Worship Mythbusters is a series of posts or conversations and this is a reworked post from a couple years ago. I thought some new readers would love to engage in this conversation:

The myth of a painless offering of worship

If pain is also defined not just as punishment but “trouble, care, or effort taken to accomplish something” then how is our liturgy or worship to provide no effort, care, etc.?

Worship or my expression of worship is NOT…

• in three easy payments
• something I take but something I give
• about feeling good or pleasant all the time
• without cost in time, resources or skill
• all my favorite songs or music
• without using my brain or thoughts
• always convenient
• usually about my preferences
• something for me but from me

Anything else we can add to the list?

This was originally posted in May of 2008 and since I am at a conference, I thought sharing a favorite from the past would be due. This is part of a series of posts: here

MYTH: Worship leading is not performing.

This is a myth! What is better said is that worship leaders lead in the act of performing worship.

Many in our churches like to use the word “performance” and make it another projectile at the worship team. They enjoy the fact that they can say a worship leader should not be performing, but worshiping as he leads as if the two are mutually exclusive. It means that his preparation is devalued and the attempt at beauty and form are discouraged. Worship expression or liturgy to many is simply a means, not and end. Really, it is an act to be performed.

FACT: Worship is an act that is performed. It is not random, it is
intentional. It is a choice. So, worship leaders perform an act that
leads people into this act. Yes, you are performing when you worship!

FACT: Worship leadership needs preparation. Many think that a good
heart, or good intentions means good worship leadership. Wrong.
Become good at guitar, sing in tune and work on your craft. Any
preacher worth his salt work on communication. He or she does not
assume his desire to communicate is enough. The effective preacher
prepares.

FACT: Beauty and form help lead people in worship. Yes, the look of
your room, the sound of your music and the overall atmosphere matter.
You tell a story beyond the lyrics or sermon through everything that
touches the senses. Leaders know this and address this. Thank God for
good architects who understand how to design a room. Form is
important. Without structure, we lose any sense of taking people
somewhere in worship. Form has a story, meaning and application.

An entertainer uses his or her skills to intentionally engage people in
a performance of music or comedy. A worship leader is similar, even though the performance is worship through music or other forms. The worship leader is like a performer–intentionality, preparation, and execution of form
and beauty are all part of leading worship.

Merry Christmas (or Bah Humbug if you feel grumpy)… I thought I would leak out the naughty list for those who attend Christmas Eve services this year. (Tongue in cheek guys).

• Suzie I-get-up-and-have-to-go-pee-three-times-during-the-service is getting 1 lbs. of coal
• Jimmy my-kid’s-screaming-is-not-heard-by-anyone-around-me is getting 1.7 lbs. of coal
• Bob I-can-save-seats-I-really-don’t-need-for-people-who-will-come-very-late gets 2.4 lbs. of coal
• Julie I-will-sing-as-loudly-out-of-tune-as-possible-to-get-noticed is getting 1 oz. of coal
• Julie’s Mom who smiles with pride and encourages the obnoxious singing gets .5 oz. of coal
• The kid who is thinking about burning the lady’s hair in the row in front of him with his candle–SANTA CAN SEE YOU KID!

Merry Christmas and hope to see you at our Christmas Eve worship tonight if you are in the Temecula-Murrieta Valley: Sunridge site OR Facebook Event link with info here!

Christmas is a good time to bring up the idea of sentimentality and its pull on us with any tradition. Christmas carols being sung in this season surely bring up warm feelings and many pictures of the past. However, how much value do we place on having our sentiment massaged over giving an offering in worship?

The Incarnation of Jesus is one of the pillars of our faith. It is a rare time in modern culture that we can openly sing lyrics “Hail the heaven-born Prince of Peace, hail the Sun of Righteousness.” For that, I love this time of year. But do we emphasize the warm fuzzies over the realities of who Jesus really is and how he desires to be worshipped?

This idea of sentiment is an issue in worship music all year round. It could be missing a favorite singer or musician who cannot be scheduled as often as we like. Or, it could mean newer songs that do not have the rich context of the many years of a life lived walking with Jesus.

To overcome sentimentality we need to embrace the new. Sing a new song! We need to reach new cultures, new people and allow the freedom from our sentimental side to be celebrated instead of mourned.

So, where are you at with all of this? Do you think sentimentality is an issue over giving an offering this season?

Worship MYTH to BUST today: Secular Music is a BAD thing to do in church

I recently received a question about worship, as is usual in my corner of the social media world. Here is the note and my response. Please share your opinions and thoughts on this. I will pass them on to my new friend from a far away place.

Rich, there is a long time discussion in my place regarding an ordinary love song and Christian songs. An incident took place once in my city where the local artists sang a non Gospel love song in a local wedding which is held in a Church and raises opposition by the Pastor. Can you provide some ideas and opinion about this?

Here is my response:

This sounds very familiar.

One Christian leader says, “there are is no Christian music, only Christian lyrics.” I would take that further to say that at a wedding it is biblical to sing about love between a man and woman. The scripture celebrates this fact. As long as the lyrics of the song do not conjure up unbiblical ideas or immoral ideas I see no problem in singing a non-church or non-gospel song at a wedding–even if that wedding is in a church building.

The issue may be that there are songs that can only be sung in church. I say that we as Christians give music its context. And, as long as the content of the song is in line with who we are and what the Bible teaches then we should have liberty to do so. Was it a “sin” listed in the Bible to sing this song?

It is also common that artists enjoy pushing the edges of everyone’s comfort without realizing the impact of that path of choices. It is prudent to count the cost. In other words, was it worth the headache and pain to sing that song? It may very well be! Artists need to be aware of there impact. The key here is keeping true to how you live and what you say in your music.

Share your opinions about secular music in a church setting.

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CNNMoney.com recently did a series of articles based on research by payscale.com and found that 67% of those that lead worship or direct music in local churches for a vocation say the job is stressful. The research says this job is in the top 15 MOST stressful. Uhmm, this is obvious to those of us who lead worship, but to have research debunk the myth of the glamor of being a music guy/gal in a church might be helpful in fixing some things.

In the article we mentions how weddings and funeral musical work is stressful, but they really do not go to the underlying reasons I believe the majority of people in this vocation incur stress. Notice that senior pastors, youth directors and other ministry personnel are not on this list. While all ministry is stressful, something unique to this activity is in play. I say this with deep respect for those in other roles.

I fundamentally believe there is pandemic implosion of the worship leader role and vocation–even for the volunteer or bi-vocational worship leader. History shows this current pattern to be true (nothing new about worship wars for instance). Each week I talk with very talented people in this line of work and the same story is replayed over and over again. Every conference I attend, phone call or IM I field or observations I listen to by others has led me to consider a wide-scale threat. Glamorous you say?

Here are some unique mythbusting nuggets to consider:

• When there is conflict in a local church, the music becomes a rallying point for battle. Ever heard of the term “worship wars” in your setting? Well, guess who lives in the middle of that.
• Everyone has an opinion about the music and experience in a worship service, with the one who is leading the activity often being the only non-voting member in the discussion.
• Everything this person does is in public and executed through other people: choirs, worship bands, tech teams, etc.
• Leadership of churches often devalue the scale and scope of work to execute the quality and impact they expect.
• The skills needed include: creative and artistic genius, project management, musical talent, stage presence, theological facility, leadership, administration, ability to work independently, ability to be micromanaged and you have to look the part (whatever that means).
• In the push to be relevant to culture, the worship leader is only as relevant as the latest thing on one hand or if you have opposite views he/she must reject the latest thing. You can’t win either way.
• Spiritual warfare is heated in the activity of our public worship settings. So, obviously in that sense these folks are targets.

I have some ideas on specific solutions to help the local church win and the worship leader survive and perhaps even thrive. However, before I do that in another post (or series of posts) I am interested in your view of my summary and what the research shows.

I have a list below of five things that all combined distinguish worship music from what would not be worship music. Please note that this list of words is qualified in the video, so you might miss what I am saying if you skip the video. Of course, lets please understand that worship music does not mean we are worshiping. That is an issue of the heart. This list is just a way of identifying the music that helps us to express that worship.

1. Truthful – biblical and also something we can say truthfully & authentically (John 4:21,23)
2. Singable – not just in range of the congregations voice, but I remember the tune and it represents what the group needs to sing.
3. Teachable – we sing to God, about God and for God but also to each other about what God is doing in us. (i.e. testimony Ephesians 5:19)
4. Reachable – culture comes into play, lets be indigenous and not make new people learn a whole new language (1 Corinthians 14)
5. Beautiful – the mystery, craftsmanship and story should be present. (Psalm 66:2, Psalm 33:3)

Did I miss any? What do you think is worship music?

Another post in the Worship Mythbuster Series:
Five bad ideas that can make worship services fake

I thought I would take a stab at conversing with my readers about the “fake factor” in church worship services.

1. The worship team is performing like they are in a stadium and only 200 people are in the worship center. Just means over-scaling your team, sound and presentation might not be helping you.
2. There is no context of God’s character, just our experience. We can sing “we worship You” all we want, but who is “You”–a fuzzy God who just makes us feel fuzzy or an all-powerful, all-knowing, all-loving God who is jealous of us loving anything or one more than Him.
3. You do the latest song or idea because its the latest song or idea. Content is king in worship, not the buzz of the newest thing. We should be building a local community of worshipers not simply echoing what others are doing.
4. Worship team members are there more for their talent or to play music and not for their spiritual growth. Sure, hiring the best people makes the music pop, but is that your goal? The story of the messengers or artists on stage is important. They are not just tools, they are real people you put up there.
5. The goal for the congregation is a feeling, not a transformation. I am all for emotive expression of worship, its just that the goal is that we are formed into the image of Jesus a bit more by all that we do in worship and life. So, to just reduce the outcome to sentiment is just a bad idea. Period.

Any pushback, affirmation or additions?

This is part of a series of posts designed to debunk damaging thinking about our corporate expressions of worship.

MYTH: Sermons are not worship.

The truth is that I believe sermons are part of every worship service in the evangelical church. They are biblically called for, in fact. Here are 5 things that make a sermon worship as part of Sunday services.

1. Sermons ask us to respond with an answer to God’s questions.
2. Sermons help us learn to listening to God’s will for us.
3. Sermons reveal truth and open our eyes to the reality of God.
4. Sermons call us to make decisions to follow Jesus.
5. Sermons put God first.

Do you have any to add?

1. Church politics: not everyone can or will be “pleased” by the style of worship at a church, no matter how many services, styles, video venues or times for worship. Pleasing people in general is a bad idea, right?
2. Biblical illiteracy: a worship ministry that does not commit to biblically presenting a complete Jesus or filter song choice or content biblically will risk teaching the congregation a lessor picture of Jesus.
3. Utility over Artistry: a demand to see music, and other expressions of worship as utility and not understand art hurts the ability to actually authentically express. It makes worship a means to something rather than the end.
4. Church politics: not everyone has gifts to lead or can be in front all the time. The goal in worship leadership is to serve the church, not your own desire to be leading upfront or showcasing talent. When personalities clamor for the stage, it hurts our worship expression.
5. Not letting the kids take over: keeping worship for my generation and not giving the younger mentorship, exposure and leadership opportunities in worship means the church loses the future. Remember, they are not the church of the future, they are the church.
6. Worshiping excellence: pushing the worship team to be so non-inclusive that only a small elite become the musicians, singers and tech might hurt the church since losing one of these individuals means a huge hole and loss of excellence.
7. Lack of Excellence: if music, lighting, speaking and whatever is available is not done well, the church loses gifted people who would rather not subjugate their gifting to poor planning, execution or leadership. (So, with 6 & 7 there is a sweet spot each church has to find–value doing your best, while not making it a club!)
8. Christian subculture: when music selection is limited to only a small group of writers from a couple publishers and there is one radio station in town your veteran church members listen to, we live in a ghetto. The goal is not to keep our worship expression in a bubble but to reach the world. Make worship style indigenous to reach and reflect your community, not the choice of Christian publishers marketing to veteran Christians.
9. Church politics: song selection, use of drums, volume, personalities, who gets to play, friends, complaint cards…
10. Me, myself and I: the trinity of selfishness perhaps is the root cause of all of these. Worship in a local church is “us” worshiping our God. Even when we feel our personal need to worship is important, gathering with dozens, hundreds or even thousands of worshipers is something special and not about me or you in that moment.

Which of these is the worst offender, you think?