Comments on: Worship Wars, Part 3: Why It Shouldn't Be a War Anyway

By: Candace

Candace — Mon, 19 Mar 2007 03:18:00 +0000

I missed this when you first wrote it but it is brilliant! I can’t believe this is even a subject for serious discussion anymore. If there is an argument it should be over which relevant style of music (rock, country, etc.) to use. A great post!

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 30 Jun 2006 20:08:00 +0000

Interesting. Sorry you gave up the fight. Sounds like your heart is telling you - you had some responsibility. Sharing the gospel in what ever style is never easy. It is the gospel and the enemy is never pleased. Only if he can get ones focued on the church,self or anything else instead of Jesus is he pleased. If the gospel were easy we would not need Jesus and the power of the Holy Spirit.

What I have found amoung TRUELY unchurch persons that come to Christ is that they, because being unchurch, don't have a clue about "rejecting" or "accepting" traditional or comtemporary worship. (Understand my use of comtemporary is not to denote a "style" but to refer to music of the present time). Many don't really know, get or understand the "singing" thing. It is the ones that are attempting to rechurch (my word) that desire to see a more modern way to engage in the worship of Jesus. Not the unbeliever.

That is worship... often worship is taught. Preaching is cognitive. Very simple, you accept it or reject it. But worship is an attitude of the heart and ,if I may say, very personal and individual. Worship should never be the drawing factor for unsaved. That is something that comes after you have a reason to worship, as in asking Jesus to be you Savior.

The pure unadulterated, unashamed, proclaimation of the gospel of Jesus Christ will be the drawing, saving factor for the truely unchurch. John 12: 32 ..And I, if I am lifted up from the earth (meaning the exaltation of the cross), will draw all men to Myself. And the lost and dieing, isn't that who we are tryng to reach?

Maybe I am wrong butI would venture to say that people were not coming or not staying more because a personal preference of a way to worship was more important and being LIFTED UP instead of Jesus(whether it be the "traditional camp or the "modern" camp). That is totally "churchy".
God Bless all your endeavors.

By: Ben

Ben — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 23:16:00 +0000

I can relate to this on so many levels. I’ve experienced being a part of a church that went through major changes in order to reach it’s community. We made a decision to go forward with moving from traditional to rock worship. It’s been an amazing transformation. But as you said in your posts, you can’t be on the fence. Leadership HAS to be solid in the decision and it starts with the lead pastor of the church.

We just moved to a building and have added about 200 regular attendars to the attendance. Had we remained a “traditional” style of church, I don’t think that would have happened. These 200 replaced above and beyond the amount of people who left our church because of the changes we made.

Good post Derek. You’ve got an interesting story to tell in your experience. I wonder how many other churches are out there struggling with the same thing right now.

By: Jduv

Jduv — Thu, 29 Jun 2006 02:40:00 +0000

I wrote a rant about this very subject about a year ago. Different styles are different avenues of creativity. I like how you compared them to a language because that is exactly right. But it is sad that some churches reject the fact that music of certain genres cant glorify Christ if they have an electric guitar or don’t have 4 part block style harmony. I happen to be a fan of a hardcore band named Demon Hunter. As a matter of fact, I blogged about their concert that I went to last weekend. It was amazing! They have one particular song that absolutely floors me. It’s called I Play Dead (google for the lyrics), and moreso than any 7:22 worship song, or any passion chorus that song speaks to the very core of my heart. The message in that song reveals and glorifies Christ in my heart. That is a good thing! That is why I don’t like it when people degrade or demonize things that are very much of God because of musical preference. In the church where I grew up, if it wasn’t Gaithers, it was evil. You know that I am a rock guitarist, so I had a hard time trying to use my talens for Christ in that church. It’s not that I cant conform and play country/southern gospel style hymns, its just that I don’t want to. I don’t think that’s being close minded, I think it’s knowing where I am called to use my talents! Great post Derek!