Ran across this video (thanks Jalysa Smith) this past week as we’ve been discussing the church, modernity, and how consumerism has shaped ecclesiology in our senior seminar class that I teach. One of the comments on the video says, “I miss the church. I hope it’s rediscovered in my life time.” My take is that things are better than this video portrays. We’re experimenting with ways to connect well, to build community, to reach out, and to speak to the times. And I love those initiatives. So, I’m positive about the church and its efforts, and deeply committed to it.
However, there are some potential fundamental problems if we’re not careful moving forward – and this video illustrates them. First, consumerism often (sometimes unknowingly) drives decision-making, even leadership decisions. We choose leaders or programs or content based on attraction potential, finances, and marketing. Of course, church attenders do the same and look for a church service that “appeals” to us. And, if we don’t like it someday, we’ll go to a church that does.
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Posted on Thursday, April 4th, 2013 at 7:46 AM in LEAD WELL. 2 comments
This prayer comes from The Book of Worship as printed in A Guide to Prayer, a great daily devotional book that I’ve used for years. It’s an appropriate prayer for those to whom work or ministry has become drudgery, which can often happen. May we work today with cheerfulness and gladness as we serve God with that gifts, talents, and abilities that He has given us.
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Posted on Tuesday, June 7th, 2011 at 7:26 AM in BELIEF MATTERS. 2 comments
I just finished Curating Worship by Jonny Baker (I know, finally). The delay wasn’t the book’s fault – it’s quite readable – but rather my own as I worked it in here and there. And then reread it. Jonny’s work has affected almost every conversation I’ve had about ministry or teaching over the last three weeks. Just last night I talked with a Christian leader who lamented hearing the same 30 choruses over and over at his church – and the quality levels for some didn’t render themselves to repetition.
The bulk of the book is series of interviews with different leaders who facilitate worship experiences. It will introduce you to what is happening in some traditions within the UK, Australia, and in parts of the US. You will note a theological range as well within the interviews, something that I think is healthy for someone who wants to be introduced to a particular practice within Christian churches. Those prod and challenge me – and I find that helpful.
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Posted on Thursday, February 17th, 2011 at 8:20 AM in BELIEF MATTERS, LEAD WELL, THE WORLD. No comments
“Okay everybody,” shouted the leader, “It’s time to worship.” The 150 youth and young adults immediately jumped to their feet and focused on the video screens as the leader began to play guitar. Twenty minutes later, the group sat down and listened to a 35 minute talk given by another leader while a PowerPoint showed key points and a Scripture passage or two. The leader closed with prayer and then dismissed the crowd.
This is the standard form of “worship” in many Christian traditions today, especially in youth ministry circles. This routine form has almost became an established liturgy of what it means to be contemporary and relevant. I see this form all over America – and the songs are often played the same from coast to coast, near replicas of how they sounded on the latest CD. I’ve previously written that I think we’re headed toward a new shift in facilitating how people worship . The scene I open with was once thought of as a participatory form, but it has lost its uniqueness and often become a one-way experience where we ‘hope’ people are drawing closer to God… but we don’t really know. We hope the fact that they’re singing is shaping their understanding of who God is … but we’re not sure.
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Posted on Tuesday, February 15th, 2011 at 5:19 AM in BELIEF MATTERS, LEAD WELL, THE WORLD. One comment
Youth Ministry Today recently republished one of my previous posts. Though not about youth ministry specifically, the focus on the piece narrowed on the growth of visual elements within worship services, including those in youth ministry settings. I’ve been surprised by the number of backdoor conversations this has prompted, which makes me look beyond the smoke to see where there might be some embers.
I teach college freshmen each year and my highly-unscientific observations conclude that the young adults coming through my classrooms now are significantly more visually-oriented than those of ten years ago. And I’ve heard other scholarly profs, who care about their teaching, share similar observations. And are making adjustments. And I think church leaders will eventually make adjustments as well.
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Posted on Wednesday, November 3rd, 2010 at 5:36 AM in BELIEF MATTERS, LEAD WELL, THE WORLD. No comments
I know the title is a bit unfortunate, to have worship and war in the same sentence as church. I only use it because it was a phrase in-use 20 years ago when congregations struggled with, and at times battled over, newer expressions and methods of worship.
I was a director of music at a church in the early 1990s, about the time “contemporary worship” became the main format for music during Sunday services. It was an intense time in local churches as the “traditional” folks wanted to retain the singing of hymns while the “contemporary” people desired a more expressive and affective worship experience. Hymnals were replaced by projection screens, sitting and singing in four part harmony was replaced by 2 part choruses sung back-to-back while standing for 20 minutes. The intensity was so strong that people left churches over music styles, board meetings became shouting matches, and the whole thing was described as a “worship war.”
Nearly 20 years later, most churches have a drum set in the sanctuary, huge sound systems make many churches feel like a concert, and when a leader says, “Hey, let’s worship,” people automatically stand to their feet to sing.
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Posted on Thursday, October 14th, 2010 at 4:49 AM in BELIEF MATTERS. 2 comments
I grew up a musician and graduated college with a degree in music theory/composition. I spent 3 years mixing sound for visiting Christian musicians in college and I still hold unusually strong opinions about mundane things like microphone placement and the role of keyboards in the mix. I’m not a big “worship music” guy because I find a lot of it pretty bland musically, its repetitive, and not as much about theology as rhyming. Though about worship, the music still has to “sell” to a wide audience to pay for production, etc. I love music and it means a lot to me.
Over ten years ago I was speaking at a college-aged retreat at a camp and the great Rob Schrumpf from Purdue Christian Campus House was “leading worship.” He played guitar and sang very well in the first session, but as I walked in early for the second one, the chairs were gone and newsprint and crayons were all over the floor. You can guess my skeptical but unspoken reaction.
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Posted on Monday, October 11th, 2010 at 5:51 AM in BELIEF MATTERS. 2 comments
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