Worship Music - Art & forgetting half the band

I've been singing & playing with or organizing church music for more than half my 41 years. For the most part, the experience has tremendously positive. God built me to love music and I've worked pretty hard at making the best of every musical situation.

That's not say I've not made some real rookie's mistakes though.

25 years of church music organization, administration and then later, bible college and pastoral ministry has left me reflecting a whole lot on music. On the whole, I'd say church music is in a much better place than when I was growing up in the 1980s.

Which is why I was so interested when I came across Jamie Brown's article...
http://www.churchleaders.com/worship/worship-articles/175020-jamie-brown-evangelical-worship-headed-for-a-huge-crash.html

Now sure, the US Christian scene is a different animal from Australia. The churches he was describing look and feel totally alien to me, a church planter meeting in a school hall with 60 people. However, as I thought about it, Jamie is describing all the same issues we suffer here where we all ride kangaroos to work.

I won't tell you I have all the answers. However, not long ago, it hit me that our post-modern understanding of church music is missing something. It's something that left us with advent of 'low church' and the iconoclasts of the reformation. It's come back in fits and starts, but on the whole, it's like an elephant in the room.

BTW, there's probably a book in this, but I don't have time to write it, so here goes...

ART

I'm sure most pastors, worship leaders, musicians and theologians would agree that church music consists of the following 4 categories (in no particular order)...

1. Teaching (head)
2. Worship (prayer)
3. Community (church/family/relationships)
4. Encouragement (heart)

Good church music evenly weighs and allows for all of these vertical (Teaching/Worship) and horizontal (Community/Encouragement) attributes. Most mistakes in church music also line up with one of these categories. What I realized recently is, there is another category altogether...

5. Art (creation/expression)

Now you'll have to excuse me for being so slow as to realize this. I wish I'd got it earlier. I wondered why I hadn't understood before really. I've got a degree in classical music for crying out loud!

The point is, God creates us in his image. He is by nature a creator and an expressive creator. We are made the same. He creates us to be beings that both create and express. Why do so many men love to build projects? Cars, boats, houses, etc. Why do ladies love to bake, sew, garden? And then there are all the crafty arty people we know!

God made us to create as He does. He also made us to express ourselves and own feelings as we create.

This also explains why the bible is chock full of every literatury genre under the sun. All of them are the height of excellence. From songs to poetry, philosophy to wisdom, biography to historical record. All of them vibrant and brilliantly written. One of the largest books in the Old Testament is a song book!

Here is the truly amazing thing though. I almost fell over when I realized. When we come together on a Sunday morning (or whenever) to play and sing...

We ALL do ART together.

This realization both elated me and terrified me. The bigger your church gathering, the more elation and terror you should feel. Because if I get this right and I believe I do, that means...

EVERY member of your church gathering should be able to make that art with you. 

This is really unique in the art world. Usually there is an audience and performers, but in a church situation, everyone there is BOTH audience and performer... sort of. I think the problem has been that in forgetting that it's about making art with everyone in the church, we've effectively, "forgotten half the band", if you will. It's like turning up to a rock band gig without the whole rhythm section. All are collaborators. Unless we focus on everyone (sounds like a contradiction in terms), we leave out the very people we're supposed to be working with. There is an upside though.

Wanna fix the problem with that egocentric song leader? Now it's not just about them anymore.

Wanna stop the sound guy from pumping the volume too high? Everyone has to hear themselves.

Wanna teach that guitarist to leave more space? Now he needs to hear everyone else.

Wanna get the congregation to sing? Ask them ALL to make ART for Jesus with you.

Beginning to make ART

Now, of course I realize this might be an uncomfortable philosophy that people will wrestle with and want to toss aside. But actually, it's not new. Christians have been making art music together for nearly 2000 years. Western individualism is probably the main source of the "worship rock star" syndrome that most of us are now struggling with. It's also birthed the, "worship music isn't about extravagance and performance" style critiques from neo-puritans.

Of course music should be about extravagance and performance.

The issue is whether the music we bring is an extravagantly humble, excellent, inclusive and heart felt performance that brings everyone's best to our God. God who extravagantly loved us and so performed that ultimate sacrifice for us.

His own son, Jesus.

That is what inspires the greatest art I know.

Simon Bisley

Anyhow, like I said before, I don't have all the answers to our problems. I would dearly love to chew this thinking over with people. How ever we do this, let's figure out what it looks like for the least musical of those in our weekly church gatherings.

Bogan Pastor