July 30 2009
Worship leaders: Play songs your congregation doesn’t like
Tagged Under : church, music, theology, worship
I mean it…literally. I know playing songs your congregation doesn’t want to hear sounds like a horrible idea and flies in the face of many years of your contemporary worship training, but I don’t know when our job became more about pleasing man instead of Jesus. Now before you get all huffy, let me explain.
First, I don’t mean purposefully playing songs that your congregation doesn’t like stylistically. Although if people only worship Jesus when they hear a Chris Tomlin song then I’d say you have really big worship and idolatry issues to tackle and then maybe purposefully *not* playing Chris Tomlin is a good idea.
Secondly, I don’t think being a contrarian is a sign of leadership maturity. I’m not advocating simply doing the opposite of what other churches are doing, or constantly trying to throw off your congregation in worship simply because seeing them squirm makes you feel like you’re really doing God’s will.
Here’s what I am saying. As worshippers we are constantly battling idols taking the place of Jesus. Idols we’ve torn down will take new shape and present themselves as something new and more worthy and acceptable of worship. If anything takes our worship but Jesus it is idolatry, sin. Colossians 1:18 “And he[Jesus] is the head of the body, the church. He is the beginning, the firstborn of the dead, that in everything he might be preeminent.” Our congregations worship a lot of things over Christ and we have to expose idols in our worship, tear them down and place Jesus above them as our focus of worship.
Probably not too many of you have any problems with the above paragraph, but here’s where it gets messy…
For the families that worship their own comfort, rest and individualism by showing up 30 minutes late do you think they want to sing about how there is no rest outside of Christ, that even in our sleep we toil, or that they’ve forsaken the gathering because they worship their individuality and comfort? Show them by singing that we only enjoy peace and rest in Christ because of the bloody, violent, death of Christ on the cross and that now they’ve been saved to community, the body of Christ, to sacrifice, serve and worship together.
For the college kids that show up right on time because they love the music, but spent last night partying hard, indulging in their sinful passions, do you think they want to sing about how they are slaves to sin, deserving of death and that unless they get a new heart in Christ their posturing in worship, the jumping, the singing, the Hillsong “woa-oh” chants are worthless clatter. That they worship themselves and can’t atone for their sins by singing loudly. Show them by singing that Jesus is their propitiation, that they are dead in their sins, but that there is life in the life, death and resurrection of Jesus. That if they truly encountered Christ they’ve be given a new heart, and that they’d no longer desire to live a life of sin.
For the religious church couple that just walked in dignified, that has no reason to get uncomfortable because they were “saved” at a youth camp at age 10 and baptized in the pool so their salvation is secure. Show them by singing the psalms that our hearts cry out, our soul thirsts for Jesus, that we fall at the feet of Jesus and cry “Hosanna”, and that if they don’t, don’t they know even the rocks, even the pews they comfortably sit in, would cry out for Jesus. That their dispassionate hearts show they worship their dignity, which all through scripture is shown to be folly.
Worship leaders, don’t make yourself a petty entertainer. Don’t seek to satisfy your congregation’s idols. Lead your congregation to worship the real Jesus, show them who Jesus is, what he has done and if they get that, they’ll see themselves for who they are, repent and become new creations in Christ. Sing the songs their flesh doesn’t want to hear, sing the songs that wreak havoc in their hearts. Our worship should be a dance of repentance, praise and honor. Worship leaders, seek to have Jesus preeminent in all things, all things.
What songs are you playing now that challenge the congregation and confront their idols? Do you even think about that when choosing songs?
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Ouch, and HOME RUN! A very good word, my friend!
Dang Kyle, that is good good stuff right there. My heart is convicted & praise Jesus for that!
Good job, Kyle. We all get too comfortable and too much in the "I've got it figured out, but Lord help the rest of them" mindset. Thanks for the reminder.
agreed. Many (not all) worship leaders fail to realize that they are indeed pastors before they are musicians. Being a real pastor is not trying to make your congregation happy… or even like you. It's a matter of leading them. Sometimes leadership is leading stubborn people to places which they don't want to go. Thus, it's important to give them what they need… which isn't always what they want.
Thanks, Kyle. I needed to be reminded of that today, and agree with Shannon that you hit it out of the park. Exposing those idols is hard work, and what I MUST be doing as a pastor to the flock!
Kyle,
Amazing! I love this… You are such a blessing to LCC and I love that we are in agreement. Great! Thanks.
Dude…awesome post…loved it. Dead on
Thanks everyone for the warm comments. I hope it inspires some boldness in us to please Jesus, not man, and really be worship *pastors* in its fullest and most true, biblical sense.
Right on Kyle. I would also say play the songs you don't want to hear. Your least favorite tune may be the connection point someone else needs.
Great stuff here bro. Keep it up.
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Great point and for me that struggle lies in pride. I have to walk in humility and serve Jesus and shepherd the flock as Jesus would have me do it, not as I'd like to do it. As you said, whether that's what I don't want to hear or the flock, or many times, both.
Hmmm. This post made me uncomfortable. Buy why?
I have to say I disagree with a lot of what you are saying Kyle. First of all, you are treating the concept of idolatry pretty loosely. Doesn’t sound like the biblical concept to me. More like “priorities.” I’d say the examples you give of folks walking into the church with regular human issues and preoccupations are not examples of idolatry. I’d say there is some pride, some misaligned priorities, but that most if not all of those folks are still showing up to worship. And I think our job as worship leaders is to worship and invite the congregation to worship, not use our song choices to give out spiritual spankings.
Sorry, I don’t like the tone here. I certainly agree that many if not most (or all) of us have agendas in worship, and issues that interfere with worship. But our goal should be worship not discipline. Choosing songs to convict people might be just as serious a case of "idolatry" as the "religous couple" who are proud. Let’s just worship with songs that touch our hearts and let the Holy Spirit do the convicting. And let the real pastor do the preaching.
Dave, you need to know that no matter what your official title is, YOU are a real pastor. Just because you don't deliver a spoken seroon doesn't mean you don't pastor (at least I hope you pastor). I think Kyle is simply trying (like we all should) to pastor his congregation. This means thinking deeply as to what they need, not just what they want.
Thanks for the reply Dave,
Idolatry is by very definition prioritizing anyone or anything above Jesus. I'd say a "loose" and unbliblical definition would be to say you can have higher priorities than Christ but still be worshipping Jesus…that's doesn't work. All sin is rooted in idolatry.
Paul was relentless in confronting idols of his culture. If he had an attitude of "I won't say anything I'll just let the Holy Spirit do the convicting" then the New Testament would be about 30% of the size it is now. The Holy Spirit works through the body of Christ, we are agents of his will and kingdom. We don't sit down and stop preaching the gospel and living it out in hopes the Holy Spirit works without us.
Your assertion that Worship Pastors aren't "real pastors" is exactly the problem. We have too many song leaders and entertainers instead of Worship Pastors, pastoring and pointing people to Christ through song. If we're pointing to Christ and if our worship is Christ centered repentance is a huge part of it, because we're filthy sinners and God is holy. If repentance isn't part of our worship, then we aren't worshiping Christ. So I agree, I want to sing songs that touch people's heart, but I want it to be touched by Jesus, I don't care about happy church tingles that lead to no transformation.
I appreciate your response, because this is an important issue to discuss.
Thanks for the reply Dave,
Idolatry is by very definition prioritizing anyone or anything above Jesus. I'd say a "loose" and unbliblical definition would be to say you can have higher priorities than Christ but still be worshipping Jesus…that doesn't work. All sin is rooted in idolatry.
Paul was relentless in confronting idols of his culture. If he had an attitude of "I won't say anything I'll just let the Holy Spirit do the convicting" then the New Testament would be about 30% of the size it is now. The Holy Spirit works through the body of Christ, we are agents of his will and kingdom. We don't sit down and stop preaching the gospel and living it out in hopes the Holy Spirit works without us.
Your assertion that Worship Pastors aren't "real pastors" is exactly the problem. We have too many song leaders and entertainers instead of Worship Pastors, pastoring and pointing people to Christ through song. If we're pointing to Christ and if our worship is Christ centered repentance is a huge part of it, because we're filthy sinners and God is holy. If repentance isn't part of our worship, then we aren't worshiping Christ. So I agree, I want to sing songs that touch people's heart, but I want it to be touched by Jesus, I don't care about happy church tingles that lead to no transformation.
I appreciate your response, because this is an important issue to discuss.
"real pastors"? wow. that's kinda rude and bad tone. I mean, a "real pastor" is??? who? The one wearing the suit & holding the Bible on stage? Or maybe it's the guy w/ the title on the door? Eve Believe me "Dave" – I've been ministered to more by worship PASTORS than any suit holding a Bible on stage.
[part 1]
I appreciate the replies. What I was objecting to was the idea of selecting songs in order to convict certain segments of the congregation that I deem to be in sin. I think our songs should be sung to bless the Lord, not spear people's hearts, as if we know what God wants to do in their individual lives. That person who comes in late–how do you know what the Lord is working on in their life right now? They may fit one of the categories Kyle lists, but Jesus may be working on something completely different. If I am working on a worship set thinking "this one's for Joe, he thinks he's better than everyone, this will convict him," then I am no longer designing worship.
[part 2]
And, my use of the term "pastor" is trying to stick to the biblical term of pastor/elder, the one appointed by God to preach the word in authority to the congregation. Of course we are all ministers, that's clear from scripture, but the term pastor is reserved for selected ones who qualify according to passages like 1 Timothy 3 and Titus 1. I think the term "shepherd" is good for a worship leader, but please understand what I had in mind when I was objecting to the term "pastor" in this context.
So, certainly a result of true worship will be conviction and repentance, sorrow for sin, healing and confession. My main problem was the picture I got from Kyle's post; that of selecting songs with the PRIMARY goal of making people uncomfortable. I would appeal that if our goal is true worship, the Spirit will do His work His way.
As missionaries to our culture, our job is to identify the idols of that culture, and for certain we better be doing the same within our own church. I don't pick songs for specific individuals, but if you are laboring for the gospel, if you are praying for your church body, warring against the sin entering their lives, living in community with your church, you should be able to identify the idols that are getting worshipped in your church body. If you can't then you're not a member of the body, you're an onlooker, a bystander, not a pastor.
This attitude of "you don't know what God is doing" sounds like an excuse for not finding out what God is doing and leading your congregation to where God wants the church body to grow. If we don't know then dang we better get in prayer, open our eyes and find out. We should not put leadership on cruise control here and hope somehow the body hears some truth. Evaluating the sin that exists in our body is one of leadership's job, that isn't arrogance, that's humility in our depravity and acceptance of the gift of shepherding a group of sinners.
Dave,
I am an elder in our church as well as worship pastor. Since I also hold the biblical office of elder, does my post carry anymore weight or truth?
I bit of a confession. It's only after reading and commenting on this topic that I've realized that I'm not really doing this for my congregation. I don't truly ask God, "what does this congregation need" outside of knowing that we all need reminded of the Gospel… I tend to only ask, "what fits with the message for the morning" and often times that question is not even necessarily a question to God.
This hasn't always been the case. Looking back I have led in such a way that I was in touch with the people I was leading. I knew (at least I believe I knew) what the community needed and also what they wanted. This was a healthy place to be in my opinion. So, all that to say, what I believe we as worship pastors should do, I'm not doing well. Thank you for the discussion.
It sounds like we're closer to the same page than I thought. It's so hard to really understand one another in a forum like this. I agree with everything you said in that post. I was probably over-reacting to the style of your article, which struck me as individual-oriented rather than body-oriented (and first of all God-directed). I agree that one part of our worship design should certainly be a careful consideration of where my spiritual family is and what the Lord is doing here.
I'd say that your post in this forum doesn't carry any more weight, but in your church it does. For those of us who aren't elders, our leadership must be in submission to the elders…right? And even as an elder, your leadership should be in unity with the other elders you serve with. So hopefully your leadership, whether you're an elder or not, should be in harmony with where the elders believe the Lord is leading the church. I hope you'd agree that it wouldn't be healthy if a worship leader was independently trying to take the church somewhere the elders were not going. But all this is layers we couldn't get into from the level of your article and my first response.
Thanks for engaging with me!
[...] Worship leaders: Play songs your congregation doesn’t like | Our Rising Sound http://www.ourrisingsound.com/2009/07/30/worship-leaders-play-songs-your-congregation-doesnt-like – view page – cached I mean it…literally. I know playing songs your congregation doesn’t want to hear sounds like a horrible idea and flies in the face of many years of your — From the page [...]
The worship leader is as responsible to God for what he/she leads as the pastor is for what is preached. There is, however, a major difference. The recording industry sets parameters for us, allowing a relatively small group of outstanding musicians and leaders to share what God is saying to them. These talented men and women then express these emotions with lyrics and music that we duplicate to our hearers. The good aspects of this far outweigh the bad, but we are somewhat restricted by the revelation of God to the especially blessed, essentially praying, "Father, what have you revealed to another that would also be anointed for our congregation?"
I'm not sure James' post was on topic at all, but I'm not getting how the recording industry comes into play? Skilled musicians and leaders have been involved in music for the people of God since Heman and Asaph. Pockets of great music have been observable during all periods from Palestrina to Bach, Luther, Wesley's etc. The fact that we have a more global community nowadays, and that a lot of music is transmitted by recordings, is besides the point. Now what would be a good point is that much of the music of the past was written by people who were great theologians–they knew God well in a personal and knowledge sense. Look at how many pastors wrote hymns. Sometimes when I go to Christian concert it's just embarrassing how shallow or off-base a performer is when they talk. You'll hear someone like Matt Redman argue for the need to be a theologian, and that's refreshing.
Ran across this blog while looking for something else, but it resonated with me. The best, wisest worship leader I have ever encountered was in the late 1970s at a Jesus People type church in Carbondale IL. He had been a professional jazz musician before coming to Christ and also taught music at a univ. level. His theology and practice developed to include the following: songs had to be based and, whenever possible, teach sound doctrine, even when they were intimate 1st person prayer songs; they couldn’t be trite or cute, whether new songs or old (like some cheesy old hymns like “Hold the Fort”); they had to be musically good and singable, but didn’t have to be complex; he liked to draw from across history and across denomination, wherever he found a good worship song that fit those criteria. It was amazing: at that time, we sang many scripture songs and charismatic movement choruses, many of which were very good, and some rock-like hymns, like “Lion of Judah”. However, over time, he amplified the selection to include the best Catholic charismatic hymns, the best Lutheran & Baptist & Presbyterian hymns he found, (he would spend an afternoon playing and singing his way through traditional hymnals to find the best ones – remember, he didn’t have a bias as a fairly new Christian), and we even learned to sing some classical high church hymns like “O Sacred Head Now Wounded” (by Bach), sometimes side-by-side with short worship choruses like “I Adore Thee” (by Pete Sanchez), and with singing in the Spirit and any words of prophecy. It led to an remarkable depth and maturity in the worship, it was as though we were joining in the worship of heaven, of saints across all the ages, and not just the worship of Christian rock-and-rollers of the 1970s! I would love to see that type wise approach used by more churches today, it would add so much depth, and make us more timeless and not just timely. Frankly, for me, it also really taught me to lose a lot of musical prejudices, and begin to hear good music present within many styles, even ones that I wasn’t listening to at that time, like classical music and hymnody.
We need to keep it biblical but also we need a balance things could get very legalistic. Some good points kyle.
blessings
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wow, definitely needed to hear that, sometimes its easy to get sideways, i try to pick songs that will hit them right in the heart, although i realize we are merely vessels thru which the changing source flows, I have to remind myself about who i committed to when i took this opportunity, God is all there is, God is all I need, and until my last breath i will shout his praise.
We should be cultivating, within our congregations, such love that we can receive music we don't like along with what we are inculturated to. We LEARN to love. It doesn't come automatically. It comes from God, and grows like the kingdom of heaven, seed-to-plant-to-tree-to-fruit-to-seed. Now, it is possible to be a single-target church (the virtue being that those who don't like it leave, so the rest are, statistically, like-minded); but I have a feeling that in ten years (or less) they will become ingrown, intolerant and in trouble.