The debates never end.
The divide is strong. Is production in worship a value or is it destroying the church? Are we actually worshiping God or are we worshiping worship?
Mike Livingston address his concern in a recent blog post, titled “The Heresy of Worshiptainment”. In the article he quotes David Platt and A.W. Tozer, talking about how humans have taken the place of God in our gatherings. We aren’t hungry for the Word of God, we’re actually hungry to be entertained.
This is interesting because I agree with most everything he said. But something about the article just rubbed me the wrong way.
To label our worship “heretical” is a severe generalization. No one can judge the essence of our worship but the Holy Spirit. It’s a waste of time for us to try and label forms of worship “wrong” because it appears to be more about entertainment than God.
Worship cannot be judged by outward forms. It is an inner response to an inner working of the Holy Spirit.
Sure, as a worshiper I should never be dependent on a certain sound, talent, worship leader, or light show. But if those forms actually serve me in worshiping God, I’m all the better for it.
Does Talent & Production Serve or Distract?
John Piper in his fabulous book, “Seeing Beauty and Saying Beautifully“, dissects the life and ministry of America’s great preacher, George Whitefield. Whitefield was a freak of nature when it came to preaching. He could command the attention of thousands of people in an open field (without a microphone). His natural talents have always been admired by Christian and unbeliever alike.
Many, including John Wesley, wondered if Whitefield’s preaching was actually in service of the Gospel or in competition with it. Did people simply enjoy Whitefield’s preaching style or were they moved by what he said? Was it more about Whitefield or the Gospel?
Piper sheds some light:
So if you ask Whitefield, ‘Why do you preach the way you do?’ he would probably say, ‘I believe what I read in the Bible is real.’ So let me venture this claim: George Whitefield is not a repressed actor, driven by egotistical love of attention. Rather, he is consciously committed to out-acting the actors because he has seen what is ultimately real. His oratorical exertion—his poetic effort—is not in place of God’s revelation and power but in the service of them. It is not an expression of ego but of love—for God and for the lost. It is not an effort to get a hearing at any cost but to pay a cost suitable to the beauty and worth of the truth.
The poetic effort to speak and act in suitable ways wakened in him the reality he wanted to communicate. For him the truths of the gospel were so real—so wonderfully, terrifyingly, magnificently real—that he could not and would not preach them as though they were unreal or merely interesting. He would not treat the greatest facts in the universe as unworthy of his greatest efforts to speak with fitting skill and force.”
Can our excellence in production not serve this same end?
I don’t want to treat the greatest facts in the universe as unworthy of my greatest efforts to produce, create, sing, write, and lead with fitting skill and force.
Sustained Worship
I remember when the International House of Prayer first started to host round-the-clock prayer meetings in their prayer center. Mike Bickle said that the art forms of music and singing help to sustain enjoyable prayer.
Rather than sitting in a cold room with no sound, music assists the fragile, distracted human in a sustained pursuit of God. In the case of IHOP, this is for hours upon hours at a time. When your mind starts to drift, the singing helps you reengage on a certain truth. When you’re tempted to look around or doze off, the “production” serves to focus and engage our distracted hearts around the glory of God.
Of course, the Holy Spirit is enough. Yes, the Word of God is all we need. But that also doesn’t mean we should get rid of songs, lights, and talented people. It doesn’t mean our worship is heretical. There will always be someone who will try to idolize the gift rather than the Giver. But that can’t be avoided.
Switch It Up
For example:
We could all completely overhaul our weekend worship experiences this week.
- We could turn off the heat (or the air conditioning, depending on the season)
- We could turn off the lights or simply purchase the brightest fluorescent lights we can find.
- We could get rid of the band
- Of course, the smoke machines would be gone.
Even in an environment like that, a leader still needs to lead. Even in that context, a member of the congregation could be entertained by the lead Pastor. They could still idolize the leader no matter how dense and boring the environment is.
Anytime someone is on stage, they run the risk of being idolized. It’s part of our nature. The answer isn’t to rid the church of leaders (obviously), but it’s to have more brokenhearted leaders whose only aim is to make Christ known.
It could also be argued that we should remove any form of entertainment in our sermons. No jokes, no illustrations, no videos. If entertainment is wrong, let’s rid it from everywhere in our churches.
Which brings me to my point: entertainment isn’t the problem. Matter of fact, great humor can be used in a sermon to open a hard heart to truth. In the same way, creative music can be used by God (as can boring music) to open hearts to the immediacy of His Presence.
Production or No Production?
That’s not to say we shouldn’t dial back our production on occasion. Or that Tozer, Platt, or Livingston are wrong. Maybe we need to remove our comfortable entertainments to get back on track. But they are not the problem. They can actually be a valuable tool to reach people and sustain worship and prayer when the human heart is weak. And of course, God can do that without those tools as well.
But let’s not make blanket generalizations. Let’s not judge and put down our hard working, Jesus loving, Bride-of-Christ serving worship leaders who are laboring to create weekend experiences to help people encounter Jesus. Let’s learn from everyone and try many different forms.
Lead worship like Housefires. Or…
Lead worship like Elevation. Or…
Remove your comfy chairs and exciting music entirely.
The power isn’t in the form but in the Presence of God that will inhabit praise wherever it is found. Whether that’s in a stadium full of smoke and rock & roll or a small group with a lousy singer and out-of-tune guitar. He truly does…inhabit the praises of His people.
What’s the Next Step?
Do something different than you’re currently doing.
To keep things the same all the time doesn’t serve our people well. As leaders, we need to bring a relentless focus to the glory of God. A great way to do that is shaking things up.
If you’re used to quiet, acoustic, reflective worship, try something more aggressive. If you’re used massive weekend productions, dial it back and do a series on simplicity.
Above all else, don’t shrink back from the displaying the glories of God with all your heart, soul, mind, & strength.
How does this debate land on you? Is your church a highly programmed, production driven church? Or do you keep things simple? Let us know in the comments! You can leave a comment by clicking here.
[ois skin=”Beyond Sunday 2″]
Great post. I think the production, or lack thereof, isn’t the issue. It all comes back to the heart, and it all comes back to His presence. If God’s presence is in that room, if we’ve helped create an atmosphere that’s welcoming and where He can flow, it doesn’t matter if it’s just voices or a full-blown production. And how is that atmosphere created? In part by the team, by the leaders. But also by each individual heart being willing, open and ready to worship. I think in our day and age sometimes people benefit from the grandness of a worship production just to help them “shake” the burden of the world that gets on us all just by being out there day in and day out, in darkness, dealing with difficult things. The concern is when people depend on that for a “high”…when they can’t ever manage to enter the presence of God or worship fully without some kind of extreme worship “fix.”
Deb,
What a perfect analogy–that of addiction.
Worship has been hi-jacked when it serves to “take me somewhere.”
Worship is, of late, become like the automobiles we drive. There was a day when an average person could go under the hood and make a fix right away. Now, unless you are a computer programmer, best to take it to the Pro–sit and wait in his glorious presence and pay the big bucks for all he did so much better than you or I ever could. The worship leader has become this “programmer” and yes, it has become an industry.
Now we have a show room where we look admiringly through the window and swoon at the mechanics/worship leaders amazing talent and skill.
God is omnipresent in an eternal fashion. We are never out of His presence and we need no “leader” to take us to his version of “God’s presence”. (though he may need us to keep his job)
We miss worship when we join in with those “specialists” who pretend that God is just a big tease, waving his presence wand over the people who whip up enough frenzy and flash enough lights to make us “feel” something. The manipulated atmosphere is a surreal part of the “experience”. Like all addictive drugs–watch–they have to become more powerful to produce the same effect.
You know, the scary part is how committed we become to our artificial friends who deal out the drugs we have come to love and rely on. They appreciate our support and funding.
I love what you wrote:
” “shake” the burden of the world that gets on us all just by being out there day in and day out, in darkness, dealing with difficult things.”
“Lord, this day, and all I may find within it, belongs to you. Your presence is with me today, whether I feel it or not. I give you this day and trust you, not only to support and love me, but to use me in the lives of others who bear equal or greater burdens than mine.
Let this be the fruit of my worship I pray.”
We would do well to remember that none of us are worship leaders, The Holy Spirit is our worship leader. If we allow the Holy Spirit to be our worship leader we will be not confuse real worship and entertainment.
Excellent thoughts! The LORD, His Word, and His Truth are worth ALL of our best efforts. As leaders in the church, through the vehicle of worship, we MUST adopt the attitude that the Apostle Paul proclaimed: “…I have become all things to all people so that by all possible means I might save some.” (I Cor 9:22b) We are challenged to “work with all our hearts” (Col 3:23) in all other aspects of life: worship and our corporate engagement should be no exception. So long as OUR hearts are purely devoted to making the LORD famous, we are validated in bringing our best ideas and creations to the altar as a stepping stone for His Glory!
“Bring our best ideas and creations to the altar” – I LOVE that! Thanks for sharing, Chloe.
Different forms and styles of worship will appeal to different people. We need diversity to reach the lost. Because we re-located alot, we saw a lot of different style worship formats/productions. Some did not appeal to us but I don’t dis-credit what they are doing because they are appealing to a different “audience” that others may never be able to reach.
Karen, love your attitude here. You stayed in a church that didn’t completely appeal to you because you knew the vision behind who it was reaching. Awesome.
Worship comes from Gods word nothing more nothing less.
If what you are doing can be found in Gods word its good if it’s man wade worship made to please man its in vain.
I seen one post that said we need do diversify?
Where is that in Gods word?
When Jesus whipped the money changers out of the temple he wasn’t concerned for the people feelings he wanted them to do what was right.
If he had been interested in numbers he would have said anything you do is OK as long as you do it with a good heart.
Excellent points. Entertainment is not just in in the contemporary service. We are going through a shift at our very traditional Presbyterian church. We have an aging choir and director who insists on bringing in paid choir section leaders from various sources. We ahve turned from being a church choir to a show choir. These non church singers are vying to get the congregation to applause after they sing and the congregation is eating it up. Solos are performances and not worshipful offerings. I truly believe the sacredness of worship lies in Inent. Individual intent, but also instruction from the pulpit on what that means. If our leadership is only after gaining more members and will use any form of entertainment to do it – that is entertainment and I need to reassess where I worship. It is a sad realization for me.