Here is one of the articles I used to generate discussion in Sunday school. It’s actually an editorial, so I think that means it’s not an article but why split hairs.
Selections from “Pop Worship” An Editorial by Jon Baker
Worship is popular— its fashionable and, relatively recently, all things “worship” have become quite trendy among Christian consumers, especially those of younger generations.
When I speak of worship I am primarily wrestling with our understanding of it as it relates to music, singing, corporate gatherings and the like.
For the most part, Christians idolize pop icons in the same way that non-Christians do. Maybe we would like to say we don’t, but I believe we do. We elevate Christian pastors, musicians, worship leaders and authors all the time. We place these individuals in places that they do not belong. It’s no different than in the secular industry and sometimes its worse because these people are popular “for God.” That’s a dangerous phrase: Pop icons for God.
What, then, is authentic worship? It would be quite a task to nail down a definitive definition of what authentic worship is. But I don’t believe it is electric guitars or large gatherings. It is not animated lighting or praise songs with catchy hooks. It is not hymns and it is not merely lifting our hands. It is not worship DVDs or CDs; rather, worship is something that happens in one’s soul, not a product that you consume. You do not consume worship. You offer it. Can worship materials facilitate worship? Yes. Can worship become an idol in itself? Yes. It’s so important for Christians to fight the inauthentic pop notion of worship and learn to worship authentically. This comes as we allow God to take His rightful place in our lives as the true object of our affections.
Lady Maphet brought up an excellent point and said, we need to remember that worship is not a setting where we are the audience to be entertained by performers, but it is God who is the audience and we offer up our hearts and souls to him. This is what “authentic worship” really is.
You don’t need to have a full band, a light show and PowerPoint slides to draw people into the pews, especially younger people. If a church uses those things to draw people in, they are in grave danger of drawing them in for the wrong reasons. This is not to say there is no room for those modern ideas in worship, but they must be used wisely and bear in mind the ultimate goal is to offer up our hearts, minds, bodies and souls to our Lord and Savior.
I had a discussion the night before with our Youth Pastor candidate and asked him his thoughts on worship and was very pleased with his answer. His main point was that as long as worship and the message were relevant, to the congregation, including visitors, and the service was Biblically based that it would be authentic worship. Keeping with this model, you will bring people of all ages into the pew and keep them there.
The message being relevant gets to the heart of what Pastor David Wayne (Jollyblogger) laments about in his post What's a pastor to do? Being grounded in this Biblical view of the church will truly keep those that have received the name of Christ and are called out to be owned by him, in the fold of the congregation. May we all be blessed by a pastor that has the courage to be disruptive!
Posted by price at June 15, 2004 10:04 AM