Dear Worship Artists & Musicians,

WGTR Extras

Jan 19

“As a Church, we can no longer entertain such petty disagreements. It’s time to embrace and celebrate the diversity of our gifts and talents, and support one another in our service to the Lord.”

We recognize the sacrifices you make to bring music to our churches every Sunday. We appreciate the investments you make in your ministry so that you can offer your best to the Lord. We know that you spend hours practicing, rehearsing, and preparing for marathon Sunday mornings. We see you, and we’re sorry that your gifts have been feared, criticized, and made controversial.

We apologize that well-meaning people have thrown stones at your gifts, denied your anointing for the Church, and questioned your appointment for such a time as this. You have been put on the hot seat, with people challenging your ministry, questioning your faith, and accusing you of heresy. You are criticized for your gifts, your attire, your hair, and your tattoos. You are judged for your style of playing, whether you use distortion or keep it clean, and whether you use real amps or not. Your ministry is criticized if there are too many guitars or not enough, too many singers or not enough, and whether the music is too acoustic or not acoustic enough.

As a Church, we can no longer entertain such petty disagreements. It’s time to embrace and celebrate the diversity of our gifts and talents, and support one another in our service to the Lord.

The criteria we use to judge worship ministry is unfair. We often say that if it has any resemblance to secular culture, then it cannot be of God. However, we don’t apply this same standard to any other aspect of the Sunday church service. If you attend a children’s service, you’ll see teachers using screens, videos, toys, crafts, props, bubbles, and gifts to teach our children how to love God. These are the same modern tools used in secular education and children’s entertainment, yet the church uses them to connect a child’s heart to Jesus in a way they can understand and feel. Isn’t that the same objective we’re trying to achieve in adult worship with all our tools?

Many people call for a return to “true” worship, as if fallen humans have ever fully understood it. But let’s say there was a version of “right” worship in history. Which culture in which time had it right? Should we go back to 18th century United States? Was that the right way? Do we need to revert to 15th century Europe? Was that right? Perhaps 1st century Palestine, where they had to meet in secret, was the “right” way. Or maybe to find the actual “right” way, we should look to Old Testament worship styles. Does the use of rams’ horns and lyres make worship right? What if we’re not using a ram’s horn? Does that make our worship wrong?

People complain about loud music and lights in worship and want everything stripped away. So what if we were to apply the same stripped-down prescription to the kids’ Bible classroom? We would remove the screens, toys, and colorful environment, and sit them down with a King James Bible in a plain, gray classroom with bare walls.

My question is, by taking away everything that is creative or joyful, would children gain a more accurate picture of who God is? Would they be more or less likely to understand the love of Jesus? Would Christianity become dull, boring, feared, and dreaded to these children? Is that what God is like? I contend that this picture is not consistent with His creation. In fact, creation does a wonderful job of showing off the creativity and beauty of God.

As Augustine said, “all things proclaim Him, all things speak. Their beauty is the voice by which they announce God, by which they sing, ‘it is you who made me beautiful, not me myself, but you.'”

What if the whole debate of “art vs worship vs performance” is just a distraction from the enemy to keep us from focusing on what really matters? The enemy understands the true power of worship music better than anyone. What if we stopped accusing and criticizing each other for the different ways we express worship, and instead made room for each other in the Kingdom as Jesus made room for us? What if we embraced all the beautiful and necessary ways in which the Church worships, whether it’s the drumming of a remote village, the rhythmic chanting in a cathedral, the sweet a cappella harmonies in a little country church, or large services with lights and video? Isn’t it all in service of the Lord’s Church?

Scripture tells us that ALL of creation sings, so let’s not forget that we, as the Capital-C Church, have MANY parts, and each part is important. Let’s not exclude people’s gifts because they are not like our own or say that they don’t belong here.

As we debate about what style of worship the Church needs, let’s remember that God alone knows what His Church needs right now and is faithful to provide. Let’s not be guilty of thinking that we know the Lord’s plans better than He does.

Job 38: 2-7

“Who is this that questions my wisdom with such ignorant words? Brace yourself, because I have some questions for you, and you must answer them. Where were you when I laid the foundations of the earth? Tell me, if you know so much. Do you know how its dimensions were determined and who did the surveying? What supports its foundations, and who laid its cornerstone as the morning stars sang together and all the angels shouted for joy?”

In the book “Ruthless Trust” by Brennan Manning, he writes, “In his sovereign wisdom, God alone understands the human heart. And what of the human heart’s capacity to understand God? Here we need the help of passionate visionaries,” which Manning refers to as the artists, mystics, and clowns. He believes that these people, “through daring images and bold metaphors rooted in the Word, guide us to a profound self-esteem within an enlarged vision of the magnitude of the Divine; they whet our appetite for the infinite; they dare us to dream of our homeland, where eye has not seen, neither has ear heard, nor has the imagination conceived of the beauty that awaits us.”

We serve a God who is both good and wise. The worship he created in Genesis has spanned thousands of years and endured thousands of innovations. No matter the time in history or cultural context, the style or instruments used, the number of people, or the platform, worship can be pleasing to Him because we worship in the Spirit of a God who never changes. As Christians, we believe that all changes and innovations in human existence have been ordained and directed by God. Thank God that He created us to evolve and change over time!

1 Corinthians 12:4-6

Now there are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone.

To our worship artists and musicians: we see you, and we need you.

Artists, please continue to challenge our understanding of ourselves and of God.

Musicians, keep playing skillfully and brilliantly, stirring within us a longing for the infinite.

Singers, keep proclaiming the glory of the Lord and pointing us to heavenly realms with your holy roar.

We officially call for an end to throwing stones at our worship artists and musicians. There is too much work to be done, and we must all be about our Father’s business.

Some additional verses to study and pray about as you wrestle through this issue.

James 1:17

Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.

Matthew 5:14-16

“You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.