While the heated battles fought over music styles in corporate worship have waned over the last few years, the root cause of the skirmishes may not have been ignored in many churches. A “cold war” of the worship battles over style ensued because a significant percentage of elderly saints who objected most vociferously to newer musical sounds have either passed on to worship perfection in heaven, or their war cries have gone silent as they decided the fight wasn’t worth the effort. The result? Local church worship gatherings where those who like the music participate, and those who don’t, simply endure the singing until the preaching starts.
The Root of the Problem
The root of the problem in churches struggling with consistent congregational participation is most often a misguided understanding of Christian worship at a foundational level. If a church promotes a definition or a culture of corporate worship that is functionally based on music, that church will struggle to facilitate worship that engages the various demographics in the church.
When church leadership and congregants think of corporate worship primarily through a musical lens, elements of musical style, including genre, instrumentation, and even the period when the music was written, become the nexus of debate among worshipers as they decide if they even like the music well enough to participate. When music is the focus of the Sunday morning service before the message, congregations tend to gauge the effectiveness of the gathering with themselves at the center of the worship experience: “I sang this morning because I liked the hymns.” Or, “I didn’t sing because the drums were too loud.”
God did not call His people to gather around music. Why would He ask His people to try and unite around something that changes so frequently with time and culture? Why would God want His people to worship around something that is becoming more and more individualized through digital playlists on personal smartphones? Instead, God calls His people to gather around the Lord Jesus Christ who never changes and His Word that never returns void.
An essential priority for worship leaders and pastors in local churches is to foster their congregations’ authentic, faithful response to God – not to a musical sound, a human worship leader, a charismatic speaker, or technology. Each week in corporate worship, and every day during individual worship, believers should be encouraged to worship Jesus Christ, to the glory of God the Father in the power of the Holy Spirit, prompted and guided by the Word of God.
Rhythm of Biblical Worship
At a very fundamental level, Christian worship is like a rhythm. A God-initiated rhythm of His self-revelation to His redeemed and their authentic, intentional response to Him. God reveals Himself through creation: “The heavens declare the glory of God” (Ps 19:1). God reveals Himself perfectly through His Son, Jesus Christ: “He (Jesus) is the image of the invisible God” (Col 1:15). “The Son is the radiance of God’s glory and the exact expression of his nature, sustaining all things by his powerful word” (Heb 1:3).
God reveals Himself through His church: “And He (God) subjected everything under his (Christ’s) feet and appointed him as head over everything for the church, which is his body, the fullness of the one who fills all things in every way” (Eph 1:22-23). And God reveals Himself most specifically, most authoritatively, most sufficiently through His Word: “All Scripture is inspired by God and is profitable for teaching, for rebuking, for correcting, for training in righteousness, so that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Tim. 3:16-17).
When a congregation is led to understand that worship is a response to the self-revealing Triune God, they learn to place music in its proper place – under the authority of His Word. As musician, theologian, and aesthetic philosopher Harold Best once said, “Music is a wonderful servant but a horrible master.” Furthermore, when a congregation sings with a purposeful response to God and His revelation, the style of the music takes a back seat to the content of the song or hymn’s lyrics.
Consider the following scenario in Small Town Baptist Church:
At the beginning of a Sunday service at Small Town Baptist Church, worshipers hear an electric guitar introduction to the classic hymn, “Holy, Holy, Holy.” With no reference to God’s Word, the worship leader simply instructs the congregation to stand and sing the hymn.
Whether the worship leader realized it or not, he caused the congregation to consider first the music being played rather than pointing the church members to Christ through the ultimate authority in the room – God’s Word. Unfortunately, the worshipers’ first reaction during the opening of the service was not to the voice of God, but to a musical prompt that was loaded with the capacity to cause varied responses among the multigenerational congregation. To some, the electric guitar introduction was off-putting and maybe even offensive. To others, the electric guitar sound was “cool.”
Human beings are wired to respond to prompts, and evangelical leaders have for too long tried to initiate congregational responses by using musical cues. However, when people in the pews are directed to engage with God’s Word first, reactions to musical style fade behind the authority of Scripture. When God’s people are encouraged to focus their hearts’ attention and minds’ affection on Christ through His Word, the music has more purpose and power but it is directed not to itself or the leaders performing it, but to the One who is worthy of all our praise.
