Brian’s Perspective - Old Blog

I haven’t had a good rant in a while, so I was perusing blog articles when I stumbled across a link to an article about Contemporary Christian Worship.

Over at gazette.com they wrote:

It’s been said that God speaks in floods, in burning bushes, in a still small voice. But those methods are soooo B.C. This is the 21st century, people, and these days it’s wall-to-wall digital sound that snags attention.

Churches have gone high-tech, incorporating wall-size plasma screens, kickin’ sound systems and theater-quality lighting to convey their millennia-old message. Today’s contemporary worship is where spectacle meets spirituality — prayer at 110 decibels and 720 dots per inch.

Traditionalists may cringe, but contemporary worship proponents say it’s all about outreach: We live in a consumer culture, they say, and you have to give people what they want. (Emphasis added)

Since when did the primary focus of worship on Sunday center on outreach? Have we become so seeker focused that we can no longer focus primarily on the One whom we are seeking? We are more interested in getting the unchurched into our worship service by any means necessary than we are at remembering why we are coming to “Sunday meeting” anyway. It is not about us. It is our time to come together and worship God, collectively. It is only about us to the extent that we encourage and help one another become better disciples.

The real answer to seeking the lost is to build relationships with them. Yes, that takes time. Yes, that makes me vulnerable, but in a culture where people only trust who they trust, without relationships, you may have a slick show, and people may feel a stirring within them, but it will probably just be the amplifier ringing in their ears. Who is going to know that the center of our worship is God and not us?

The article continues

“Christians, they want to have fun,” said Bob Langlois, vice president of worship design for Colorado Springsbased [sic] Audio Analysts. “And church is fun again.”

I hated this line and this quote the most. Bob, why is it important for a Christian to have fun? I can go out on Saturday night with my wife to a movie or a concert and have fun. I want to come to church to worship and learn about God. I am not looking for a social connection, but a God-connection. You can fill your church with 100,000 people there for a concert but that doesn’t mean that any one of them has become a disciple. They might even join the church and make a contribution, but if you stop playing the music they will leave. If you don’t believe me, quit doing it for 3 months and see.

As one of my Professors said, “What you win them with is what you win them to.” Remember, even Jesus’ church, when he quit feeding them, went from around 15,000 to 12 in one afternoon. ¹ Is Bob Langlois better than Jesus?

To all of those who think I am out of touch, hear me. A few years ago I learned a very valuable lesson about Christianity and discipleship that it seems very few people have learned. It is this: If you are getting nothing out of church, it is because you are putting nothing into it. GIGO²

Some of you may be screaming at me saying, “But you have to get them there in order to teach them?” Really? Don’t you ever talk to anyone outside of church about your Christianity? Is it not possible that the best way is to “Go” rather than saying, “Ya’ll come to us.”

If you want to do the whole concert thing on Saturday, great. If you want to give away Mercedes and sell steak burgers, as ways of meeting people, I simply don’t care. Do whatever you want to have an opportunity to meet people.³ But when you turn the congregations time to worship God in community into into Woodstock, then Bob and friends, I am most opposed to this.

Jesus said, “Go out and make disciples of all nations.” He did not say, “Go out and get them in the building.”

A modern translation of Matthew 7:21-23,

“Not everyone who says to Me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will enter the kingdom of heaven, but he who does the will of My Father who is in heaven will enter.

“Many will say to Me on that day, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not attend concerts in Your name, and in Your name wear religious t-shirts, and in Your name have fun at church?’

“And then I will declare to them, ‘I never knew you; DEPART FROM ME, YOU WHO PRACTICE LAWLESSNESS.’

Yes, Jimmy, I am back.

1. Go read John 6 and the feeding of the 5,000. If we follow standard counting practices, they only counted the men. Most were married with multiple kids. There is a good chance the number was much higher than 15,000. You do the math.[↩]
2. Garbage-In-Garbage-Out[↩]
3. No flames here. I do not condone doing something sinful or unethical. You ought to know me by now.[↩]