What About the Current State of the Worship Industry?

What About the Current State of the Worship Industry?

In 1999, as a young student at a Christian college (Evangel University in Springfield, Missouri), I set out to study church music. My degree program advisor, who'd been at the college since 1964, asked me the following question:

"What is worship?".

I have no idea how I answered Dr Calvin Johannson in that moment, but his facial expression didn't look 100% pleased with my response. How would I answer the question today? I'd say, worship is bowing low to a highly exalted, holy God. He must increase, I must be made small. I think of face down prostration. This putting ourselves into a place of humility while exalting an all powerful and sovereign God (who alone is the Author of salvation and who is the only One who holds the power of damnation) is 100% appropriate. As we humble ourselves and lift up God, we have a sense of awe. There is a tangible sense of the envelopment in God's love toward us. We do this with nothing in it for us. It's an offering fully given in surrender to Him and to His will. This is what I see as "pure" worship, or at least as close as we, as flawed humans, can get to "pure".   

 

So what would be the opposite of this? 

I think the obvious would be placing any level of importance on self/I/me/we/us. The opposite of worship (to God) would be placing awe upon a human target. The polar opposite of prostration would be elevating self or others. And lastly (not that these thoughts are anywhere near exhaustive), is that anything in it for us would detract, or take away, from our so called worship to God.

 

Now a VERY hard question to answer and equally difficult (uncomfortable) to ask... Is what we call "worship" actually worship?  

My attempt to answer that will be a simple comparison of the previous two paragraphs above. "What is worship"? And in contrast, "what is the opposite of worship"? I feel we see a mix of both in what we commonly accept as "worship". In other words, we swallow an awful lot of bones with our chicken. Surely our spiritual digestive tract must be aching with the amount of bone splinters that have passed through!

Would a human on a stage in lights; projected onto huge screens and fetching $1000+ a ticket be considered "not worship"? This is difficult to answer, but I have my own conclusion. On the converse side of that thought/argument, the Psalms describe a "chief musician". One could argue that music is generally conducted or led by someone. But... let's be realistic! We all know when we see something that appears to draw attention to a human. I will be blunt and call this "not worship", or at least not worship towards God. But how do we draw the line? Much of this error stems from the worship leader's attitude in what they do. Another aspect of error comes from the venue. What are they promoting in their efforts? How are they framing the musician (as a servant or as an entertainer)? And the REALLY tough question, how much money are they making? 

To backtrack a little, is there a currency exchange in the first scenario given earlier (under the question of what is worship)? Should we (as worshipers/lead musicians) benefit financially from what we call "worship"? This is a very difficult question! High level music production takes large amounts of time (and it's expensive). I know because I've spent this time and money, and at times, I've been paid for it. Is this right? I don't know! But let's not bury our heads in the sand and at least consciously ask the question. I honestly don't think worship for profit is for our best. I would venture to say that although God can use anything, more harm than good has come from the "industry" driven by song royalties and copyright licensing in the church. 

Rather than focusing further on this complicated topic, let's simplify and go back to the first paragraph of "What is worship". Why not do our best to exemplify that? Further, I believe we should identify "bones" and refuse to swallow them. For me that means not using, endorsing, or buying certain worship music. How do I screen out "bones" and keep "chicken"? It's not always a clear cut line. As a worship leader, if I see someone's life and actions as not glorifying/submitted/obedient/prostrated to God, to me that's sign of bones and not chicken. If I see attention given to man, I consider that bones and do my best to throw it out. If I see doctrinal issues within the organization (I can think of one or two very popular purveyors of church music here), I throw it out. 

As a worshiper and worship leader selecting music, it's certainly not an easy time to be alive. There is no lack of good quality music to pick from. We've never been in such a rich time for music production and aesthetics. But the bright shiny object that we call "great worship music" can really blind us sometimes! We should be much more careful, as worshipers, in how we lead, and even in what we lead. I think great musicians/writers putting their work out there as public domain would be a start. The late Keith Green battled with this idea during his tragically (for us on earth) cut short career. He gave his tapes away free of charge and worked hard to keep it from becoming an industry or an idol in his own life and in the lives of those who admired him. 

The FOSS (free and open source) model used in software would be a great replacement for the CCLI driven model we currently have. How many CCM artists have crossed over into "worship" since the advent of Napster (late 90s) and the current era of free digital streaming? With records (physical and digital) no longer selling because of this (who wants to pay for something you can get for free), the church is one guaranteed place that will still pay song royalties. This has created a huge market for "worship" as an industry. CCM artists have flocked to the worship "genre" by the droves since the late 90s. Think about it, what major "Christian" artist doesn't at least have one worship album these days. Who wouldn't want to continue making money with their skills and talents? But is worship really the place for making money? Lets be realistic, that's what it has become. I think it's time to simplify. It's as good a time as any to ask the question:

"What is worship?"