Worship Service Faux Pas - Part 2
Part 2 of Worship Service Faux Pas - Go here to read Part 1
Below are things that I’ve personally experienced, both on and off stage, which have taken my focus off the Lord and quickly tainted my worship experience. I write this not to poke fun at these things, but to bring it to the attention of worship leaders and churches that might be forgetting the purpose of corporate worship.
Performance/Solo pieces – When we gather together at church, we gather to worship, fellowship, sing, hear the Word proclaimed, remember, and pray, not to necessarily to watch someone perform a solo piece. If I want to see a performance I’ll go to a theater or movie. What this does is take the church congregation away from participating in worship as we become spectators of it. Much like guitar solos, this tends to focus more on the person singing, than the God they are singing about. And also like guitar solos, if you have these, make sure they serve a higher purpose. However, these can be appropriate during communion or the offering as people are focusing on something else than singing.
Worship Leader Sermons – Worship leaders tend to spend most of their time singing, so occasionally they like to just talk. A transitional statement or inspirational heartfelt moment is great for me, but anything over a minute feels like an emotional sermon. These sermonettes can have their place, but tend to force emotions on the congregation or just make them feel awkward. There are many different types of worship leaders (cheerleader, emo, preacher, silent, etc.) but the talkative or overly emotional tend to be more distracting than inspiring.
Awkward Pauses – After a powerful worship song the congregation tends to meditate in worship as the band transitions into the next song. Unless the band stops playing altogether and then there is awkward silence. This usually occurs when the worship leader is changing capos or tuning and the band doesn’t know what to do, so they do nothing. When it goes from a loud song of praise to silence I’m tempted to open my eyes slightly, expecting that something’s wrong, because awkward silence is, well, awkward. Worship leaders, plan your transitions.
Trying To Make Secular Songs Christian – Christians have been doing this for years and it’s just not right. Though some Christians may think it’s cool and hip, most non-Christians think it’s simply lame. You just can’t cover songs like “Your Body is a Wonderland” when doing a sermon on Song of Solomon. Stop emulating popular songs and write better ones yourself. Only in extreme situations or when trying to make a specific point would this be appropriate (similar to performance pieces).
Powerpoints That Are A Paragraph Behind – This one kills me as a worship leader, but is even worse when I’m in the congregation and don’t know the song. Worship leaders must organize their powerpoint/mediashout/propresenter to follow their set as a duty to the congregation and the person running it. You also need to train the person running it to pay attention and sing along, instead of checking Facebook, so as to not get behind or completely skip a verse. People can’t worship when they don’t know the words. This is one good thing about hymnals.
Really what I’m getting at is that church is not a “spectator sport.” You may disagree with me on some of these points, and that’s OK, I don’t expect everyone to agree with me. I’m just one worship leader. The bottom line is that church is not a place we gather to be entertained. We come to gather with our brothers and sister to worship God in community through song, Scripture, prayer, and sacrament. No church is perfect and neither am I, but if you are a worship leader, you role is to lead and enable your people into worshipping God, not entertaining them. As you plan your worship services, remember that it’s about the Lord, not about you or your band. Keep Christ in the center, but don’t forget that people are singing along with you.
Thoughts?
These have been some great thoughts and I really appreciate this, esepcially coming from a “culturally-driven” magazine/site. I’m all about engaging culture but sometimes we can get a little too compromising when we try too hard. These thoughts are a fantastic balance of still engaging culture yet doing it while honoring God and not distracting people who are worshiping. Thanks for this!
posted at 9:23 am on July 8th, 2008 by Ryan