For My Worship Leader Readers
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First, I installed Wordpress 2.5 RC2 last night and, at first glance, it looks awesome. It’s a welcome and thank-worthy change. I’ll give you a real review in a couple days after I get a little more time with it.
Now, on to the topic of this article. Many of you know that I’m a worship leader and I’ve been doing it for about five years. I returned to my “home” church about 8 months ago to lead worship and it’s been wonderful.
In my (few) years of leading worship, I’ve led in all kinds of styles. Traditional hymns with hymnals, mid-90s contemporary, postmodern rock, and lately a lot of punk worship as a side deal with our church’s student band. (They’re incredible musicians and it’s a joy to play with them every Wednesday. It’s a nice break from the adults I lead on Saturday nights and Sunday mornings.)
I’ve noticed a trend in worship that I think is the root of a lot of heartache in churches that are trying to transition with the times to stay relevant in their music. It comes down to three different philosophies of corporate worship; what it should look like, what God honors, and what honors God. (Aside: this has nothing to do with styles of music.)
Traditional Corporate
The traditional view of corporate worship is that everyone sings and knows the songs because they’ve been singing these songs for years. All the songs are “near-and-dear” to their heart and everyone’s familiar with them. It brings along a vibe of community when everyone knows all the songs.
When new songs are introduced, they’re introduced slowly, they have a universal appeal, they’re not much different than all the other songs, and they stick around for a while.
Concert Corporate
Concert corporate worship is a little different in that the focus is less about involvement, but still striving for familiarity. The purpose is to pull the worshiper into an engaging experience with music that they know. You’ll see this kind in churches that are trying for a large worship feel, but don’t want to leave their congregation in the dark about the song.
New music is introduced much like traditional corporate, but may or may not stay around depending on the “vibe” in the room.
Album Corporate
Corporate worship that fits this concept is styled much like a mix tape. You’ll see a mix-match of styles, intensity, creativity, and volume. Familiarity with the music is secondary to the impact of the lyrics and the relevancy thereof, while involvement is desired, but not necessary.
New songs are introduced often, may or may not stay for very long, and come from all different styles of music. This makes for a “keep them on their toes” environment.
Let me establish that one way is not better than another, but each concept seems to mate nicely with a generation of church-goers. Most importantly, depending on your purpose for your worship gatherings, you’ve got to pick one and stick with it.
If your desire is to let your music be a tool to make outsiders feel more at home, the album concept might fit. If you want to engage the audience with familiar music in a new or exciting way, go for the concert concept. If you’re looking to involve as many as possible in singing together, go for the traditional concept.
As we all know, worship isn’t restricted to one style or concept. In fact, worship through music is really only a small piece of the worship puzzle.
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Great post about worship styles. I agree, style is just that…style. It shouldn’t affect our ability to worship. There is no wrong or right way and I believe we can worship God through all kinds of styles.
I’m anxious to read your review on WP 2.5!!
Brad Ruggles
http://www.bradruggles.com
Brad Ruggles’s last blog post..Why Do You Stay?
Good post. I agree about the styles… and its unfortunate that this is primarily THE issue that splits churches and causes the bulk of the arguements today. Can’t we just worship God?!
Terrace Crawford’s last blog post..Daily Detox
Scott….thanks for this post. Not only am I the planting pastor of our church, I’m also the worship leader. As with many church plants, we have gone through a mixture of musicians and commitment levels. The music we’re capable of performing really depends on who’s on the team at any given time. So I have found myself grappling with different ideas and concepts about what to do from week to week. I think your three categories are pretty insightful and will help me wrestle with this question.
I have to admit that as someone who thoroughly enjoys music and singing, I tend to want to do more “concert style” where everyone else jumps in too. But there is a growing reality that there are many people who really would rather observe and absorb. I don’t know where I’m going to shake this all out, but I do know that I have to be willing to lay down my own preferences if necessary in order to better reach people with the gospel.
Mark Doebler’s last blog post..Cutting the Cheese
Hello Scott. I literally just stumbled across your site via a Google alert. Great post. I whole-heartedly agree, and you are speaking to the struggle that many of us are still going through each and every week in our churches.
I’m adding you to my blogroll and my feed reader, and I’d invite you to stop by consumingworship.org sometime. Keep up the great blogging.
Jeff M. Miller’s last blog post..Unweighted, the restart
Great comments guys.
Brad, I definitely agree.
Terrace, thankfully I haven’t witnessed a church split over this issue. I hope I never do.
Mark, as one called to be a pastor one day (when I grow up) it’s always fascinating to hear fellows who sing and preach for their church. It’s sometimes necessary, but not ideal. I hope God will give you the opportunity to follow one or the other as a passion in your ministry.
Jeff, welcome. I stopped by your blog, liked what I saw, and subscribed. Look forward to reading more.
“worship through music is really only a small piece of the worship puzzle” Snap! thats dead on.
I personally like house and electronic music and at one time was convinced church would be better if it was more like a dance club… I have since decided that I like “Simple Church” focused on the gospel and whatever the music turns out to be than yee ha.
Aaron Marshall’s last blog post..Engage People: Add Video to Your Ministry Website Using Vimeo
Aaron, I think a little house music and electronica is not a bad idea…in moderation. (lol)
Great post Scott! It’s a very interesting way of looking at things.
I think I’d have to say that GracePoint falls under Album Corporate.
MandoRon’s last blog post..Jake
[...] by mandoron in Music. Tags: edge of grace, gracepoint, Worship trackback I came across a great post today over on the Read Scott blog dealing with different philosophies for corporate [...]
MandoRon, thanks. I must confess that Album Corporate is my personal favorite, but by now means the best.
My own church currently falls under the Traditional Corporate model, but I’m intentionally taking the ministry toward a mixture of Album and Concert Corporate. Of course, this process has already taken about eight months and I don’t see being complete before the end of the year…so it’s a long process, even with a clear vision and (hopefully) strong leadership.
My church GracePoint is only 4 years old, so there haven’t been any traditions to change. I think initially we may have been headed towards concert corporate, but after a few months our worship leader quit. He was replaced by someone who was brand new to leading worship. So between his personality, and band boredom, I think we’ve just ended up at album corporate. Very interesting to think about. Thanks again for stimulating the discussion.
MandoRon’s last blog post..Worship Philosophy
Good job on breaking up the worship atmospheres in, pretty much, every church around the country. I personally grew up in a Traditional Corporate environment…liked it a lot, but there’s not a lot of “challenge” in your worship experience - if that makes sense. I think once people know a song so well…it becomes a lip service, instead of a heart service.
Let’s hope that doesn’t happen at Celebration! In fact, I see our church as more of an Album Corporate worship - you’ve introduced a lot of “new” music (or what most people consider new) and I think it’s been great! Good post!
[...] Read Scott on different styles of worship. [...]
Good post.
I like the classifications and I completely agree with how you created the labels.
I find myself putting together sets based on each of these styles. I am seeing that I can’t focus on one as I see each style with purpose. I like how each one expands the spectrum with different focus or influence.
I also appreciate that you spoke to these as equals. Shows your maturity and understanding of how dynamic and subjective music can be.
Good stuff!
Brent