Some thoughts as a worship leader:
Worship through song should engage the whole person-mind, affections, and will. It should not just give us an emotional experience, but should leave our attitude and posture towards God and life changed. Many argue over whether hymns or contemporary choruses are a better vehicle for worship. This is often an argument over the value of engaging the mind verses the value of engaging the emotions.
What is often left out of this discussion is the role of the will, that which leads to actions. If our worship through song is unconnected to how we live our lives then we are hypocrites. We can rise to the heights of passion or we can fill our minds with lots of great theology but if the 30 minutes of singing is unattached to how we live the rest of our lives we are fools.
It is my opinion that both hymns and contemporary choruses can be a great tool for engaging the whole person in worship. I say this with the following warnings:
Worship through song should engage the whole person-mind, affections, and will. It should not just give us an emotional experience, but should leave our attitude and posture towards God and life changed. Many argue over whether hymns or contemporary choruses are a better vehicle for worship. This is often an argument over the value of engaging the mind verses the value of engaging the emotions.
What is often left out of this discussion is the role of the will, that which leads to actions. If our worship through song is unconnected to how we live our lives then we are hypocrites. We can rise to the heights of passion or we can fill our minds with lots of great theology but if the 30 minutes of singing is unattached to how we live the rest of our lives we are fools.
It is my opinion that both hymns and contemporary choruses can be a great tool for engaging the whole person in worship. I say this with the following warnings:
Those with
a heavy bent towards contemporary choruses should be aware of the following
risks:
1) Neglecting to engage the mind,
2) Singing songs that are more "me and my feelings" focused than God focused,
3) Engaging a narrow set of emotions, namely, joy and thankfulness,
4) Losing the men in the congregation who struggle to connect with songs that sound eerily similar to 8th grade love songs (is it any wonder that most churches have many more women than men?),
5) Never dealing with rich theological truth that people need,
6) Losing the more heady, intellectual type in the congregation
1) Neglecting to engage the mind,
2) Singing songs that are more "me and my feelings" focused than God focused,
3) Engaging a narrow set of emotions, namely, joy and thankfulness,
4) Losing the men in the congregation who struggle to connect with songs that sound eerily similar to 8th grade love songs (is it any wonder that most churches have many more women than men?),
5) Never dealing with rich theological truth that people need,
6) Losing the more heady, intellectual type in the congregation
Those with
a heavy bent towards hymns should be aware of the following risks:
1) Boring the people to sleep,
2) Singing 500 words in three minutes without an opportunity to stop and consider what the heck was just sung,
3) Forsaking the benefits of simplicity, especially in cries and pleas to God,
4) No matter how “cool” you make an old hymn, some people will naturally have aversions to hymns because of the church they were raised in,
5) Losing the more emotional, feeling type in the congregation.
1) Boring the people to sleep,
2) Singing 500 words in three minutes without an opportunity to stop and consider what the heck was just sung,
3) Forsaking the benefits of simplicity, especially in cries and pleas to God,
4) No matter how “cool” you make an old hymn, some people will naturally have aversions to hymns because of the church they were raised in,
5) Losing the more emotional, feeling type in the congregation.
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