Performance Leader or Worship Leader

I was on my Facebook Wall today and came across a blog that someone had posted in which they thought I might be interested. The particular subject of the blog was "Why Men Have Stopped Singing." It was written by David Murrow on the blog "A Few Good Men."

As I read this short explanation of why men no longer sing during worship services I didn't even ask myself if it were actually true that men have quit singing during church services. I know it is because that is pretty much the case in the church where I worship.

Truth is, sometimes I feel like a lone wolf howling in the night wind during the time of congregational singing. Don't get me wrong. Our worship leader generally does an excellent job of putting together the service. However, when I look around most of the men are just standing in silence like so many fence posts.

There are probably a lot of reasons why and David Murrow has nailed down a few and his readers a bunch more. However, for me the answer lies deeper than "unfamiliarity" with the songs, the pitch of the song, or the femininity of the music. I agree, men want a song pitched in a range in which they can sing, that they would prefer songs they know and that are a bit more masculine.  I believe men like to sing about the "Joy of the Lord" and "Victory in Jesus." I believe they want to both sing to the Lord and sing about the Lord. I don't even think it is the contemporary style of the music that has silenced the men's voices. Again, don't misunderstand me . . . these are all contributing factors.

I believe the change from vibrant robust congregational sing where the men just "opened up and let her fly" started to end the day we started moving our talents to the platform. We did this in a way that showcased the leaders skills and talents. We have a kid who plays drums so lets put him on the platform and use his talents; another plays base so let's get him up there too; and on and on we go. Now we have a band.  We moved the choir out to make room for the speakers, amplifiers, microphones, equalizers and synthesizers. Now our four worship leaders sound like "Jars of Clay" or "Abba" or "Alabama."  Not really . . . but our electronics change the sound coming out of our mouths so that everyone is on pitch and on the right rhythm so we just sound like it. Then the "Band" begins believing that's what they really sound like. If we could just get that preacher to sound more like Billy Graham.

While we were embracing all this "new" way of worshipping an obscure British apologist named John Blanchard was warning of the dangers inherent in a church embracing the new forms and structure approach to worship in a little book called "Pop Goes The Gospel."

Now I know some smart person is going to point out that preachers have been in the spotlight for a long time and people sat quietly through as he performed for them so lets deal with that now. If, and I say if the preacher was front and center so that he could demonstrate his oratorical skills or lack thereof then shame on him. Here is the difference. When the preacher stands to preach he is delivering a message from God to the people. When God speaks it behooves us all to listen. However, there was a time when the "Amens" came from men in the congregation and not women. That is pretty much reversed these days. When the congregation stands to sing and the worship leader (Worship Team) leads them in singing it is to for the people together as the body of Christ to declare to the goodness of God, greatness of God and the things (victories) He has done. God speaks through the sermon and the people respond
through song, testimony and the occasional "amen."

This can happen through any "style" of worship and indeed has and does occur weekly. However, we have forgotten an axiom of worship that is tucked away in B.B. McKinneys assertion that the congregation is the largest and most important choir that the worship leader has. The whole purpose of a worship leader, a worship team, a traditional choral setup is to engage the congregation so that men, women and children participate. Whether it is preaching, singing or whatever if the congregation doesn't go with you it is a failure.

I fear much of what we are doing is play acting and performing not for God but for ourselves. Are we playing the the right notes and singing the right words but what our hearts really mean is not found in the notes and words we sing. First Baptist Church of Orlando gave an example of this when they recorded Don't Worship This Way.

What has happened is we have transformed our worship services from the preacher delivering a message from God to God's people and the worship leader engaging the congregation in corporate worship of God to the church's equivalent of a concert.. As one Worship leader said to me, "I call it "Performance Ministry" as opposed to "Worship Ministry." What we need is fewer Performance Ministers and more Worship Ministers.

The goal of the preacher and the worship team is the same as that of John the Baptist, "He must increase, but I must decrease." We must get back to defining what we are trying to do in worship and periodically and honestly evaluate how well our method, process, and style is achieving that goal. That goal should be to engage as many people as possible in worship.

I believe that if we are honest we'll take notice that not only are the men not singing we will discover that most of the women aren't singing either. If the congregation is not robustly involved  then it's time to ask, "Why aren't they?" and "What can we do to get them involved in worship?"  Remember, if you want them to change then you are going to have to do something different. Don't try to force them into your little box . . . change boxes by getting one into which they will fit.