10 Mistakes Worship Leaders Make - Mistake #6 - Excellence = Complexity
Mistake # 6 – Excellence equals complexity
We live in complex times. As a result, we tend to assume that excellence is complicated. It’s not.
The “Blues Clues” children’s TV show offers a valuable pattern for worship. They keep it simple. Each show is one point, one theme, one story line. They play each show five times during the week. The first time, you get the basic idea. With each subsequent viewing, more of the details of content are being grasped.
So, what does that mean for worship?
Should it be a sophisticated variety show? Should it blow minds with stimulation? Do you want them to walk away with sensory stimulation or with an impartation of God?
Composers used to write songs for common people. Today, they tend to write for each other. So, complexity reigns. Much the same thing has happened in the church. Because it is a sub-culture, the elites create works to impress the other elites and professionals rather than giving the people spiritual on-ramps to the Presence. As a result, many people singing the songs have no clue what the words means or why they were written.
People must know the story behind the song. If they do, a real and living connection is possible. But, a complex shower of sounds and sights erroneously called “worship” doesn’t leave any kind of deposit in the people who were there! They didn’t understand (much less remember) the words; they just remember shards of techno-lights and noise.
I believe technology is a tool and, used properly, can greatly support the various dimensions of our faith walk. For example, use your website, podcasting, email, instant messaging, etc. as means of delivering and repeating the story, sending lyrics to the congregation, distributing songs and interviews with the composers, and other vital things that can’t be done on Sunday morning. These are wonderful applications of technology tools.
Technology should make coming into His Presence simpler, not more complicated. It should prepare the path to the congregational meeting. Techno-toys should not take center stage. Excellence does not equal complexity.
The “Blues Clues” children’s TV show offers a valuable pattern for worship. They keep it simple. Each show is one point, one theme, one story line. They play each show five times during the week. The first time, you get the basic idea. With each subsequent viewing, more of the details of content are being grasped.
So, what does that mean for worship?
Should it be a sophisticated variety show? Should it blow minds with stimulation? Do you want them to walk away with sensory stimulation or with an impartation of God?
Composers used to write songs for common people. Today, they tend to write for each other. So, complexity reigns. Much the same thing has happened in the church. Because it is a sub-culture, the elites create works to impress the other elites and professionals rather than giving the people spiritual on-ramps to the Presence. As a result, many people singing the songs have no clue what the words means or why they were written.
People must know the story behind the song. If they do, a real and living connection is possible. But, a complex shower of sounds and sights erroneously called “worship” doesn’t leave any kind of deposit in the people who were there! They didn’t understand (much less remember) the words; they just remember shards of techno-lights and noise.
I believe technology is a tool and, used properly, can greatly support the various dimensions of our faith walk. For example, use your website, podcasting, email, instant messaging, etc. as means of delivering and repeating the story, sending lyrics to the congregation, distributing songs and interviews with the composers, and other vital things that can’t be done on Sunday morning. These are wonderful applications of technology tools.
Technology should make coming into His Presence simpler, not more complicated. It should prepare the path to the congregational meeting. Techno-toys should not take center stage. Excellence does not equal complexity.
1 Comments:
Right on! Just in coversation recently I mentioned to my wife that so many times the grand dimension of the worship genre makes playing these hugely orchestrated songs next to impossible when what you have is a small worship team. You tend to want to duplicate the "feeling" or "anointing" of a particular song you heard and you walk away feeling as though you did not achieve it during practice and so you'd rather not "perform" the song thinking it is going to be a failure. I believe in giving God every ounce of who we are and that He deserves glorious praise of all the instruments and voices of the earth but I also believe He lives in the praises of people led by the smallest of worship teams or individual and we can never allow the "show" to enter in and cause us to think differently.
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