Randy raises an interesting point..”Was it worship inducing?” Now I’m no oldie fuddy duddy but what I see more and more is Church becoming a rock concert and entertainment and this video is a good example of what I’m talking about.

I ask the question, why do churches feel as if they need to pull off an amazing light show and rock concert in an effort to be relevent?

I don’t know. Something just doesn’t feel right about all this.

“thanks for the positive feedback!”

Really. Was that meant as sarcasm? I guess I didn’t get the memo where all blog comments were supposed to be in favor of every bad idea.

Whoops. Randy’s was positive. My bad. I thought you were responding to LayGuy’s.

Now mine above was sarcastic. Did I mention I am usually an angry blogger. (Not always a good thing.)

Maybe I am just ignorant, but I’ve always been interested in why people think that everything that happens at church has to point directly to a point in a sermon or be “worshipful” or whatever. I know that the very thought will anger some people, but God is totally ok with His people just plain having fun! Laughter for the sake of laughter should be welcomed, fun for the sake of fun should be welcomed, etc. Of course church services should ultimately point to God in one way or another, but I believe that God’s people enjoying themselves together is a powerful statement as well as a needed thing.

I think it is great. Personally, I am tired of the same old boring, “traditional” Christmas service. I think our methods can change, but the MESSAGE should always stay the same. “Will I dance for you Jesus or in awe of you be still?” (Mercy Me) I think you can rock out and still have a time of meaningful worship. After all, the drummer boy brought his best. Now don’t get me wrong. I love it when you slow it down and sing some old hymns in a more contemporary fashion, but what is wrong with rocking out for Jesus? What is wrong with a concert type atmosphere that points to Jesus? It breaks my heart to enter into a boring Praise and Worship service where the people don’t engage and the Christ Follower’s are content to hold the back of the chair or pew and just gaze around. I don’t know about you, but I am excited about what Jesus has done for me and sometimes during Praise and Worship I want to jump and clap, and get a little crazy for Jesus. I don’t know if you have ever been to a Blue Man Group rock show, but they engage the people. When people go to the show they raise the roof, bob their head and scream just for the sweet fun of it. People, old people, get excited over a rock concert. When are Christ Follower’s going to stop whining over the petty things and get excited about what Jesus accomplished at the cross? How many who don’t know Christ came that night because of the lights and the music? How many heard the story of Jesus who would normally never come to a traditional service? My old church, Grace Church Saint Louis, does a similar production. You can learn more at http://www.stikyard.com. I think it is amazing. Each year they pack out the church. They do, I believe, seven services and pack out each one. Thousands come from all over for the production, and its easy to invite lost friends to because it is so sweet. Thousands upon thousands hear the name of Jesus because of a production/concert. I think it is worth it. I am just a youth pastor who doesn’t know much. Please take with a grain of salt. My intent is not to blast “tradition”, but simply to acknowledge other ways of doing sweet ministry. The church should be an example of Christ and what He has done. When people visit our church they should be welcomed and loved for who they are, there should also be a wow factor. Wow, these people are excited about their faith and the God they love and serve.

I’m going to be honest. I hope you can sense my heart.

First off… I LOVE the drum-line and/or trash can drumming vibe. There’s something VERY cool about that texture. We used to do it on a fairly regular basis at Irving Bible. It was always cool and full of energy. And there is something very ’street level’ about it… seems to communicate getting radical and getting our hands dirty for the kingdom.

Beyond that, here is what I push back against with the over-all presentation here…

1. The two story riser set up, over-all look, feel, and vibe would be laughed off any respectable stage in the non-church world. It’s cheesy. I don’t understand why we do stuff like this.

2. The cheesiness of this particular set-up and vibe aside, the concert stage/club worship vibe is troubling to me as well…

‘The medium is the message.’

What that means is that the method of communication is NEVER neutral. Media matters. There’s a lot to unpack there… too much for this comment.

The showy concert/club vibe brings elements with it (that cannot be fully removed) that are antithetical and distracting from the essence of Christian worship.

That being said… I DO think that Christ honoring concerts that even blend performance and worship are not only possible, but good!

The question is whether this approach should become the ONLY way we worship on a week to week basis or for a very important gathering time for Christians like a Christmas service. I say no. I think the Church and the world is better served by a more reverent, focused, sacramental regular worship format. If we want to add a little rock-star worship now and then on the side that’s cool.

But we need to understand its pitfalls and dangers. And that it is a poor replacement (actually no replacement at all) for a more profound understanding of what the people of God do when we meet as a community of God, with God, on a regular basis. AND especially when we gather on such important times for our family such as Advent, Christmas, Easter, Pentecost, etc….

Just because people are singing, lifting hands, bouncing up and down or whatever, doesn’t mean that we are truly engaging in the essence of meaningful Christian worship that breathes with the grace of God and profoundly changes our lives. We would do all that at any concert for an artist we are into. It sounds a bit old school… but, Christian worship should really be holy. That is… profoundly different. There’s no school like the old school.

Please understand I’m not necessarily talking about music style… hymns and organs, that type of thing. It’s deeper than that.

Finally… I DO appreciate the commitment to going all out for Jesus, and the heart and passion for worship! None of that is in doubt here! Keep that up! My push back is on a deeper more philosophical level. Just food for thought.

TTown,

I do not doubt for one moment the sincerity of what is going on at Lifechurch in any area including worship. And, I rejoice in what God is doing there! I am not about criticizing for the sake of being critical, or tearing down at all. And I am certainly not advocating we only do hymns from 1775. That’s certainly not my preference!

I don’t think anyone on this thread has suggested that.

I’m all about new (and historical) worship forms (including music). And there is some great stuff being written right now.

I am only voicing concern about some of the forms that can take that are so performance oriented. Again, nothing wrong with that in it’s proper context and properly understood. But we need to be very thoughtful regarding such when in the context of worship. IF the ‘concert form’ becomes the norm and expectation for Christian worship. And, it HAS in many, many contemporary churches, then we need to take second look and consider the implications. And, when we do decide it’s time to ‘put on a show,’ then great! Let’s make sure we do it with artistic integrity and thoughtfulness. That’s all I’m saying.

When does “relevance” overstep a boundary? New Age, Emergent, compromise, it’s all starting to run together and has crept into the church. C.H. Spurgeon drew thousands to his church because of his uncompromised teaching of the gospel of Jesus Christ, but this right here is smoke and mirrors.

Entertainment is a sure way to get the attention on you, not God.

On a side note, hymns turned modern are epic. I suggest looking at http://pagecxvi.com/

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