Our Worship...
to Glorify God

I ran across this article about worship and thought I would share it. It's lengthy but worth your time to read it. It is a reminder that as we seek to please the heart of God through worship, He must remain the focus of our worship and remain our priority.




Worship: Four American Philosophies
by Charles Billingsley, Worship Leader Thomas Road Baptist Church


"... Growing up as the son of a preacher in a Southern Baptist environment and in small churches gave me a wonderful opportunity to gain insight into the world of church work...at least the Baptist world. I was blessed to witness first hand the value of personal evangelism, small group lessons, one-on-one discipleship, etc.. And, on certain rare occasions, I even experienced true moments of worship. It was these moments that were, and still are, the most unforgettable. Interestingly enough, they didn't all involve the use of music. They were just moments in the presence of God Almighty. I didn't realize it at the time, but God was growing me up and introducing me to the power of His glory that comes when His people worship Him. Now that I look back at it, what I was experiencing in those days was exactly what Louis Giglio had articulated so clearly several years later. I had, in fact, placed my mind's attention and my heart's affection on the Lord, and as a result, praised Him for His goodness.

This sounds so simple, but for me it was a huge breakthrough in my understanding of worship. For the first time, I had come to realize that worship went vastly beyond just singing a song. I discovered worship as a lifestyle.

Worship in its truest since can be found in Mark 12: 30-31. It is simply the act of loving God with our whole heart, soul, mind, and strength. Then, the next natural step is loving others as ourselves. I am convinced that all aspects of Christian living, whether it be our stewardship, evangelism, discipleship, or service, spring directly from our personal worship. Worship is giving. It is sacrifice. It is obedience. It is holiness. And, it is bled straight from a heartfelt response of gratitude to God. Conversely, if we are not giving, we are not worshiping. If we are not obedient to scripture, we are not worshiping. I have had many instances in my life where I sang real loud on Sunday, but in my heart of hearts sin was present and unaccounted for. Was I worshiping that day? I am embarrassed to admit that I was not.

Again, worship is a lifestyle. We just cannot reduce it to anything less than that. Unfortunately, as a worship leader who has the privilege of leading many congregations across the country, I am afraid that, to many individuals, it has become nothing more than a package of songs on an IMAG. Over the next several pages, I will take a look at a few examples of how churches in this country are addressing the subject of worship. And, I will also sight several personal experiences that relate to those examples. I am certainly not an expert, but I hope to bring to light a few current philosophies of worship that I believe are prevalent in today's American culture.

Philosophy 1 - Performance based churches - Mind's attention begets hearts affection
Philosophy 2 - Passion based worship - Heart's affection begets mind's attention
Philosophy 3 - Culturally based worship - Relevance begets mind's attention begets heart's affection
Philosophy 4 - Service based worship - Service begets relevance begets mind's attention begets heart's affection

Of course, most churches in America are a sort of mixed bag of each of these, but for the sake of argument I will just discuss each philosophy in its purest form and example.

The first philosophy is performance based churches. I have had the privilege of singing in many of these churches. It is always an interesting experience. The first thing that always strikes me is how stressed out everybody is. Don't misunderstand... I want the service to run smoothly and flawlessly as much as anyone. But, it always seems in these churches that there is an undue pressure on everyone from sound and IMAG to singers and musicians to staff people and custodians to create the perfect service. Then, as if the pressure cooked environment of the live experience wasn't enough, tv and radio are added to the mix.

There are many examples of this type of church in our country...several of which are growing at a record pace. I remember the last time I sang at such a church. The staff was under such pressure to make everything go just right, that worship was the last thing on anyone's mind. I remember standing back stage (which is an interesting term to use in reference to a worship service) awaiting my turn to sing. I was positioned next to the stage manager...another interesting term. He had a stop watch in one hand, a detailed order of service in the other, headsets on his ears, and a walkie talkie to his mouth. I was supposed to start the service, but I wasn't allowed to walk out until the exact second the pre-service music was completed. I found all this very comical, so I just waited a few extra seconds when the music had died down to make my entrance. I thought the poor guy would have a heart attack. Then my track didn't roll right away, so it set the order of service back about twenty seconds. I was certain by then that the stage manager had three ulcers, and the sound man had already been fired.

The result for me? I ignored it all as best I could and concentrated on focusing the heart of the congregation. However, it was a huge distraction to the real reason we should have all been there...to actually worship and encounter a living, life-changing God.

It is obvious by my cynical tone that I do not subscribe to this type of environment. I think these types of churches need to decide if they are running a theater or a church. I realize they must have something else happening within their infrastructure to reach people and draw crowds like they do, but when it comes to worship services, I just can't see how this is a positive approach. So, in my mind, it brings up a few questions I have about this philosophy.

1. How far and how good does the production need to go until it is good enough?
2. How much money must be spent until it is up to the world's standards?
3. Is the standard the world's stage and production or the presence of God? I believe the two can co-exist in a service but it is a question of motive and focus.
4. At what point does the staff and stage and production crews worship?
5. Will the people of those congregations ever feel the relief of a relaxed presence of God where the Holy Spirit is free to move in the room and change souls?

I believe I could ask a hundred more questions about these services, but time and space does not permit. Bottom line is, I completely agree and identify with the need for well run, well produced worship services. However, when all the focus and energy is spent on the production, it leaves us, as worship leaders, and the people, as worshipers, void of the powerful and spontaneous connection with the presence of God Almighty. These are services that require a great deal of our mind's attention, but they can be performed without any heart's affection. These services usually have great lights, but no life! They have great sound, but no soul. They have great energy, but there is an emptiness. And they have great production, but lack power. The difference ALWAYS lies in the presence of God. But I know these places are drawing people, so the only thing I can figure is that they are pulling them in by attracting their senses, and in turn the Holy Spirit is changing people's hearts.

The second philosophy I have encountered is churches that have worship services based more around passion than performance. I must say that these churches are easily my favorites. I certainly don't mean to imply that worship services should be based around just a feeling or emotion. I realize that our emotions are rooted in the shallowest part of our nature, so we can't base all of our worship experiences on the highs and lows of how we are feeling for the day. I am reminded of a quote from T.W. Hunt in his book The Mind of Christ..."If we praise the Lord on the mountain tops and don't do it in the valleys, it is not praise of the Lord at all. It is just praise of our feelings." His worth doesn't depend on our mood or circumstance in which we find ourselves. It also doesn't depend on the quality of production or what kind of frenzy we can create in a service. He is worthy of our worship all the time!

Having said that though, I believe one reason we have so many dying churches in our nation is because the passion for worshiping God is absolutely absent. After doing so many concerts in so many venues and churches, I have determined that the missing ingredient in most American churches is passion. You won't find this problem in African churches, Indonesian churches, or the churches of underground Chinese Christianity. Those believers are so passionate, that in many cases, they risk their lives just attending a service. But in America we are comfortable. We are wealthy. We are safe. Remember the weekend after 9/11? That was the most passion we have seen for God in this nation in decades. Oh, how blessed it would be to see every church in this country packed to the walls with passionate worshipers.

The good news is that there are many places in this country where this is happening. Take Brooklyn Tabernacle for example. No one who has ever been there would dispute the undeniable passion of those precious people. What is the difference? Well it certainly isn't the music. Many of the songs they use are very simple and even out of date in the mind's of many contemporary worship leaders. Sure, the choir is awesome and the house is packed. The preaching is powerful, and the crowd is culturally diverse. But, is this what makes those worshipers so passionate? Of course not. They are passionate because they have encountered a life changing, soul saving experience with the King of Kings and Lord of Lords.

When they come together in corporate worship, their hearts are not bent towards a style of music or a certain instrumentation. They are not thinking about what is cool and what is not. They are not thinking about whether the light show is enhancing the moment or whether they are live on TV or not. They are simply there to lift their hearts in grateful, passionate praise to Jesus. And God responds!! Wow, what a difference in the spirit of the services between a performance based church and a passion filled church.

Now, again, I understand that even in a service like this, if the sound is bad, or the lighting is weak, or the service doesn't flow smoothly it does affect the people's ability to engage their hearts in worship. But, it is simply a matter of where the focus is. At Brooklyn Tabernacle, the focus in worship is much more on expressing our heart's affection to the Lord than it is on putting forth a great production. The worship at Liberty University is another example. Wednesday nights at Liberty are amazing. Again, it is not the music or the speaker, although both are very good. I am convinced it is the passion-filled atmosphere that allows those students the freedom to express their worship of Jesus. Why do we have so few worship services in our churches that have this passion? Here are a few questions we can ask ourselves as food for thought.

1. The balance for a worship service filled with passion, but grounded in biblical teaching is crucial. What is the key to this balance?
2. How do we handle the pressure of multiple services and the limited time between services and yet not hinder a passionate worship environment?
3. How do we handle the production quality issues without it becoming a distraction?
4. How do we move our people from being passionate worshipers to biblically grounded and knowledgeable believers without them losing their passion?
5. What is the response of the average lost person who attends such a passionate service about a God they don't know?

The third philosophy I have encountered is churches who base all they do in a worship service around being culturally relevant. Part of the mentality of these churches is that the relevance of their worship will engage the mind's attention of the culture around them and the result will be the turning of their hearts toward Jesus. There is a wide variety of these churches because of the diversity of our cultures even in this country. For instance, North Point in Atlanta is certainly an incredible and culturally relevant church. However, it is vastly different than Mosaic church in Los Angeles, Ca. because these two churches exist in two totally different cultural environments. I must admit I have never been to either church, but I know both places put a heavy emphasis on cultural relevance. And well they should! If we are not relevant to our current culture as a church, then it will take less than one generation for the church to die. I don't mean that the church will go away completely, for the "gates of hell cannot prevail against it." But, I do believe we will lose a great majority of our generation to the adversary if we do not preach the gospel in a relevant, contemporary way. Does this mean we water down the truth? Absolutely not. But it does mean that our approach should present the truth in a way that this and the next generation relates to and understands. This can be done in a variety of different ways within the context of a corporate worship service.

One thing that stands out in these churches is their production levels. They are usually very high. Another thing is the creativity within the service itself. Truth is presented in a variety of ways. Video is used often at North Point. Painting and artistry is used often at Mosaic. Dance, music, drama, movie clips, etc. are all used to enhance the worship experience.

The contemporary generation we are a part of is very creative and have very short attention spans. It is the MTV generation! We are talking about people who can watch tv, listen to their ipods, blog their thoughts on current issues, instant message their friends, and talk on their cell phones all at the same time!!They enjoy lots of things happening and lots of energy, but that doesn't mean they can't handle the truth and deeper meat of the word. In fact, they crave it. What this generation wants more than anything is a church that is willing to present itself as real, vulnerable, genuine, and honest. They would rather have a frumpy preacher, horrible music, and pitiful sound and it be open and real, than a flashy production with a snazzy preacher and a perfect service. Actually, they don't want perfection at all...because nobody's life reflects that. We are all needy, imperfect, sinful beings who are desperate for a real encounter with the living Savior. This generation is starving for that, and culturally relevant churches usually provide it. This is one reason the Emergent Church is thriving today. You won't hear about the music program in these churches as much as you will hear about the sense of community and genuine support for one another. You probably won't see any emergent churches on tv any time soon, but you can get a podcast of their service. Their philosophy is built as much around what happens outside the church building than what happens inside it.

Although I stongly support the overriding philosophy of culturally relevant churches, I have noticed a few issues that are potentially dangerous to their growth. So, it brings up more questions in my mind. Again, just food for thought.

1. In such a church the pressure to be culturally relevant is so great...have we replaced Christ with Cool?
2. Is there so much emphasis on being non-traditional, that some of the great traditions of the church have been forgotten?
3. Is the emphasis on being casual so great that those who dress formally are as uncomfortable as casual dressers in a formal church?
4. Is the emphasis on community and fellowship reaching out to all generations?
5. Is the subject of community being taught with holiness as the goal for personal living?

I appreciate these churches for one main reason. They are not afraid of realness, and that genuine spirit communicates a very clear message to the community. We are simple, sinful beings all searching for the same thing..a right relationship with the one true God.

The fourth philosophy of worship that I have experienced is the mindset that says our worship services are not based on production, passion, or cultural relevance, but they are based on service. Obviously, if a church's gathering time is grounded in this philosophy, they would have to have passion from the people and be culturally relevant. But, you don't get the feeling that those things are the primary motivating factor. Their prime motivator is serving people. The Vineyard chuch movement started this way. Northstar Church in Atlanta, Ga. started this way. And Saddleback Community Church started this way. All three of these examples operate under the same basic principle. They exist to serve people, and in so doing, those people come to Christ.

I have spent a great deal of time at Northstar and at Saddleback. In fact, I was just a part of Saddleback's worship conference. I observed several things while I was there. Worship at Saddleback is well produced and extremely celebratory. They don't spend a lot of time in congregational singing...especially on Sunday morning. They incorporate many elements into the context of the service including drama, music, video, choirs, bands, video venues, etc. They are culturally relevant in the atmosphere created and in song choice, apparrel, and speaking style. But, as a church, one thing that is very apparent, is that their focus is way beyond just a worship service. Their focus is on reaching and serving the community at large. The worship conference obviously narrows in on the elements of music, drama, and the like, but walking around that campus and talking with members is like being at an evangelism conference. Their heart is bent towards the souls of mankind.

I remember riding on a cart from one venue to the next with a staff person. I asked her,"with so many people, venues, and services, how do you guys keep up?" Her answer was simple. She said, "Pastor Warren just keeps reminding us of why we are here. We exist to bring those who are seeking hope into a relationship with Christ. Once they do that, we put them to work serving more seekers."

That is why, everywhere you go on that campus, you find volunteers out your ears. They are not there to get...but to give. They are serving Christ through their own individual gifts. I remember standing at my record table and being approached by the Hula ministry to join them and the Volleyball ministry at the beach for a time of baptism. Wow! This church has a Hula ministry, a volleyball ministry, and they baptize in the ocean! How cool is that!

Saddleback truly has a philosophy of meeting people where they are through like-minded interests. Then, they serve them into a worhsip experience where the gospel is presented in a contemporary, understandable way. They follow the old principle...people don't care how much you know until they know how much you care.

Saddleback also uses a massive number of venues to reach people of all kinds. They have almost 30 different venues that take place all throughout the weekend. Each one is geared towards the particular preferences of people, especially as they relate to music and culture. So, this brings up a final list of questions in my mind.

1. With all these venues, at what point is there enough? Or should there even be a cut off?
2. How do you choose the music for a meaningful worship service when, on rare occasions like
Easter, all your people are together in one place?
3. Where are the boundaries for people starting their own ministries within the church?
4. How do you manage the leadership and explosive growth in such a place?

As I have written about these different churches, I have come to the conclusion that every one of them offer a uniquely positive approach to worshiping God. The production church sends a very clear message...Be all you can be. The passionate church says...Be heart-felt in worship to your God! The Cultural church says...Be who you are, where you are. The Servant church says...Be Jesus to the needy.

Everyone of us can learn from each of these types of churches. I personally believe that every church implements certain characteristics of each of these philosophies each Sunday. However, in whatever church we worship, the main issue must remain at the forefront of our philosophy. That issue is simply this. We are called to live a life of true worship to Him. This goes far beyond a Sunday service and should involve every aspect of our lives. Louis Giglio was right when he said, "Worship is setting your mind's attention and your heart's affection on the Lord, praising Him for who He is and what He's done." I might just add one little thing to that... "all the time".