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The first question and answer of the Westminster Catechism tells us that the primary purpose of humanity is to glorify God and enjoy God forever. With that reminder, I am posting the following link which I came across containing some interesting perspectives regarding the “worship wars” along with highlights listed below….

http://www.ChurchExecutive.com/Page.cfm/PageID/8921

In an article on ChurchExecutive.com entitled, “Reevaluate your purpose to win the worship wars” by Jeff May, a case is made for a single service of praise exemplifying the unity of a congregation in the body of Christ gathered for worship together. Following are pertinent [modified] excerpts of particular points from this thought-provoking piece:

…worship has become a war within the church. This group wants contemporary; that group wants traditional; and the peacekeepers of the church rally for a “blendedâ€? worship style. With all of the options out there, it still seems like no one is completely satisfied with the style of the music, regardless of the efforts to satisfy all musical tastes. …I believe that it is [instead] possible for a church to reach a place of understanding and acceptance where believers can worship together in unity.

• Worship is defined by the heart and not the musical style. It is important to remember that worship is the heart’s response to God and is expressed in many ways. Ultimately, we worship God through the way we live our lives. The corporate worship setting is only one small part of our worship expression. In an imperfect world, sometimes we have to set aside personal preferences and let our passionate love for Christ be the uniting force that fuels our worship, and not our musical preferences. There is absolutely no way to please everyone. But one thing that all believers should have in common is their passionate love for Christ and desire to express that love to Him through corporate worship.

• Fight the urge to compartmentalize styles into service times. It seems like most every church that I drive by has a sign that says “Come to our 8 am traditional service, 9:30 am contemporary service, and our 10:45 am blended service.â€? [The majority of American churches appear to be following this model.] The problem with that is that it creates separate congregations who are not defined by their love for Christ nor a mission of the church. Instead, they are defined by their musical preferences. This is not a picture of the irresistible church that Christ has called us to be; it is divided and fragmented.

• [Worship the Lord as a people united in a missional purpose.] Every year, hundreds of thousands of people gather at Times Square in New York City to celebrate New Year’s Eve. They have one purpose in mind: to have a good time. The people gathered don’t care if Rascal Flats is singing a country song or Mariah Carey is singing a pop hit. They’re going to have a good time regardless of who is singing. If the church is more passionate about musical preferences than it is about reaching the world, then there is something terribly wrong.

• Expose your congregation to a wide range of musical styles. Teach your congregation the value of appreciating all styles of music. Good music is good music, regardless of its style. If the church can capture the spirit of excellence that it had in the earlier centuries of its history, I believe that it will have an even greater voice in the world. Everyone has a musical preference. However, the vast majority of people are willing to listen to other styles of music if it is done well. Exposing them to different styles of music will keep them out of their rut and teach them that there is more than one way to express our worship.
  Because we live in an imperfect world, it won’t be until we are in Heaven that all believers will worship together without regard to musical preferences. At that time, we will be so awestruck by God’s greatness, that we won’t care what the style is. We will just want to worship God for His goodness and awesome nature. Until then, we can do everything in our power to bring believers back to the true heart of worship.

Jeff May is the overseer of the worship and creative arts team at Phoenix First Assembly, Phoenix, AZ. 

The article referenced here is located at http://www.churchexecutive.com/PagePrint.cfm/PageID/8921

This entry was posted on Friday, April 27th, 2007 at 3:58 pm and is filed under Missional Community, Worship, perspectives. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.