Worship Service Blues
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Brenda* loved her church in Phoenix with its high-energy, contemporary worship services. Electric guitars and the beat of the drums lifted her spirits and made her want to sing at the top of her lungs. She loved the dynamic, relevant preaching that had a lot of life application. She liked the large size of the church because it offered so many programs for a single woman like her.
But a few years ago, Brenda took a job running a bed-and-breakfast retreat center in the mountains. She moved there without knowing a soul and threw herself into this ministry. It was a great career move but a tough church move. Her only options were small, country churches where traditional hymns were sung with tinny piano accompaniment, and the pastors were either inexperienced or close to retirement. There were almost no other singles except for the elderly widowed.
Bob and Charlene* have just the opposite problem. They loved the ancient hymns and dignified preaching that had characterized their church for most of the 50 years they'd attended there. But the pastor who came to the church a few years ago changed everything. He introduced a worship band that led the congregation in songs that Bob and Charlene were completely unfamiliar with and was of the type of music they never would listen to under any other circumstances. He also has a fiery and, what felt like to Bob and Charlene, irreverent style of preaching. They don't want to leave the church because of their long history with it. Besides, their friends are there. They aren't complaining to the leadership, because they understand why the church chose to make these changes. But they find it difficult to worship on Sunday morning.
What are Brenda, Bob, and Charlene to do? The churches they attend are not going to change—at least not in the immediate future. And they either don't have an alternative or are too attached to their church to consider leaving it. How can they learn to worship wholeheartedly when their worship preferences are shattered?
Much has been written about the fact that worship services are for God, not for us. And that is certainly true. Yet, we're bound by our likes and dislikes. Sometimes even our moods affect us. You may love to sing, but if you're feeling tired or at all depressed, singing may seem almost beyond you.
Even if we love our church's worship services, there are those Sundays when we just didn't like the music or the pastor's sermon hit us wrong. So how can we recover and worship God in spite of our disappointment? Consider these ideas to do quietly and unobtrusively, so that you don't disrupt other people's worship.
Concentrate on the words of the songs more than the melody. If you don't like the type of music in your church, focus on the words to the songs more than the tune. In fact, if you don't like the tune, stop singing and just let the words minister to you. As a new Christian, I learned a great deal of theology from the hymns. Thinking through what each one meant brought more spiritual growth than any other single thing at that point in my life.
Related Topics:
Church, Church involvement, Conflict, Worship
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Anonymous
Thank you for the lovely article. I am a worship leader and our church is going through a pastor change. Our pastor was a mentor and friend to both my husband and I. I have been dying on the inside from the hurt of him leaving and hurts from church people and the uncertainty of the future of our church. I have been wondering if we should ride out the storm. I feel encouraged to keep on keeping on and see what God's plan in all this is.
Ardnas
We live in a time when life is "all about me". And that concept is alive and well when we are oblivious to the commands set down in scripture. How are you fulling God's directive to assemble together for worship, fellowship and prayer when you stay at home. And to say, "I hate" this music as opposed to that music, is not in any way edifiying or encourageing to your fellow believers. It is only looking at your prospective. Cultural changes have been with us since the beginning. It is difficult for some of us to adjust. I am over 70 and I have had a hard time but I am realizing that God has ways other than mine for doing things. I have determined not to make it "all about me". I do as suggested in the article. Just concentrate on the words. And I will have to say that as this contemporary culture matures, the words become more thoughtful and moving to the soul. The secret is the Holy Spirit. Give Him His rightful place and you will be in your rightful place.
Involved
I've had the same problem. Only I'm the worship leader. I do like SOME of the contemporary, and don't like some of the hymns. We use what we can, but usually do a "blended" program - one or two contemporary numbers, usually a humn somewhere in there, and several choruses. Most of the team stuggle with the contemporary songs, though. I try to make the music lead into the message, and most contemporary numbers aren't even CLOSE to working in. It's a real problem to work through, and I don't know the answer. Only maybe three or four people in the service like loud music, so we don't use drums or cymbals and do NOT crank the sound up til you can't hear the music, only the noise. Fortunately, most of our congregation LIKE to hear the music, and LIKE to sing. When we had all contemporary music and a loud band, a lot of us would go down to the corner coffee shop and wait til it was over. I know I can't worship (or even THINK straight) surrounded by the noise. NOT conducive to prayer
PE
This article is good. Unfortunately we live in a consumer culture and the same mentality has been applied to church. This is the Kingdom of God, not Burger King. You can't always have it your way.
Committed
I can completely understand this, I've struggled before with having a worship team who doesn't really help me get into worship, or having a pastor who's sermon's don't always resonate with me. I sought God's will for what to do and His response was to tell me to stay where I'm at, because Church is more than music and preaching. church is for fellowship, and community. I'm saddened by the people who leave their church because it doesn't meet their criteria for worship/preaching, in my experience the disconnect has ultimately been within myself. Once I had worked out with God what was causing my bad-experience I've been able to worship even though the team hasn't changed and I've had the sermon's speak to me, even if it wasn't what I'd thought it would be. I'm concerned for the people who have stated they now stay at home, you really do need a Christian community/Christian fellowship. so please keep looking, we're not meant to be alone, God made the church for our benefit. love 2 all
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