If I’ve had a bad week, I don’t need to hide it, I need to be honest and transparent. Quality worshippers are honest, their worship during the service is merely an expression of a genuine walk with God that exists throughout the whole week – quality worshippers lay corporate worship on the already-laid foundation of personal worship.
Second of all, quality of music matters. I’m not talking about style. I’m talking about quality. You can do quality in whatever style you happen to play – just keep it REAL – what is God doing in YOUR heart as worship leader? Do you have good reasons for the things you do? We have a responsibility as worship leaders to not distract people. Our job is to facilitate corporate worship – and this should be done well. Yes, talent and practice are involved here, but I’ll just sum it up with a few verses:
Psalm 33:1-3 Sing joyfully to the LORD, you righteous; it is fitting for the upright to praise him. Praise the LORD with the harp; make music to him on the ten-stringed lyre. Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy. 1 Chron. 15:22 Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it. 1 Corinthians 10:31 So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Malachi 1:11-14 (NLT) But my name is honored by people of other nations from morning till night. All around the world they offer sweet incense and pure offerings in honor of my name. For my name is great among the nations,” says the LORD Almighty. “But you dishonor my name with your actions. By bringing contemptible food, you are saying it’s all right to defile the Lord’s table. You say, `It’s too hard to serve the LORD,’ and you turn up your noses at his commands,” says the LORD Almighty. “Think of it! Animals that are stolen and mutilated, crippled and sick–presented as offerings! Should I accept from you such offerings as these?” asks the LORD. “Cursed is the cheat who promises to give a fine ram from his flock but then sacrifices a defective one to the Lord. For I am a great king,” says the LORD Almighty, “and my name is feared among the nations!”
In the spirit of these verses, I’ve been more intentional working on the flow and quality of our church service. I’ve been adding instrumental sections lately. Every so often (not every week, gotta keep things fresh!) I ask the speaker for verses they were using in their talk, and make slides with these verses on them. Near the end of the worship set we turn the lights down on the stage so the focus is on the verses on the screen, while the band plays a simple instrumental song. The response has been amazing. As people read the words on the screen, their hearts connect with the music – it was as if the head and the heart connect, both intellect and emotion striving to worship the Lord.
One week our speaker, Brandon, was giving a message about the Spirit of God. We ended our worship set with “Take My Life,” and followed it with a simple three-chord instrumental based on the chorus of the song – the lights went down, and people stood and read what the word of God has to say about the Spirit. When Brandon got up to share, hearts were already connected in with his topic and ready to hear what he had to say.
If you’d like to hear the recording of this particular instrumental, click here. Below are the verses we had appear on the screen during this time:
1 Corinthians 6:19-20 Acts 4:31
Ephesians 3:16-19 Romans 8:26-27 Ephesians 1:13-14 John 14:16-18 Acts 1:8 Matthew 1:23 Joshua 1:9 2 Corinthians 3:18
This entry was posted on Wednesday, November 9th, 2005 at 10:10 am and is filed under Ministry Philosophy, Song Selection, Theology. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Hey man – cool blog. Just a fellow guitar player/worship leader brother up in Canada – like ur blogin lots -thanx dude.
Greetings Andy. What church are you part of in Canada? What part of Canada?
Hey Travis – yeah I attend a local Baptist Church in Ontario, Canada. My wife and I were at a Community style church for a while then moved to a smaller town environment and made the transition to this church. We like it. I love the idea u guys have in this blog – and now the forum etc…. great way to bounce off ideas for worship and even get guys stoked up chattin about their rigs etc… very cool. Hey – u guys dont’ mind if i read and hang out on the blog/forum? sounds like this blog and stuff is insider for ur church denomination – anyway, it’s been a while since I’ve been here so i didn’t see your response to my post – thanx Travis.
Hi Travis, Have you ever done a study on that word “skill?” You (and others) may be as surprised as I was to discover that the word translated “skill” does NOT actually mean “ability” as we often translate it (in order to prove some silly point that God demands that our music be PERFECT in order to be acceptable.) Actually, the word means, “knowledge” which, while close, is not really the same thing as “ability.” It is much simpler than that – Play [as someone who knows how to play]. I only bring this up because far too many worship leaders and church musicians actually believe – and then model – that unless our music is perfect, God does not accept our worship. That is a lie. You can have perfect worship and be an ass – and God will NOT accept your worship! Likewise, you can have a broken and contrite spirit, and only know 3 guitar chords and never be thought of as a “recording artist” and God WILL accept your worship of Him.
Dan, I’ve never done a word study on the word “skill,” but I agree. One of the best worship leaders I’ve experienced only knew three or four chords at the time and pretty much butchered his way through every song he played. But his heart was so visible and honest throughout the time that everyone worshipped.
See my new post in the forum about the song “Break Me.” I think it communicates the spirit of worship that God desires from us – broken and contrite, as you said.
Ultimately all we do is for the glory of God. If our music is so good that people begin to adore us, instead of God, it’s wrong. But I also think that God does desire the best from us. Like the Malachi verse states about the Israelites animal sacrifices, our offerings of praise and worship shouldn’t be “crippled and sick.” If we only do half the work, yes, God can still use us. But if we’re capable of better, but are too lazy to get up off the couch and acquire some skill on (or knowledge of) our instruments, I don’t think that’s very honoring to Him. We must apply ourselves and not give into the laziness of the flesh. At the same time I must be careful that my focus doesn’t shift away from God and onto being skillful.
What matters is the state of our hearts. Are we offering Him everything we have, or are we holding back for ourselves – are our hearts divided? We must have a full commitment to lead worship and play with skill, within our God-given means. Think of the parables regarding talents. I really don’t want to bury my God-given talent, I want it to multiply so He can get as much glory as He can.
man travis, i really like that idea. i talked with steele at faithwalkers and then went to Passion and heard tim hughes share on worship and i’ve just really been trying to think of better ways to make the entire service flow, to make it seem like one seamless environment and i really like that idea.