Another Look at the Worship Wars

For me it was never about the music.  I have listened to and enjoyed "Christian Contemporary Music" for over 45 years.  Just this afternoon I was rocking out in the gym to contemporary music. Christian Contemporary Music can be quite hypnotic. And quite beautiful.

The first contemporary Christian band that I knew of was not called "Christian contemporary"; it was called a "Jesus band", a group called Love Song. And they played "Jesus music."  This hippie counter-culture band was formed by Chuck Girard in Costa Mesa, California in 1970. Hippies were coming to know Jesus and instead of migrating back into the existing church culture, they just created a new one.  I don't remember how I came to know this music existed or how I came to own their album in Enterprise, Alabama, but I did. For a seventeen year old who was raised on traditional hymns, it was quite a trip. Far out!

The "wars" part of "worship wars" is not primarily about the music. It's about position and power. The worship wars are about who controls the worship experience of the church.  But the difference of opinion of the music is quite significant as well.  In most cases it's the older folks who want to continue singing traditional hymns in worship.  The younger generation is tired of the "same old hymns" and want contemporary music.

A contemporary band or "praise team",  usually consists of a lead guitar, a rhythm guitar, an electric bass, a synthesizer keyboard player and a drummer.  One of the guitar players usually doubles as the lead singer.  Some bands are fortunate enough to use backup vocals from the other band members, but in many cases there is only one singer.  This person then is the "worship leader" or "praise team leader."

The chair of the music committee called me and asked me if would  consider returning as the music director of her church.  I had been there before. Well, actually I had been there twice before.  There were issues the first time, but worship style became a flash point during my second tour of duty. I told her that I was open to coming back.  She called me to say the church had voted for me to return. I asked her if there was any opposition. She said, "Twenty eight people voted no."  "TWENTY EIGHT PEOPLE ! ? How many were in the meeting?"  "Seventy." "So nearly half the church doesn't want me to come back?"  "No look at it as twenty eight people in the whole church not as a percentage in the meeting. The church wants you as their Minister of Music."

 Oh, so just 10% don't want me back. But for reasons both personal and professional,  I said "ok".

After months of research and consideration, the church established a contemporary music Sunday night service.  It was painful for  me  in every way possible. The music was loud and unbalanced. The gyrations of praise were scripted and sometimes just gross.The whole service from the video clips to the upbeat sermon shouted of "let's pretend we're doing 'contemporary worship'. Let's show the church what worship is really supposed to be like. Not like that boring stuff they did this morning." The part that was so much worse for me than the music was in spite of my position as the music leader of the church, I was totally marginalized . No one in that group had any use for me whatsoever. They neither liked me nor needed me. They never asked me once for my input on anything.  Once when I walked to my office through their rehearsal in my choir room, they just looked at me.  I felt like a black civil rights leader might have felt at a KKK convention. It didn't feel very good.

The worship wars have split many good churches. Some create a separate contemporary service. But now it's possible for those who choose either service to never see the other members. When new members join during one service they may never meet the members who are in the other service. Now everybody's  mostly happy with the music, but the church is split.  Then the worst of all worlds is the church that decides to have "blended worship."  Now nobody is happy with the music. Now the people can't choose one style over the other, so they just leave.

In the end the same deacon body who authorized the contemporary service voted for it to stop. About thirty people left the church. That was about the same number who didn't want me there in the first place. Things didn't end well for me at that church. As a preemptive strike to being fired, I just resigned and left. I had given my heart and soul for thirteen years to the church, but it was time for me to go. I didn't really have much of a choice.

The pendulum of church music seems to be swinging back. The weight of contemporary music, which has become a huge church entertainment business, has reached a critical mass. Some people, even younger people, are realizing that "the same old hymns" can be quite beautiful and quite meaningful.  They have noticed that the 7-11 songs (seven words repeated eleven times) can't compare with the textual and musical grandeur of the great body of church hymnody.

I can't imagine that Chuck Girard had any idea of what he had started.  He just picked up his guitar and sang for Jesus in the only way he knew how.

A few years ago I was invited to sing for a funeral at that church that asked me to leave.  One of my former choir members said, "I really miss you."  I said, "I miss you too."  But if they ask me back for the fourth time I'll just say, "I'm very happy where I am. We're quite content to sing the same old hymns."