To Create Familiar Or Unfamiliar…That Is The Worship Service Question
Lately there are 2 camps of worship services I lead at.
There is the aggressively worshiping congregation where you go after it from jump street.
First timer, Old timer. They grab hands and sprint towards the goal of experiencing God in the room.
The service is designed to experience the manifest presence of God through the elements, as unfamiliar as it may be.
Then there is the service that is geared toward making sure that someone far from God, first time back at church, seeking something, can feel comfortable enough to hear a message of hope that is interlaced within the entire service. The service is designed to protect them from strangeness and give them something familiar. All the while leading them to God.
I lead at both.
Both work for different reasons.
The two also require a completely different mindset and skill set.
They require two different languages.
Honestly like English and Spanish.
As worship leaders we must know the difference.
If words like “Well I lead like this…” ever come out of your mouth then you’ve cut your opportunities in half.
Which is ok.
I just think it’s important to know.
Definition.
I don’t think one is better than the other.
I do think however that there are lots of opinions as to why YOUR church goes after it the way YOUR church goes after it.
So, that being said…Here is a question for you…
How does your church go after it and why?
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
unfamiliar in the sense that Jesus really IS relevant (contrary to popular thought) but familiar in the family sense… you belong
I agree. Both work. But serve different purposes.
We are the first camp. Aggressively worshiping. It's an amazing thing!
But I find that I long for the second. Maybe due to my evangelistic background, maybe because it's what's on the other side of the fence.
Never thought about the question like that. But on first thought, I think our church does the familiar with hope way. We live in a very diverse area and we are trying to reach new segments of the population. For a Baptist church, I think they want to make it inviting to new people and still present a biblical message. But I can also see elements of the other, when we try to make an environment of more exuberant worship. Now that I think of it, we may have both or maybe we are transitioning… I'll have to see.
Wow, insightful questions.
we are somewhere in the middle…we are always doing our best to make anyone at any stage of life feel welcome in every way, but at the heart of our church we're hardcore worshippers…love it….
As for why, I believe that the lead pastor sets the tone by what he/she is willing to demonstrate. The lead pastor is the senior worship leader of a church. The church most times will adopt the personality of the senior leader. I'm sure there are exceptions out there. Our church probably started more like your second description but is moving more towards the first.
I think we as worship leaders should be able to go into either situation and lead, but I often wonder if a church can really be both. I think a lot of churches try to be both, but I wonder if we were one or the other if we would have more of an impact.
I think that there can also be a couple types of familiar. 1. Using familiar songs in an aggressive service format, or 2. in a weekly liturgy, where the singing is always in the same place in the service.
Then the almost always new(unfamiliar) songs/worship element, in an ever changing order of service. I agree, the ones that can recognize the difference can find places and times for each.
I say it should be both. Worship should contain elements that are comforting (relaying the peace of God). Worship should also contain elements that are new (sing a new song). I would even say worship should contain elements that are “disturbing.” Sometimes the honesty of sinfulness is disturbing. But often times being in God’s presence (holy) is disturbing and uncomfortable.
The church I have grown up in and are still apart of play drums there really seems to not have a method to their madness. I am pretty sure that we are in transition between worship leaders. But the guy that is there now has been there forever and really seems to have thrown in the towel on his job and ministry.
I mean he doesn't even listen to music or now how any of the songs go. This can be very frustrating for the band who practice to get better and work on new stuff.
I think both of these are necessary and to know the context and definition is very important like you were saying. But what about being apart of something that has no form or seems to be going through the motions and not going after anything?
Three Thoughts:
"Form follows function" This a worn addage, but is no less true no matter how we choose to apply its wisdom. In the end, the single goal, the defining purpose is to lead people into a fresh encounter with the Living God. If that is not what is happening, then we are missing the target. The rest is mearly a question of style.
"Know your audience" Another worn addage, but no less true. You all know the rest.
"Keep it organic" I say forget convention. Create a worship experience that rings true to your church's distinctive cultural context. Worship is what you make it. Make it authentic.
…but that is just my opinion, I could be wrong.
We do both. We've got two buildings… the older building houses our more traditional (familiar) services and the newer building houses our more contemporary (unfamiliar) services. I personally like the excitement found in the unfamiliar.
We've done both, and likely will again in the future, but we've had more growth and salvations doing the unfamiliar than by trying to make an unbeliever comfortable, so that's what we're doing more of right now. People come to us because we're unfamiliar, possibly a little uncomfortable, confronting.
Some of this must be what Craig Groeschel is talking about re the "it" factor – find it and do it well. If doing both is it for you, do both…if not, don't.
Question. Why is everyone just standing there watching in this photo? Not trying to be rude. I am seriously curios.
Because I'm leading in church #2 of the above 2 examples.
Ahh. Makes sense. What if we simply prefaced a worship experience with an explanation of what is about to happen. "Over the next few minutes the band is going to sing some songs to our Creator expressing our love for him. Some of you may want to join in. Maybe lift your hands or clap or sing along. While others of you are still on the fence about this whole thing and just want to observe. That's okay." I truly think you can combine both: An environment were followers of Christ can openly worship God and outsiders can feel as if they belong before they believe. Not sure how to actually do it, but I believe it starts with a belief it can be done. I would love to hear your thoughts.
I'm the worship pastor of a church that is a #2 kind of church. Over 50% of our attenders are previously unchurched. We value art/creativity/theology, so we have artsy bands and most of our musicians didn't grow up in church, so honestly, as we are trying to teach people how to passionately respond to truth, sometimes that means, just literally opening their mouths and singing. We also have a bunch of people who were burned out on Christianity and are now coming back and so we really want to avoid manipulation, so we tend to not use as many verbal cues as other churches to get people to respond. So I guess you could say we are anti-pavlovian worship, if that makes sense.
One of the other pastors saw this kid standing in the back row a couple of years ago, hands in pockets, just staring at the band and he asked "what are you thinking" he answered "I love worshiping God along with this band." Passionately holding his hands in his pockets. Trying to figure out now, how to teach people to respond a bit more because of who God is, it's an interesting line.
I often employ sarcasm in my comments, but I'm turning it off here. The following should be read literally.
Standing through the songs, for the first few years that I attended North Point as a non-believer, was excruciating. Notice how I said that. "Standing through the songs". The term "worship services" is an obscure concept which is lost on someone that does not believe in God and was not raised around American Evangelical Christians.
On days when they played 4 songs instead of 2 or 3… I was in a foul mood before Andy even took the stage.
If you have a non-believer in the audience for the first, and possibly the last, time… then everything you do is either building a bridge or building a wall between that person and Christ. NOTHING is neutral for those 45 precious minutes. Go out of your way to make me feel comfortable as I stand there, stiff as a board with my hands in my pockets, awkwardly observing your peculiar and downright foreign rituals.
peace | dewde
I totally get what you are saying! I would say I felt the same for MANY years even after becoming a Christian.
Now as someone who stands on the stage, leading worship (im not the main singer, back up) I can see the faces of the completely board and freaked out in the crowd. I actually pray for them sometime while I am singing. And I also know that my heart, up there on that stage, has to be showing Jesus. Somehow, I have to reflect humility, worship, strength, be completely uninhibited in my praise to Him and not controlled by the fact that people are watching. I have to get lost in Him and pray hard that the lost open their hearts to His presence.
In regards to the familiar question, plenty of familiar is key to the far from God, and I believe the unfamiliar is key to growing people into true worshippers of God. A worshipper walks into church ready to give their response to God regardless of the familiarity of the songs, leader, crowd, etc. and I think unfamiliarity helps build that heart in people.
I'm doing the reproducing church thing where campuses get movin' before they get massive… so I'm wrestling with the same thing but only in the same services. Campuses have 2 services of a couple hundred people and every song, every prayer, every lyric, every word I say I'm having to craft carefully to draw in the far from God while leading a rich experience for the "closer" to God. It's tough…
I help lead worship at Healing Place Church-Baton Rouge Dream Center Campus. It is located in the inner city, the zip code with the most murders, drug arrest and gang related violence. The campus was one year old in May. And this year, trying to figure out "how, who, why" for worship has been quite a journey. Our issue is, we all come from Healing Place, which does 90% Hillsong but we are attempting to lead a lot of people into worship that feel led more into worship with something like "Kirk Franklin" BUT we also have 30% of the congregation that are white or Hispanic. SO, finding the right mix, for all of them, got kinda crazy. We as a band had to agree to set aside what we liked or didn't like and start thinking about who we were trying to reach with the worship, God and man, lead the racially diverse crowd into worship and worship ourselves. BUT putting the congregations need above ours. NOW we do a mix of MANY different styles, some Israel, Jesus Culture, Franklin, Maneasy, Johnathan Stockstill, and we find that HE is there. We enter in and The congregation does. From the homesless guys, prostitutes, Kids from the Teen shelter, to the Real Estate agents and brokers.
I love going to a church that looks and sounds like diversity. I love worshiping with ALL of these people.
I used to attend the #1 church and now attend the #2 church. The #2 church is very clear in their mission to reach people who are unchurched. We’re the BODY of Christ for a reason and will point to the scripture in 1 Corinthians 12:21 …the eye cannot say to the hand “I don’t need you!”
Physiologically speaking, you will not find the same anatomical structures in the heart that are in the lungs. Both require different terminology yet they are both very much needed in the function and health of the over all body.
As such, my church goes after the “un-churched” because they see the need to reach people and meet them where they are at, providing a place and creating an atmosphere that is not like what they expect from traditional church. Regardless of how unfamiliar they are with church, people will come in with a certain expectation. I think “dewde” is on to something about being made to feel comfortable during a worship service as an unbeliever–where’s the relationship? Where are the people making “dewds” like him feel a part of what is happening corporately? I know I’m supposed to be one of them! And both familiarity and unfamiliarity should be bread. Familiarity through relationship should be first, it’s ultimately what we are seeking with God but will be seen and experienced first through people. Then, the unfamiliarity, which to most that there is a loving Hero, who is not as ethereal as we think but who wants to actively engage in a personal r e l a t i o n s h i p with every single person he has made.
I lead in church #2 and we are very evangelisticly focused. BUT we offer an opportunity for the "go after it crowd" at our Night's of Prayer and Worship. These nights are what fuel me to consistently be able to deliver the more "spectator friendly" service.
Having said that, we are steadily making strides toward helping of very #2 oriented congregation to understand why we should all be hungry to get in there and go after the heart of God. We see movement in that direction.
I also know that the programming choice can facilitate a very #1 experience in a very #2 church, so really being diligent to seek the heart and direction of the Lord in my programming choices makes a difference.
Los,
Even after reading "The Divine Commodity," you think both of those are OK? Do you think Paul would be writing a Corinth letter to one of those models right now? Not attacking it. Just asking.