Musical Chops

When Kurt Cobain sang, “Here we are now, entertain us” in “Smells Like Teen Spirit” commentators reflected on how this statement typified the bored and hopeless feelings of Generation X and their loss of ambition. It seems times have changed. Sixteen years after that song that defined a generation, one of the hallmarks of the Millennial Generation is their willingness to form their own entertainment. We only have to look to Myspace and Facebook to find our examples. Even teaching styles at school are more interactive. As we ponder how the Millennial Generation leaders will reshape the look of the Church, we must embrace the changes that these e-educated young people may prefer in terms of interactivity. Yet in most of our churches today the way we learn in sermons is still passive, and there seems to be a growing trend in some of our worship styles to make sets more professional with less and less of a contribution required or allowed by the worshiper whose maximum level of participation is perhaps just singing along.

Interactive Drive

I recently read a book that chronicled the rise of the evangelical church in England from the 1950s onwards. This reported a clear link between high levels of participation in worship and personal spiritual growth and communal church renewal. The book, controversially called Selling Worship, also observes that in sung worship some churches have moved their worshipers from being participants to fans. As our churches have grown, we are finding that large services are more difficult to make interactive. While it brings more consistent, professional sounding and smooth running times of worship, we can be in danger of turning it into a spectator sport.

When Paul instructs about orderly worship in1 Corinthians 14, it’s clear that New Testament worship was highly participatory. So how can we encourage the band and congregation to bring an offering that retains good order? Here are a few ideas to start you off.

Settings

First, think about your building. Is there anything that can be done to bring the band and congregation together? My church is a huge Anglican building, and the band is at least 20 meters away from the people. I have a drummer friend elsewhere who actually sets up his kit in the front row facing the same way as the congregation as a gesture saying “We’re worshiping together.”

Share the Mic

Why not encourage the band to all see themselves as worship leaders? This must be backed by action, so get them to contribute to set lists, arrangements or even lead a song. I’ve even been in bands where we’ve had non-musicians get up and direct the worship.

If that is too much of a leap, perhaps you could have a few Scriptures on the screen and invite congregational members to read out, on the spot one after another with as much gusto and meaning as they can muster as the band accompanies them. Invite poets, journalists, English teachers, actors or anyone for whom the words hold deep meaning to read.

I know another church where the band builds a groove that allows people to pray out in conjunction with the rhythm—almost developing spontaneous prayer poems. The band can serve the prayer by reflecting the joy, sadness, intercession, reverence in the way they play.

Participants

Some of these ideas are a bit way out and some dependent on the size and shape of your congregation. If you do want to encourage more participation the key is to make small changes that gradually steer the ship rather than radical ones that throw people overboard. Detailed planning, explanation and encouragement to try again will help you on the journey. Let’s not just be content to string together a series of hit worship songs, but let’s help people to be participants in free worship rather than encouraging them to think “here we are now, entertain us.”

Andy Chamberlain is a founder of Musicademy, who have recently released a range of instructional DVDs for keyboards in worship as well as sets for guitar and vocals, available from www.musicademy.co.uk.

Apply It:
Think of your next service of worship in terms of congregational participation.

Try some musical mediation, have the band play a continuous instrumental and encourage prayer.

Experiment with the placement of your band, consider changing locations for a Sunday to symbolize your unity with the congregation.