Paul has been leading worship at the same church in Texas for over twenty years so he's seen a lot of things. He's also done multiple worship conferences, both leading worship and speaking. He's also a prolific songwriter. Some of the songs we've done for a weekend service are Hosanna, Our God Saves, Above All, Open the Eyes of My Heart and Your Name. And he's recorded 9 worship CDs. Pretty impressive.
In his recent post, he asks what are 20-somethings looking for in a church and in a worship service? He tells a fictional tale that seems to ring true to me.
What do you think?
And what would you really like to see or not see at a worship service?
4 comments:
Ahhh, we have been talking about this a lot down here in California!!
Things I want in a worship service:
-worship music that does not overshadow the message
-worship musicians that do not overshadow the music
-people who know my name, even just one or two
-controlled worship leaders
Things I do not want in a worship service:
-distracting light/visuals meant to enhance my adrenaline and not my worship
-a bunch of songs I don't know
-a worship leader who is very caught up in their own worship and makes me feel awkward
-people who give sermons during the praise music
that's just based on my experience of worship services (talking very specifically about the music part) that I like and don't like.
I read an interesting article about a church that "killed" their youth group because they didn't like that they were creating a youth church within their church, and that's how I feel about worship music. I think it's a good thing to bring people together and allow them to worship together in a way that is unique to them and comfortable to them, but at the same time sometimes we get too caught up in making people comfortable in church, too caught up in being "cool." Jesus never wanted us to be comfortable, and Jesus was never really cool.
Stephanie - great thoughts and comments. Thanks so much for contributing! Now if only a few hundred other 20-somethings would respond, we'd be getting somewhere!?!?
I have asked soooo many young Christians who are humble and not lukewarm. They want old hymns, more than anything...and not hard rock either. I don't blame them. ALL churches have gone to rock for youth, but I never listened to rock myself...I like Classical, Country, Western, and Musicals! I doubt we can hold as many pop styles of music to attract and keep young people... I DO think if we focused on words and tunes that were beautiful, uplifting, and helpful...like old hymns in their simplicty...people would not come to bee-bop to rock, but be moved to change. Dare you to try it.
Thanks for your input, who-ever-you-are :-)
Not having led our middle school or high school worship times, I really don't know what our students and collegians are seeking or what is turning them off during our worship times. That's the reason for this post - I was hoping to hear from these students myself. I do hope to get some more clarity from the people who actually lead these ministries soon.
And is there something wrong with celebrating and getting excited about what Jesus has done for us? I can find lots of examples of enthusiastic worship in the Bible, as well as quiet, reverent times. If we can get excited, scream and yell when our favorite sports team scores, why can't we make a "ruckus" to our God?
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