Worship Awakening...really?

The purpose for the Worship Awakening Project is, of course, to be a catalyst for Worship Awakening within the American Church. Many who hear that immediately think I've missed the boat.

THE WORSHIP SURGE
Surely some will respond to me by saying, “Hasn’t there been a major emphasis in worship the past years? How can there be a deficiency in worship when worship has been such a big deal lately?”

Worship has truly turned into a major issue the past few years. Worship has become a buzz word. There are now endless books about worship, written by many leading scholars and seminary professors and many popular worship leaders (In my research for this book I read over thirty books on worship). Pastors are preaching, not just one sermon, but full sermon series on the subject of worship. There are endless websites, conferences, and magazines totally devoted to the subject of worship. Everywhere you look in Christian bookstores and in Christian events, worship is all over the place, more so than ever before.

The overuse of the word worship has in many ways deadened the meaning of the word and, unfortunately, hindered the overarching mandate for God’s people to be GOD-WORSHIPERS—worshipers in spirit and in truth. It is startling all that has taken place over the past few years with worship. Is this a move of God? Is this something God has done? Are we really understanding what is taking place within the Church, the Christian marketplace, and the spiritual world?

WORSHIP RENEWAL OR MUSIC RENEWAL
Some have called this growth in worship a “worship renewal,” or a “worship revival.” But is that what we have really experienced? I don’t believe that we’ve experienced a worship revival or renewal yet, and that is proven by the findings of George Barna which I have already mentioned. There are some small pockets of revival within the Church, but overall what we are seeing is something different. There are many who desire to see a true worship renewal and revival, none more than myself; but the major changes over the past few years look more to me like a music revival than a worship revival, and more like a methodology reformation than worship reformation. We have not experienced a revival—a coming back to life—in the Church in the area of worship? And I believe we are far from it.

Many times I have been invited to lead revivals at churches. Most of these were smaller, rural churches—many of whom still do the week-long or half-week revivals. I discovered soon after doing revivals that they are more about “viving” than “re-viving.” The goal was to see as many people get saved as possible. The churches would pass out fliers advertising the revival, and they would put up posters in store windows around town. The pastors would encourage all the church people to invite all of their lost friends—hoping they would get saved at the revival. Some churches gave special gifts to the person who brought the most lost people.

It is a great and wonderful mission to reach unbelievers with the Gospel. And God is pleased when we make it a priority in our lives and the lives of our churches. However, to call it a revival is false advertising. The Merriam-Webster’s dictionary defines revive as, “to bring back to life consciousness, or activity: make or become fresh or strong again.” Revival is for people who are already “vived”—alive in Christ. It is not for people who are dead spiritually. These would more appropriately be called evangelistic crusades or outreaches.

In ministering through revivals, although I saw many people get saved, I was ministering in churches that really needed true revival. They needed to be brought “back to [spiritual] life consciousness,” to be made “fresh and strong again.” While I was ministering there, had I sought to make the focus be on true revival during our meetings rather than evangelism, I would have been met with opposition. What they were wanting to see was a lot of people get saved. There’s nothing wrong with that, but true revival is about bringing new life to those who are already saved. For if they were truly re-vived, then through their lives many would be “vived”—coming to faith in Christ.

Just as some churches misuse the word revival, so we have improperly labeled the “worship” surge. It has been much more about music and methods than worship. We have not been seeing a resurgence of God’s people growing as GOD-WORSHIPERS as a whole. Although there are some signs of growth in the area of true worship, like the Passion Movement, there is no overwhelming revival to the level of a Great Awakening—which is really what we need and what many hearts are crying out for God to bring.

WORSHIP REFORMATION OR METHODOLOGY REFORMATION
The worship surge has brought greater attention to be given to music—it’s style and instrumentation and it’s use within church services. It is important to note that many churches are focusing on music not for worship’s sake, but for evangelism’s sake. They are seeking to reform the methodologies used in music and the overall service for the sake of reaching the un-churched. The buzz words for this reformation are relevance, seeker-sensitive, and seeker-driven.

Many have been challenged to do away with their liturgy or their traditional hymns and take a more seeker-friendly approach to “worship.” It is important to give special attention to the church’s approach and methods for reaching the un-churched, but this has nothing to do with worship. It has to do with what we call the “worship service,” but this new emphasis has come at a great cost to true worship.

Unfortunately, because we’ve equated what is really a methodology reformation with a worship reformation, the subject of worship has become a source of frustration, division, and hurt for many people and in many churches. In some places, the issue of worship has split churches or caused serious tension and difficulty. This has been referred to as the “worship wars.” Included in this reformation has been an overhaul in how church services are facilitated in many churches, and these two things have been “ground zero” for great division and conflict.

If we were indeed experiencing a worship reformation, and the changes were a result of that reformation, we would not be experiencing the great backlash that has occurred. The backlash is evidence that something is drastically wrong. Where true worship is, there is no need for drastic overhaul. Where true worship is, lost people are being saved. Where true worship is, there is unity in God’s Spirit. Where true worship is, there is the POWER AND PRESENCE of God, and where there is the POWER AND PRESENCE of God, Kingdom-size things are happening.

If churches aren’t reaching lost people, what they are missing is not the latest information on the likes and dislikes of the postmodern culture, but rather, the POWER AND PRESENCE of God. It is not a method problem, it is a presence problem.

The radical changes that churches have taken over the past few years in order to be “more relevant” and to “reach the un-churched” are the greatest evidence that we’ve missed true worship. Many pastors have made these changes and lost sometimes hundreds of church-goers for the goal of “reaching the un-churched.” The music style has been changed to match more of what the un-churched are familiar with. New media elements have been added to facilitate an atmosphere that the un-churched are more comfortable in. Secular music is being incorporated into the services for the sake of “singing the song” of the un-churched. The podium, choir lofts, and orchestra pits have been removed to make way for the band, video screens, set pieces, smoke machines, intelligent lighting, and a singer or two. Many churches have done away with worship services altogether for the sake of having seeker events instead.

I greatly applaud the desire of churches to reach lost unchurched people in our world, for I share this passion with them. The problem begins when we try to fix a symptom instead of the problem. If we are not reaching the un-churched, the problem does not primarily hinge on our methods, the root of the problem lies in our lack of the POWER AND PRESENCE of God in our churches and in the everyday lives of churchgoers.

We have called this a worship reformation, when in reality it has been about methodology; and, in the long run, it has taken our eyes off the heart of our problem—the need for true WORSHIP AWAKENING.