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Contemporary worship culture

Elmer J. Thiessen

Over the last 12–15 years, there has been a significant shift in the way in which we conduct worship services in our churches. The shift to a more contemporary worship culture seems to be unstoppable. But discomfort remains. Indeed, worship wars are all too common in churches – even in Mennonite Brethren churches, which aren’t supposed to believe in war! One of the problems is that we often fail to penetrate to the underlying issues behind the current conflicts over worship, to identify the “culture” (the underlying attitudes, values and beliefs) that is at the root of what has become the dominant style of worship in our day. Most often we are unaware of the culture that surrounds us. We take it for granted. We find it difficult to stand back and critically examine the culture that we assume to be natural and right.

But there is a need for such critical analysis. In this article, I will attempt to identify several characteristics of the worship culture found in most MB and evangelical churches in Canada today, and at the same time raise some questions about each of these characteristics.


Worship as Praise

Together with an increased emphasis on worship, there is an emphasis today on praising God, lifting up His name in song, even raising our eyes and hands to symbolize the honour we wish to give to God. In fact, most often worship is understood to be synonymous with praising God. There is obviously something very healthy about all this. We ought to sing praises to God (Psalm 33:1-3; Ephesians 5:19-20). The Psalms are full of expressions of this kind of worship. Many of the contemporary choruses are directly based on the Psalms.

I wonder, though, whether we have unwittingly adopted too narrow a definition of worship. Worship is much more than singing praises to God. Worship also involves living a life of obedience to God – offering our whole self to Him (Romans 12:1). Every action for the Christian, from changing a diaper to writing a computer program, should be done as an expression of worship to God (Colossians 3:17).

There also seems to be a trend towards allowing worship as praise to displace other elements that have traditionally been thought essential to worship services. The singing portion of our services has increased in length significantly. On occasion, there is not even time left for a sermon. Is this not a violation of the biblical mandate that when we get together, there must be room for teaching and admonishing one another (Colossians 3:16; 1 Corinthians 14)?

Technology

Today’s worship culture is very comfortable with the use of technology. Worship teams use mikes. Amplifiers are connected to instruments. A tangle of cables is commonplace on the front stages of our churches. “Canned” music is used to accompany the soloist. Videos are used to enhance worship. Coded messages are flashed onto the corners of the stage to inform parents that their children need them. PowerPoint presentations are flashed onto screens to outline the pastor’s sermons. Indeed the control rooms for all this sound and light technology at times resemble the cockpit of a 747 aircraft.

Obviously we live in a world in which we are very much indebted to technology, and surely there is no merit in deliberately staying behind the times. I have no quarrel with the proper use of technology. My concern is that we do not follow the world in making modern technology an object of idolatrous worship. Of course, this raises the difficult question of distinguishing between a legitimate and an idolatrous use of technology in worship. I, for one find it difficult to worship God in churches that make an ostentatious display of sound technology and use it when it is quite unnecessary.

Performance

There further seems to be a performance mentality that pervades our contemporary worship culture. Much attention is paid to “staging” a worship service. We want polished sermons and charismatic speakers. We use worship teams and worship bands to lead the congregation in singing. A “stage presence” is carefully cultivated on the part of all those leading us in worship.

Now, some degree of performance is inescapable whenever a large group is being led in worship. The use of choirs in “the good old days” surely also involved performance. Charisma invariably accompanies a good speaker. And surely we do not want to hold up sloppiness, lack of preparation or just plain mediocrity as the ideal.

However, it is all too easy to slide into a mode that is predominantly performance oriented, and this is a betrayal of authentic worship. Here one oft-neglected dimension of the use of worship teams and worship bands needs to be called into question. Are not worship teams and worship bands by their very nature performance oriented? I in no way want to question the sincerity that most often characterizes the people involved. Nor do I want to discredit the hard work that usually goes into the preparation for leading worship services. But the bigger the worship team and the louder the worship band, the greater the performance quotient. Indeed, congregational participation in the singing seems to be rather incidental. As a result, members of the congregation very often do not join in the singing, or if they do, they participate rather half-heartedly. There is no need for them to sing.

Entertainment

Paul says that in the last days people will be “lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God” (2 Timothy 3:4). Somehow, this worldly attitude has become part of our worship culture. Worship services are increasingly evaluated in terms of their entertainment value. We want worship bands that please us. Speakers must be entertaining. We want drama. Horses and donkeys appear on stage for dramatic effect. It has been suggested that worship should not only be inspiring but also “fun”, with a generous mixture of “laughter”.

This is surely a betrayal of what our Lord taught and exemplified. It involves a denial of the reality that most of us face – there is pain and much suffering in this world. It also does injustice to those of us who are of the serious sort. A friend of mine once suggested that today’s worship is mainly geared to the effervescent personality.

Please do not get me wrong. I am not rejecting the place of celebration in worship. There are times when the church should be having fun together. But should not worship also make room for the serious business of confronting a sometimes angry God? And should not worship leaders take great care to be hosts to all who attend, including the many who are struggling with various degrees of heartache?

Informality

The contemporary worship culture likes informality. No more wearing of suits and ties to church. No more stiff, formal liturgy. A dignified pastor behind an oak pulpit is taboo. Informality is where it is at. Laughter and visiting prior to the service. A time of informal greeting of one another after the opening prayer. A worship team casually getting prepared before the service.

Here again, there is something right about this call for greater informality. Dress is very much a symbol of class, and the church should be open to all classes of people (James 2:1-4). Warm fellowship is surely also a key element of the church community. And formal liturgy is in danger of becoming empty.

But can we not carry informality too far? It is inappropriate, at a formal dinner, to appear in cut-off jeans or to embarrass the hostess with boorish behaviour. A holy God surely also deserves some respect. A quiet time of prayer before a worship service is surely more appropriate than boisterous socializing. The atmosphere in some of our churches today is more akin to a hockey arena than a worship service. I have observed people sauntering in whenever they want; some wear baseball caps; others bring in their coffee mugs. If people get bored with what is going on, they start exchanging notes with their neighbours, or share the latest gossip in whispers. Is this kind of behaviour not an insult to God? Informality, when it is carried to an extreme, is a sign of a degenerate worship culture.

Self-absorption

Contemporary worship culture can also be characterized as having a tendency towards self-absorption. A careful examination of many of today’s choruses will reveal that personal pronouns occur rather frequently. Again, there is something very healthy about a personalized faith. The Psalmist often uses the words “I” and “my” to describe his relationship with his Lord.

But there is never any doubt as to the real focus of worship for David – or for John in the book of Revelation, that other great book of worship in the Bible. They worshipped an objectively existing God. I wonder sometimes whether in our worship today we are still worshipping a God who is really there, quite apart from your and my existence or your and my feelings about Him. Worship needs to be absorbed in God, not the worshipper. In our testimonies and our preaching, too, we must be careful to heed Paul’s warning: “We do not preach ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord” (2 Corinthians 4:5).

Worship needs to focus on Jesus Christ, God’s own Son, who entered this world as a baby, died on the cross and rose again. Here I find it odd that there seem to be few choruses focusing on the great objective events that define the Christian faith. Isn’t it curious that at Christmas and Easter we seem to be forced to revert to the traditional hymns?

Feelings

Clearly worship involves more than the intellectual acknowledgment of the central objective events that define the Christian faith. It involves more than the mental affirmation of God as holy, worthy, mighty and existing for all eternity (Revelation 4:8,11). It involves more than the mind. Authentic worship must be inspiring and passionate. It must involve the emotions.

But it seems to me that today we are preoccupied with feelings when we worship. Comments about a good worship service invariably refer to the mood that was created. There seems to be a good deal of effort made to carefully orchestrate a good “feel” to the service. The informal handshaking gives the feel of friendliness and warmth. Worship teams try to create enthusiasm. Clapping is encouraged to keep the singing lively. Even preaching must be passionate, and a tear or two from the preacher doesn’t hurt.

Is there not a danger here that we get carried away with our emotions? Paul warns about zeal without knowledge (Romans 10:2). He also urges us to pray with the spirit and with the mind (1 Corinthians 14:15). Eugene Peterson interprets Paul in 1 Corinthians 3:2 as saying, “Stop grabbing for what makes you feel good”. Marva Dawn has recently reminded us that “The content of our worship music and preaching must proclaim the splendor of God, rather than our feelings about him. (I am not excluding feelings; they simply are not as important as the One whose splendor stirs them.)”

Corporate versus Individual

I suggest that much of the present conflict with regard to worship rests on a failure to distinguish clearly between that which is appropriate for worshipping God individually in private, versus what is suitable for corporate worship. How often, for example, does one see worship leaders with closed eyes, raised hands, singing praises to God? I am not at all questioning the sincerity of what is being done here. But might this not be more appropriately done at home, alone? Jesus very specifically condemns practising our piety before men (Matthew 6:5-8). Further, does not the personal tone of many of the choruses make them more appropriate for personal and private worship? Many of them, in fact, have their origin in a very personal setting, an individual privately strumming away on a guitar. Perhaps these individual expressions of worship are better left to the private domain.

Corporate worship is a public and group phenomenon. It is therefore very important not to import private worship practices into public worship. This was the problem Paul addressed in the Corinthian church. He distinguishes between edifying oneself and edifying the church (1 Corinthians 14:4). In the church, only that which others will be able to identify with, and even affirm by an “Amen”, should be allowed (verse 16). If this is not possible, then the person should “speak to himself and God” (verse 28).

When we come together, we gather for collective worship. David repeatedly draws attention to the fact that he is going to the house of the Lord to worship with the multitude (Psalm 42:4, 55:14, 122:1). Paul stresses the collective body when he describes worship (Ephesians 4:1-16; Colossians 3:16). We need to do more thinking about the meaning of corporate worship.

The Next Generation

A frequent argument used in defence of moving to a more contemporary worship style is that the church needs to be geared to the next generation. Times are changing! We need to adjust to the tastes of Generation X and Y. I have no quarrel with the claim that a church that fails to pass on the faith to the next generation has failed. But how do we do this?

We as adults need to have the courage to teach the next generation what worship should be like. We do not simply ask them what they want. We tell them what they should want. God wants us to educate our children, to teach them how to worship (Deuteronomy 6).

Here I would like to issue a further caution. We must be careful to read the musical tastes of the younger generation properly. Sometimes choruses are as far removed from the musical tastes of the young as are hymns. It strikes me that often judgements about what the younger generation wants are really based on what parents want their children to want. All too often the boomer generation is using the supposed tastes of their children to impose their own preferences on a congregation. We need more honesty here.

Elderly

Coupled with our focus on the next generation in our contemporary worship culture, there is sometimes a profound disrespect for the older generation. An older saint recently shared with me the struggles he has with his church. He cannot understand the fast-talking pastor. He cannot join in the singing (even though he loves to sing) because he is not familiar with the choruses which are the main musical diet of his church. Thus, he, together with a good percentage of his congregation, are forced to rely on religious programming on television for their spiritual nourishment. When I suggested to this 90-year-old that he might change churches and attend a church where there is a more balanced worship diet, he shook his head and said he couldn’t do that either. Loyalty is a virtue for his generation. So they suffer in silence.

A pastor of one of our churches made a statement to the effect that if the elderly did not like the worship in his church, they could go to the back of the church and worship God by themselves. This is cruel. It represents a lack of love, which is to be the defining characteristic of the church (John 13:34-35). The church is meant to be intergenerational (Acts 2:17). Here we also need to ask what it means to honour father and mother (Deuteronomy 5:16) – note that there are no age limits to this biblical injunction!

The World

The culture that inspires worship in most of our churches today is strongly committed to reaching out to the world. We want to be relevant. We want to communicate the gospel to this generation. The ultimate expression of this commitment is the seeker-sensitive worship service. Again it is clear that there is something very healthy about all this. We should make adjustments in relating to the audience we are trying to reach so that we can win them for Christ (1 Corinthians 9:19-23). But are there not limits to making such adjustments? We must be careful not to become worldly in order to reach the world. Stop trying to be wise by the standards of this age, Paul told the Corinthian church (1 Corinthians 3:18).

Here we also need to be very careful to separate the notions of worship and evangelism. To ask the world to worship the Christian God before they have been evangelized is to foster blasphemy. It is to promote a kind of civil religion. Worship services are fundamentally for Christians. It may be that non-Christians will on occasion attend worship services, perhaps out of curiosity, perhaps even because of a genuine search for God. But this is the exception rather than the rule, as Paul clearly indicates in 1 Corinthians 14:22-25. The possibility of non-Christians being present does not call for a complete adjustment of worship services to cater to the unique needs of the unbeliever. To accommodate these needs, the church might want to conduct special evangelistic services. But an evangelistic service is very, very different from a worship service. Let’s not mix the two.

Progress

There is a final value underlying contemporary worship culture that deserves to be highlighted – the assumption that the new is better. How often do we hear that we need to keep up with the times? Implicit in the call for contemporary music in our churches is the assumption that because it is recent and contemporary, it must be good, even better than the old and the outdated.

Yes, there is a danger of the old becoming empty and sterile. Yes, there is a danger of assuming that because it is old, it must be good – that is the sin of traditionalism. But must we not also acknowledge that there is an equally dangerous error of “changism” – assuming that the new must be better than the old? This is the error of liberalism, with its faith in inevitable progress. Both traditionalism and changism are wrong.


Tastes

It is frequently maintained that our quarrels with regard to worship styles, and the debates over hymns versus choruses, are really only a matter of differing tastes. Clearly preferences in music are in part a matter of tastes. But even tastes can be good or bad. We must be careful not to succumb to the relativism that is so rampant in our society. There are objective standards, even in the area of aesthetics. We as Christians are called to judge between that which is good and that which is bad (Philippians 4:8). Paul repeatedly warns against adjusting what we do in church to the fickle tastes of people (2 Timothy 4:3).

Worship style choices are not merely a matter of differing tastes. There are theological issues at stake here. Indeed, I believe the central question that we need to be asking today is whether we have allowed worldly attitudes and values to infect our worship.

I realize that for many readers it will be difficult to admit this, and they will view my analysis as fundamentally mistaken. The analysis of culture is not easy, and I am certainly open to being shown that I am wrong in my analysis. What I am more confident about is that I have identified some of the issues that need further discussion. “Test everything,” Paul tells us (1 Thessalonians 5:21), and John encourages us not to believe every spirit, but to test the spirits to see whether they are truly from God (1 John 4:1).

Elmer J. Thiessen is a member of Crestwood MB Church in Medicine Hat, Alta. He is author of In Defence of Religious Schools and Colleges (McGill-Queen’s University Press, 2002). This past year, he has been preaching regularly at Seven Persons (Alta.) Community Church while that church is without a pastor.

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Last modified June 13, 2002.

© 2002 Mennonite Brethren Herald.
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