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Worship At A Crossroads: Congregationalism Versus Performancism

The worship wars are over.

The worship wars were a battle between organs and guitars. Choirs and praise bands. Robes and blue jeans. Hymnal versus projector. Traditional versus contemporary. Old versus new.

They were mainly about style. The genre of the music, the instrumentation, the attire of the pastors, the vehicle for musical notation (or lack thereof), the authorship date of the songs.

And now, by and large, those wars have subsided and a delicate peace has settled in. Churches either went full throttle in one direction, and left any detractors in the smoke (and those detractors found a different church), or they went the “blended” route and offer multiple service styles in multiple venues in order to appease the factions and prevent them from killing each other. A small amount of churches survived the worship wars with their worship ethos in tact. Good for them.

Now we are at a worship crossroads.

This conversation isn’t so much about style. It transcends style.

This is about substance. It’s more about the “And so?” and less about the “And how?” It’s more about the heart of the leaders and less about the preferences of the worshippers.

This is about a fundamental distinction between two models of worship leading (irrespective of the style of music). The first model views the congregation’s engagement as integral. The second model views the congregation’s engagement as incidental. The first model I call “congregationalism” and the second model I call “performancism”.

Congregationalism: a model of worship leading that views the engagement of the congregation as integral to the success of a worship service.

Performancism: a model of worship leading that views the engagement of the congregation as incidental to the success of a worship service.

Engagement: the congregation’s active participation, in unity and with comprehension, throughout the majority of a worship service.

Gone are the days when the argument could be made that organs equaled bored congregations and guitars equaled revival. That argument has been destroyed over the last two decades as the embrace of “contemporary” expressions oftentimes resulted in drastically diminished congregational engagement in worship.

And vice versa, gone are the days when the argument could be made that contemporary worship meant death and destruction and drivel, and traditional worship meant the preservation of all things beautiful and holy. That argument has been destroyed as we witness not only the maturity of so many contemporary expressions, but also the withering decline of churches and denominations whose traditional liturgy and instrumentation have been unable to mask its internal rot.

It’s possible to have the most traditional of traditional churches, with organs and choirs and smells and bells and hymnals and robes and kneelers, and have a congregation whole-heartedly engaged in worship of Jesus Christ. And in this stylistic vein, it’s also possible to have congregations who sit in their seats and watch the professionals do their completely inaccessible thing which, while impressive, does not call forth any response from the congregation other than, perhaps, an “ah that was nice”.

And conversely, it’s possible to have the most contemporary of contemporary churches (so contemporary they don’t even use the traditional word “contemporary” anymore), with guitars, drums, screens, top-notch equipment, lights, loops, effects, video, and coffee bars, and have a congregation drawn in to see and savor the glory of Jesus Christ, singing their hearts out. And with this same style repeated down to the very last v-neck shirt, you can have congregations who are literally left in the dark, watching a performance, being sung at, and resigning themselves to a passive role as a passive observer of something that’s designed to look and sound dynamic.

I’ve lost count of the amount of times I’ve had a conversation with someone, usually a total non-musician, who has lived in the middle of this tension at their church (or former church) for a long period of time. They can’t put their finger on what’s so difficult for them about the worship leading model at their church, and when I begin to explain my theory to them, their eyes begin to light up as I appear to be verbalizing what they’ve experienced internally. Their stylistic preferences are all over the map – but in their heart – they’re weary and leery of performancism.

Style isn’t the issue anymore. It’s substance now. The “how” (i.e. what instrumentation will we use) has given way to the “so” (i.e. what is the end result of what we’re doing?)

The worship leading model of congregationalism says the “so” is: so that people will be engaged (actively).

The worship leading model of performancism says the “so” is: so that people will have an experience (passively).

Congregationalism is specific when it comes to the desired goal during the music: the congregation singing along with one another. Facilitating their singing is the worship leader’s number one priority.

Performancism is vague: the congregation is there to experience the experience, and if they happen to be able to sing along, then that’s great. But if they can’t sing along, then at least they had an experience.

This is the crossroads where we find ourselves.

It’s not about style anymore, though issues of style certainly flare up in many places with a good deal of noise. This conversation transcends style and begs a simple question: is the congregation’s engagement in worship integral or incidental?

The answer to that simple question will determine a church’s trajectory for the next several decades, and perhaps longer. I pray that a fresh commitment to congregational worship will sweep across the worldwide church, overturning performancism, and drawing the Bride of Christ into increasing unity in the years to come.

Is Music a Tool or a Gift? Or Both?

Last week in my post “Jesus Is The Feast” I made the point that discussions and arguments about music (especially in the church) go awry when we’re under the impression that music is the feast. It’s not. Jesus is the feast and music is a wonderful tool to help people encounter him, savor him, and feast on him.

I had a few questions along the lines of: “But isn’t music is gift? Isn’t saying ‘Music is a tool’ downplaying the fact that it’s a gift from God?” My response was that music is both a tool and a gift. It doesn’t have to be either/or.

Bob Kauflin has been hugely instrumental in helping me (and many others) think through the role of music. I asked him this question: is music a tool or a gift? He responded:

Is music a gift or a tool? Why do we have to make a choice? It’s like food. Is it a gift or a tool? It’s both. It’s easy to see food as a gift when you think of the variety of tastes, textures, and smells God has caused it to be associated with. Filet Mignon, chocolate, corn on the cob, and sweet red apples are gifts! But we eat to survive and to maintain our strength. Mothers can use food as way of blessing their families. In those senses food is a tool that serves a functional purpose. It’s unhelpful and unnecessary to say that food is either a gift or a tool. Likewise, music is gift we can delight in, enjoy, and thank God for whether we’re enjoying pop, classical, jazz, or bluegrass. But it becomes tool when we use it to enable the word of Christ to dwell in us richly, to teach and admonish one another, and to express gratefulness in our hearts to God (Colossians 3:16).

The point of all of this is that music, in its proper place, is a wonderful tool God has given us for his glory, for the proclamation of the gospel, and for the edification of the church. It’s also a wonderful gift of common grace that the whole world can enjoy and delight in. But music is not an end unto itself. It is a means to an end. And the end is the praise of the glorious grace of God in Christ. When we forget this, and the means becomes the end, we are like a dog chasing its tail in a futile search for fulfillment.

Music will not ultimately fulfill anyone or save anyone. Only Jesus will. Music can (and should) preach that message loud and strong. This is the good news of the gospel that can (and should) unite Christians all over the musical preference spectrum.

From Joshua Spacht

Almost two years ago I had the joy of meeting Joshua Spacht for the first time. Joshua is an amazingly gifted worship leader, orchestrator, composer, arranger, and musician extraordinaire. He’s become a great friend, and in his relatively-recent role as Director of Worship at McLean Presbyterian Church in McLean, Virginia, he’s also become a neighbor. I’m impressed not only by Joshua’s worship leading and wisdom, but also by his musical creativity (you can hear his string orchestrations on this Advent EP that I produced and sang/played on with my former church last year, or at his Sound Cloud page). I asked him some questions about music and worship leading and I think you’ll find his answers encouraging and helpful.

1. How do you stay fresh musically?
I listen to music – lots of it! I listen at several different levels. Everything from superficially skimming through an album to listening to one section of a song over and over. I have friends whose musical tastes are different than mine, and I ask them to provide me with songs, bands, or entire albums that I “need” to listen to. I then systematically work my way through the recommendations. I don’t have time to sort through lists of bestselling recordings or scour blogs for what’s new and fresh. So, I ask others to fill me in and keep me in the loop. Even music I don’t prefer can have a positive impact on my writing and arranging.

If I only expose myself to my musical preferences, I will stagnate as a writer and all my ideas will inevitably begin to sound the same. Listening to things outside your comfort zone is like trying to increase your vocabulary. You have to actually find new words before you can begin to use them in normal, everyday conversation. The same is true with our “musical vocabulary”.

2. What are two things the average worship leader could do to grow in musical creativity?
Listen to things you don’t gravitate towards naturally – particularly music that doesn’t have an immediate payoff and may require several listens. This is one of the beauties of classical music. It’s layered, nuanced, and requires an investment of time and thought to fully be appreciated. I’ll often make CDs of classical music for my rhythm players – particularly baroque music if they’re a drummer or bass player. Rock-and-roll didn’t appear in the 20th century, it existed long ago in the music of rockers like Vivaldi, Bach, and Handel! There’s a drive, pulse, and “pocket” in their church music that long predates Chris Tomlin.

The other thing I’ll often recommend to worship leaders who want to grow creatively is that they simply watch themselves leading worship for several weeks (or even months) in a row. The recording doesn’t have to be professional or fancy, an iPhone will do. But look for patterns, monotony, thoughtless patterns that creep up in playing, speaking, or praying. We don’t just want to eliminate mistakes in our leading, but we want to eliminate those quirky things we all do that aren’t obvious to us (but often are to others). Sometimes the best way to give a freshness to our worship leading isn’t by adding more elements, but by removing unnecessary phrases, licks, whatever. Space can be a beautiful thing!

3. How should worship leaders handle criticism when they’re pushing the musical envelope in their congregation?
Arguing my case and musical convictions has yet to produce one convert to my perspective! You can’t strongarm or manipulate people into realizing the “superiority” of your opinions. You earn trust over time, which then allows you to speak into the “music transition” issue with credibility. You need to first build relationships with team members and those on your committee/elder board. Take people out to lunch – start with the most difficult cases. Leadership isn’t as simple as telling disgruntled individuals to “take two Bible verses and call me in the morning”. Change takes time, time, and more time. We should all understand this because of the slow process of growth we see in our own lives. You need to pray – not just that the Lord changes others’ hearts, but that He melts yours with love for the folks you’re supposed to be leading.

Don’t talk about music, talk about Christ! Reinforce this statement at every meeting, rehearsal, and service: “Content is King”. Few people will oppose that statement. Rally your music ministry and your church around the truth that what we sing is far, far more important than the form of our singing.

Be deferential and loving to naysayers by being willing to do things and choose songs/hymns that are meaningful to their particular spiritualheritage and tradition. Afterall, contextualization doesn’t only mean adopting practices that are perceived to be “hip and cool”. We also need to contextualize for those who are more traditionally and conservatively oriented than we are.

4. What’s some of the best musical/worship leading advice you’ve ever received?
I asked my dad, who was a minister of music for 30 years, this question on the phone in the last meaningful conversation we had before he passed away. He paraphrased Robert Murray M’Cheyne and said, “Pursue holiness. All else you do will be null and void without spiritual integrity.” There’s a lot of truth in that. We can debate techniques, philosophies, musical styles, sound amplification, drums as the day is long. However, all those issues are secondary to the importance of pursuing godliness.

Now, I know it’s Christ who qualifies us salvifically before the Father. And I know it’s Christ that mediates for His children as they sing, not our integrity and practical righteousness. But, let’s not pretend that our personal pursuit of the spiritual disciplines has no affect on our hearts and dispositions – your spouse will be the first one to agree with that statement! How much more will you benefit, protect, lead, and serve your congregation by pursuing Christ through His Word and prayer and by actually saying “no” to sin and “yes” to what pleases Him?

On another note, my dad used to say the phrase “loud and proud” to describe how a worship leader should speak when giving short exhortations or reading Scripture, etc. We all need to slow down and ruminate on what we’re actually saying. Don’t be hasty or apologetic. Be predictable, coherent, and purposeful in everything you say and sing.

And one final nugget of advice from Chuck Spacht, let’s occasionally pretend like we enjoy what we’re doing and smile at our people (note sarcasm)! It might feel a little awkward and doesn’t do much to feed our “rock star” personas. But, it goes a long way to demonstrate that we’re happy to be there and we’re not the “worship artist” that’s putting on a show and can’t show weakness. A smile says “I’m one of you. I’m a worshipper, too. Let’s rejoice together!”

Thanks, Joshua, for these fantastic words of advice, encouragement, and wisdom!

Headed to the Anglican Assembly 2014

Tonight I’m headed up to Latrobe, PA to lead worship at eight different sessions/services at the Anglican Church in North America‘s Assembly 2014. In addition to hearing some great speakers (J.I. Packer, Os Guinness, Gary Haugen, Andy Crouch, Eric Mataxas, etc.), I’m looking forward to the times of corporate worship and leading the music alongside some good friends who are traveling up there with me. My church has taken the lead on planning/organizing much of this conference, and before I transition out in a little less than two weeks, it will be fun (and exhausting) to be a part of this event.

A couple of years ago I led worship at a similar event on the West Coast, and I taught a seminar called “Ten Ways Anglican Churches Can Grow in Worship”. I posted on it back then, but since I’m going to be knee-deep in the Anglican world this week, and since I think all of these things can apply to other churches as well, I’d like to share them again.

Here are ten ways Anglicans (and probably most other churches) can grow in worship:

1. Worship God out of love, not duty
We don’t worship God because he needs it, we worship God because we need it. To paraphrase John Piper: God demands praise because we won’t be happy until we give it. God isn’t needy. We are. When people come to church because they think God needs it, or because God will be impressed, they’re doing it out of duty. Encourage people to come hungry, thirsty, and expectant to receive.

2. Appreciate all styles of music as God’s handiwork
There is not one style of music that can contain God’s glory. There is not one style of music that is unable to be used for God’s glory. Music is God’s handiwork, therefore we can and should use all of it, with care, for the glory of God. Therefore, we shouldn’t be protective, defensive, or suspicious. We should be glad to see God’s glory reflected in variety.

3. Expressiveness as the norm
When is the last time you’ve taught/offered encouragement on biblical expressiveness? Teach it from the bible and let people know they’re safe to feel free to worship with their bodies. Finally, model it. People won’t go beyond what they see up front. Expressive worship is the norm in scripture. So it should be in our churches too.

4. Clergy as worship leaders
The pastor, or the priest, or the rector of a church is being studied at all times. Especially during a service. If he’s not interested or engaged in what’s going on, people notice. If your congregation isn’t expressive or engaged in worship, look at your pastor. Most often, he isn’t either.

5. Lay Eucharistic ministers, acolytes, ushers, etc., as worship leaders
If you were to walk into a new church for the first time and see people up front, you would understandably assume that those people were in leadership. And if those people look bored during the service, you would understandably get the idea that worship isn’t terribly important. In Anglican/liturgical churches, most often, the people that we put up on the platform look bored. And I think this is a major reason why our congregations do too.

6. Do contemporary well
I remember when I was visiting England and I ordered a burger at a restaurant. I could tell it wasn’t the real deal. I remember when I was a kid and my Mom tried to sneak store-brand Cheerios in the name-brand box. I could tell it wasn’t the real deal. People have sharp antennae for fakeness. Sadly, in many Anglican churches, classical music is supported with skilled leaders and some sort of budget, while the contemporary music is not. This should not be so. Do it all well.

7. Go for it: celebration
On a scale of 1 – 10, 10 being a party, and 1 being asleep, most Anglican churches settle around a 3. They’re not totally asleep, but they’re leaning that direction. I think I can get away with saying this stuff since I’ve grown up in this tradition.

Don’t expect a congregation that’s at a 3 to all of the sudden go to a 10. But maybe one Sunday with some explanation and love you can encourage them to a 3.5? Nudge people to celebrate God’s glory with more enthusiasm.

8. Wait for it: stillness
Most people have very few (if any) extended times of stillness during their day. We can give them that space on Sunday. But it’s not enough to just leave silence and expect people to figure out what to do. Imagine you’re stuck on a plane on the tarmac. What do you want? The pilot to give you an update. So apply this principle to times of silence on Sunday: give people a bit of direction and explain what’s going to happen, and encourage them to be still and listen to the Lord and enjoy his presence. It might make people uncomfortable but it’s good for them.

9. See liturgy as a tool not an idol
I’ve written and spoken extensively on this here.

10. Leave room for the Spirit
Which of these two questions are you asking yourself the most throughout the service: (1) where does the liturgy have us going? Or (2) where is the Holy Spirit leading us? Both are important questions. But one is more important than the other. And that’s the latter question.

If, by any chance, you’re going to be at the Anglican Assembly this week, come say hi!

Where Am I Pointing?

One of the beautiful things about the Church is all of the different ways it expresses its worship in music around the world, in different cultures, in different denominations, with different instrumentation, and with different opinions about how it should be done. It’s a wonderful expression of the unsearchable greatness of God (Psalm 145:3).

And even though this breadth of worship expressions can make it hard for worship leaders across the spectrum to talk principles and practicalities, I do think there is one question that gets to the heart for all worship leaders, regardless of their culture, denomination, instrumentation, and technique.

That question is: “where am I pointing?”

The local worship leader with a team of two musicians (one of whom can’t play in 5 keys). The underground worship leader playing some songs off of her iPod. The mega-church worship leader with five weekend services, three weekly production meetings, two full dress rehearsals, and an all-paid band. The organist who chooses hymns according to the lectionary, and selects anthems for a small but good choir to sing. All very different churches. All with different challenges and responsibilities for their respective worship leader/organist/choir director. But in each of those churches, the person responsible for leading the worship in song has to decide where to point.

And the kicker is that any moving object can only move in the direction it’s pointing. Try walking in multiple directions at once. Try driving on multiple roads at the same time. It’s logistically, physically, and literally impossible. You can only move in one direction at a time. So when a worship leader is planning and leading a service, in whatever context and with whatever style, he can choose to point towards Jesus, or to point away from Jesus. You can’t point away from Jesus and point towards Jesus at the same time. You can’t exalt yourself and exalt Jesus at the same time. It’s impossible.

I’m afraid that some worship leaders across the broad spectrum of worship expressions think it’s possible, permissible, and even preferable to point to themselves, their music, their style, their personality, their instrumentation, their professionalism, their polish, and their performance. There’s a word for this, and it’s called “mission creep“, and it’s what happens when we forget our original mission’s goals and move in other directions.

All worship leaders, and I’m preaching just as loudly to myself here, need a constant reminder: No. It is not OK to point to yourself. By doing so, you are pointing away from Jesus, and vainly seeking after a share of the glory he is due. Our mission has one aim: the exaltation of Jesus Christ.

Who am I to say that worship leaders have one aim? Don’t blame me. Blame Paul.

(Jesus) is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities—all things were created through him and for him. And he is before all things, and in him all things hold together. And he is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent. (Colossians 1:15-18)

That. In. Everything. He. Might. Be. Preeminent (ie. totally, completely, unmistakably above all other things). Where is there wiggle room in this? Where is there grey? Where is there room for me to exalt myself? There isn’t.

Jesus is the image of the Father. He’s glorified by the Spirit (John 16:14). He “upholds the universe by the word of his power” (Hebrews 1:3). Is he the center of our worship services? He either is or he isn’t. We’re either pointing to him or we’re not. Regardless of our musical expression, context, stye, technique, approach, or denomination, we have this one question to answer. And it’s not multiple choice.