Winning the Worship Wars

In Psalm 92, the writer emphasizes the importance of music to honor the Lord, to show thanksgiving,
and to declare who He is and what He's done. We can read:
(1) It is good to give thanks to the Lord, And to sing praises to Your name, O Most High;
2 To declare Your lovingkindness in the morning, And Your faithfulness every night,
3 On an instrument of ten strings, On the lute, And on the harp, With harmonious sound.
4 For You, Lord, have made me glad through Your work; I will triumph in the works of Your hands.

With a heart full of thanksgiving for the Lord's goodness and faithfulness, we can bring praise and honor to Him, speaking, singing, and even shouting to Him.  God has ordained worship, and it can make us more aware of His presence and enable us to experience more of His joy.  As part of a lifestyle of worship, engaging in music, in singing to Him or listening to songs that exalt Christ, can help us to renew our minds and refresh our spirits.

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There is much for which we can praise God, and singing can be an expression of our worship of Him. Psalm 59 says:
16 But I will sing of Your power; Yes, I will sing aloud of Your mercy in the morning; For You have been my defense And refuge in the day of my trouble.
17 To You, O my Strength, I will sing praises; For God is my defense, My God of mercy.

I had the chance to spend some time in the media area of the Getty Music Worship Conference in Nashville recently, and spoke with some insightful people about matters of theology and worship, such as John Lennox, Conrad Mbewe, Os Guinness, Andrew Peterson, and others. You can find those conversations through the Media Center at FaithRadio.org. And, I spoke with Stephen Nichols of Ligonier Ministries - you'll hear that conversation coming up soon.

He had noted, in my recollection, the unity that he observed at the event and how music, which can be used as a tool to divide, was actually being expressed through the music at the conference.  You could say that the music, combined with an emphasis on theology, was a catalyst to bring God's people together.  Powerful stuff, indeed.

The first sentence of a Baptist Press article about a new LifeWay Research survey, states that, based on the survey: "For most pastors, the so-called 'worship wars' over the style of the music used in their church have subsided..."

Here are few of the talking points, or bullet points, from the survey:

• 15 percent of U.S. Protestant pastors say (in the language of the article) "the biggest challenge they face in the area of music is navigating the varying preferences of members,"
• 16 percent say "their most significant challenge is leading people to truly worship God,"
• 21 percent say "they struggle with finding musicians and vocalists."

The article goes on to say:

Mike Harland, director of LifeWay Worship, believes this is evidence of a worship war peace treaty.

"The distance between what used to be traditional and contemporary are much closer than what they were 20 years ago," Harland said. "Disagreement has begun to wane in most churches, and what a wonderful thing that is."

When you look at some of the components of the musical aspect of worship services, almost 8-in-10 pastors indicate the piano is the principal instrument.  Almost 70% of churches use hymnals regularly.  Also, 60% of churches feature songs led by a singular worship leader, and just over half use a praise team.  About a-third of songs are led by a choir, and 46% use a praise band.

Interestingly enough, only about a-third of churches indicate that they use choir-only songs and less than one-fourth actually use background tracks.

H.B. Charles, in an interview at the Sing! Conference, talked about the collaboration between the pastor and the worship leader.  The article states:

More than 9 in 10 pastors (92 percent) say they and their church music leader have high levels of mutual respect, while 71 percent say they collaborate a lot in planning worship services.

There is much to be gained from a steady diet of God-honoring music, and Faith Radio features over 15 hours per day of Christian music.  You can check out our program schedule online to find out when we play music, see a listing of recently played songs, see what songs we are featuring, and see the Meeting House Top 10.

Even though there has been attention given to the so-called "worship wars," we also recognize that music can unite us.  Singing together gives us a sense of a common purpose, united to worship the one true God whom we serve.

Now, people have different preferences of music, but we can recognize that the variety of styles can be used of the Lord.  But, we can keep in mind that musical style should not distract from the substance of the words.

Again, we are called into one body, and we can have expressions of worship.  It's important that we learn to accept how each other approaches God.  We "win" the worship wars, in a sense, as we unite around corporate worship and exalt Him.