Feb
20
2012
The Bono Effect and Corporate Worship
Choosing songs is a pastoral task. The songs we sing and the way we sing them shape the way our congregation understands the gospel of Jesus Christ. In singing, we marry texts and music, communicating truth through a particular aesthetic---a particular cultural lens.
In this second discussion with Isaac Wardell and Kevin Twit, we talk about contextualization and retuned hymns. How does the current climate of mp3s and pop music shape the way the church sings? How can we take advantage of the resources already available to help people to sing? On the other hand, how does context shape the way we make decisions about the songs we sing and the songs we don't sing?
We also consider Wardell's provocative question of why church leaders talk so much about contextualization when no matter where you travel, you see them wearing the same clothes and hear the signing the same songs.
8 Comments
I lead worship in a small rural AG church.WE have guitar,piano and flute.We have two voices.Then we have all the new music out there that sometimes we feel we can't do because we don't have a drummer.
Suddenly we've learned to work more with melody than rhythm.
We have a pretty mixed group age wise and our pastor is from the old school but open to new things.We come Sunday morning with a real fruit basket of musical texture and at the end of the day we've found that our people have come to see Jesus and not us.
[...] recently came across an article on The Gospel Coalition’s website, where three pastors discussed the various worship styles [...]
I think an incredibly underestimated "tactic" is simply also having your congregation "get used" to doing new music. If you're able to continually introduce new music it's easier to continually have the idea of change and classics mixed in. There is such a great wealth of new and old out there...
But I really like the idea of "stripping down songs" to have them be more accessible. There are some great new albums of worship music that are out, but when you see them live in the worship context they have 45 people in their band with a load of strange unreplicatable instruments (I mean seriously, how many churches have a guitar player who plays with a bow?). Sadly a lot of these songs rely on a massive sound rather than a beautiful melody. The standard of what is "hip" lately seems to be about 3-5minutes of drearly, semi-melodic verses that are sung until the building of a great crescendo towards the end of the song. Basically in other words, for a musician, it's 4 minutes of "clean" on your amp and then 2 minutes of "distortion" at the end. It's basically become cliche...and it's not replicatable with just an acoustic in small group worship.
While I understand Wardell's point that everyone across the country is singing the same song (and dressing the same), I think it's important to not assume that this is something that is only true of churches.
If you go into high schools across the country and - from Berkeley to Hartford to Chicago - you'll see students listening to the same music and dressing the same way. There is some slight variation in terms of percentages that listen to country vs. hip-hop vs. pop vs. rock. But, musically speaking, we are becoming incredibly homogenous as a culture.
I'm not saying that there aren't differences between our churches, but the fact that musical styles hardly vary from coast to coast and everywhere in between in the secular world should assuage some false-guilt that we "should" be different from a church across the country.
Yes. When Isaac said that I grinned because I've said the same thing myself and probably at one point would have been one of those guys. I think your point about homogeneity and the pervasiveness of pop styles across the board and country is right on and a correct and helpful analysis of the general musical pulse of the country. Therefore, it is not surprising in one sense that so-called "contextual" presentations of songs and new compositions often overlap say in Cali and NYC.
However, I think Isaac is really on to something here. How odd is it that we in the missional church planting movement, all too often, under the guise of missional centextualizing of the Gospel adopt essentially the same website, with the same general design "I'm new here", vid player, rotating banner ad etc. We then often adopt a semi-post grunge, alt country, worship band and snicker about how lame "Shine Jesus Shine" is because "It doesn't sound like Whiskeytown". [That would be me at least!]
I think in many cases self-perceived "contextual" churches are simply the aging 20-30 something recapitulation and representation of the "cut and paste" model of evangelicalism through the 80's and 90's and the Purpose-Driven Church movement with a new costume. None of this is bad per se, but it is to say that much of what we think is contextual is not something that we've derived from an exegesis of our particular community, but is, I would suggest, an eisegeted and superimposed pre-determined sonic and sermonic and web site style that itself is somewhat of a fixed form.
I think the general feel of this video was good. Trying to perceive and articulate the 'sound' of your people and place, but also bringing in songs that emphasize that this is not just about the saints in this particular place but our membership in the New Man, the body of Christ, and the Communion of the Saints.
'everybody's got an Iphone/Ipod'. Well I don't nor do I want my kids to until they are much older so if I am at your church i would feel my family seperated out as odd by your comments. even if I agree with alot else that you are saying. this statement, as pertains to local church worship, would probably not be received well by older folks and perhaps 'rural' folks and others. I realize you can't please everyone and you are concerned with your local church, but can come across as dividing thru status/tech proficientcy and not unifying.
I guess I'm saying something like I'm glad you are thinking thru how you decide to 'do' corporate worship. Style, lyrics, culture, the spiritual maturity that should be seen in folks for your particular church etc. but articulating how the number of people who have Ipods (or not) makes a difference in decisions you make is, well it just sounds strange to me and not very spiritual. I'm not describing it well, but it just doesn't sit well with my thinking. It sounds like culture (technology) driving worship. I understand it's not the lyrics so utlimately, as long as you are singing the gospel and the truth, i don't care much so I'll stop my blathering...
[...] Hymns for our Day & The Bono Effect and Corporate Worship. Two interviews on hymns, music, and the church from Mike Cosper, Isaac Wardell, and Kevin Twit [...]
Thanks for this! So glad to see these three men together!
As a music director myself, I appreciate and use music from all three men. My church is probably most similar to Issac's.
The key is being "contextual", as mentioned in the video clip. I view my job as a balance between leading the congregation in spirit filled worship and reflecting them to God. If we view worship as the Church putting on a concert for God (not the music team to the congregation), then my job as a music director is to reflect the people in my particular church to God in a way that enables them to worship. Because my job is to enable specific people from my church to worship, I will sometimes need to pick different songs than what I, personally or culturally, prefer. It's a balance between enabling and stretching each worshiper. Everyone has a culture and preference that they worship God best with. As a leader, I can never completely cater to each person. With this in mind, I always say that if I can get everyone in my church to say, "The music is good, but it could be just a little better", that's right where I want to be as a leader. As musicians and leaders, we need to explore and understand different musical "statements" so that we can weave them together in a way that the congregation can relate to. Complex melodic rhythms and a driving beat will enable younger people to worship, lyrical melodies and secondary dominants will help baby boomers worship, and strong choral harmonies will help older generations worship. I am convinced that we, as music directors, need to also be musical arrangers. If I can combined driving beats, strong harmonies and lyrical melodies, I will. If we hold ourselves to a higher standard and stop accepting songs at face value, we can start to adapt each song for our particular congregation. The idea of contextual worship that this video talks about is very important. Thanks again!