Too Much Bono in the Church? –– Part Two

Is it possible that one of the unintended consequences of spectacular worship is that it teaches us we cannot truly worship God without the lights, band, and sound system? For all the good it can offer, might our programs accidentally reinforce the belief that people can only fully encounter God in a rocking church? This is worth considering.

Instead of putting all our resources into providing “amazing worship experiences” every Sunday, what if we spent an equal amount of energy teaching people how to have eyes to see God all week long? Yes, God can be experienced powerfully as we sing at the top of our lungs, and I hope we keep doing that. But God can also be experienced in our conversation with the stressed-out cashier at Target, if we have eyes to see. And God can be found while cutting the lawn, riding the subway, giving our kids a bath, weeping with a broken-hearted friend, and taking that first glorious sip of coffee in the morning. The question is not, “Is God in all those moments?” God is fully everywhere, for it is in God we live, move, and have our being. The question is whether we have eyes to see.

Thus a gracious, holistic church will offer its community wise practices, clear teaching, and safe spaces in which to cultivate eyes to see and worship God every moment from the sanctuary to the soccer field to the dinner table. . .

Church communities are not consumers to be entertained or donors to be appeased. They are instead God’s deeply loved daughters and sons who need to be lovingly pastored. How can we make sure we are pastoring them well? Get clear about the question you ask that drives your worship choices. The question we ask will direct the outcome. If the driving (functional) question is, “How do we get the room pumped up in the first thirty minutes of the church service?” the answer will never be, “Corporate confession.” Or prayer for the world. Or silence. Or blessing our enemies. Or an extended reading from scripture. Or lament. Or lectio divina (reading scripture in order to pray). But if the question is, “How do we form each person into Christlikeness for the sake of the world?” then all of the above will be deeply necessary and healing. And such a gift to all who are on the treadmill of figuring out how to top last Sunday. I recommend that each ministry team try to name the question driving what you do. (Not the question you know you should be asking and answering, but the actual question framing your church and ministry.) Very little can change until this question changes.

A gracious, holistic church will offer its community wise practices, clear teaching, and safe spaces to discern the questions driving us and allow God to give birth to new, deeper, and more life-bringing questions.

Aaron Niequist is a worship leader, songwriter, and pastor. Currently, he curates a discipleship-focused, formational, ecumenical, practice-based community called “The Practice” at Willow Creek Community Church in South Barrington, Illinois.

Aaron Niequist, “Too Much Bono in the Church?” Liturgy 32, no. 1 (2017): 42-45.

Expressive Worship

Melanie Ross writes about a study she conducted to find out how one large, evangelical congregation paid attention to its worship being both formative and expressive. In this section, she focuses on how the planning expressed the congregation’s faith. This is about West Shore Evangelical Free Church in Pennsylvania with 2,500-2,750 people worshipping on Sundays.

Ross’s study included interviewing parishioners. Here are some of the issues that her interviews raised.

One component of good worship at West Shore is stylistic variety. As one congregant explained to me, “I know that ‘traditional’ and ‘contemporary’ are ‘can of worms’ words. But I think we're committed to having a wide variety of styles, time periods, and musical genres.” She continued, “When I've been involved in planning worship, and when I've seen other people plan, there is intentional thought to ‘Have we done something that people would consider a hymn this week? Are we doing things that are both upbeat and contemplative? Have we brought in something from another culture?’ Eclectic is a good word to describe it, but it's not hodge-podge,” she concluded.

 A second component of good worship at West Shore is theological range. In the words of one worshiper, “Our prayers and songs are more honest than they used to be. Life is hard. God is good. There are zeros and tens in every single day. How do I balance that?” She reflected, “I think our worship is starting to reflect more and more the need for people to be encouraged and lifted up in an authentic way. I don't mean, ‘Let's get ourselves all psyched up: yay, God!’ And I don't mean, ‘Here's a nice little thing God did for me.’ It's more like, ‘I don't have a clue what's happening and I'm scared to death, but this is how God worked in all these ways in the past.’ God is constant and he will save, and in ways we don't even imagine.”

 Finally, many interviewees stressed an intrinsic connection between good relationships and good worship. “What attracts you to somebody's family, or to a couple you know, or to a group of friends?” one person asked rhetorically. “It's the kind of relationships they have with each other. It's like that at West Shore too. If our relationships aren't right on the inside, worship won't be right on the outside.” Strong relationships and trust make it possible to experiment in worship.

 . . . One worship leader, who has been with the congregation for 27 years, summed things up nicely when she compared West Shore to a petri dish. “Some of the things I suggested for worship have failed miserably,” she admitted. “But the church continues to allow me to try things out in corporate worship, and all of us learn together. The congregation is always willing to take a chance with you, and to continue with you. I think there's a seeking-ness about it,” she concluded. “Seeking who the Lord is and what the Lord likes.”

Ross concludes by noting the impossibility any congregation has in establishing exactly how the assembly will be shaped or helped by the worship offering.

. . . Perhaps at the end of the day, defining good worship is like trying to shine light on a moving electron. We can study the path worship takes over time (its formative aspects). We can examine worship in any given moment (its expressive aspects). But knowing both simultaneously and with precision is a difficult, if not impossible, task on this side of the eschaton.

 ––Melanie Ross is assistant professor of liturgical studies at Yale Divinity School, New Haven, Connecticut.
 

Melanie Ross, “Good Worship: An Evangelical Free Church Perspective,” Liturgy 29, no. 2 (31 Jan 2014): 3-8.