The call for entertainment in worship in our time is often cast in a particularly seductive form. Entertainment is often sold in the name of evangelism. We are told that we must make worship interesting and existing for the unconverted so that they will come to church and be converted. At first glance that argument is very appealing. We all want to see many brought to faith in Christ. Who wants to be against evangelism? But we must remember: entertainment is not evangelism, and evangelism is not worship...
People are evangelized, not by a juggler, but by the presentation of the Gospel. And while evangelism may occur in worship as the Gospel is faithfully proclaimed, the purpose and focus of worship is that those who believe in Christ should gather and meet with God.
1 Corinthians 14:24-25 reminds us that, when the body of believers is properly worshiping, unbelievers will be drawn to God by their worship and unity - "But if an unbeliever or someone who does not understand comes in while everybody is prophesying, he will be convinced by all that he is a sinner and will be judged by all, and the secrets of his heart will be laid bare. So he will fall down and worship God, exclaiming, "God is really among you!"
6 comments:
Good to see you posting again Troy! Sunday was great! I loved the choir song and all the other song just helped to set my focus on God for the sermon. Thanks!
Thanks. Considering the subject matter of this post I'm glad to hear your focus was directed toward God on Sunday. Whew!!
I like that quote Troy - keep posting! I liked having the orchestra playing on Sunday too!
Honestly, this just leaves me more confused. First off, we are basically trying to talk about the 5-10 minutes of music time before a Sunday morning service. I think we all agree that worship is supposed to be something we are involved in everyday. It's not something we just enter into during singing on Sunday morning.
The other problem is defining entertainment. If we are truly doing worship (music) with excellence, and we are also encouraging people to clap their hands... and dare say it, even dance like David danced, then worship is going to be entertaining. I don't see getting around it. I understand entertainment is not the focus, but if excellence is the focus, entertainment is going to happen.
If we focus too much on making sure our worship music is not entertaining then where do we draw the line? "we shouldn't use drums, they are too entertaining" "we should only sing hymns" "people leading worship shouldn't be seen, they should be in the back of the auditorium" "we shouldn't use lights" "we shouldn't play songs that are on the radio" "we shouldn't turn the music up too loud" " we shouldn't even use a sound system" "we shouldn't use songs that people will enjoy too much"
So it seems to me that good worship music done well that draws our hearts into God's presence, will also be entertaining to those participating in it.
This is a very good quote. I agree that the goal of worship is not to entertain (we should be singing to an audience of One). There is one statement I don't quite agree with. " . . . evangelism is not worship." And, I realize that this is not the point of the quote, but I think many times we fall into the trap of thinking that worship means: the time of corporate singing before the sermon. Evangelism IS worship as are many other acts of service to our Savior. We are to worship God at all times with our bodies (Romans 12:1-2).
I like your comments on the 1 Cor passage at the end of this entry. What a picture!
bryano-
I appreciate you taking the time to comment and ask some good questions.
Both you and lothlorien bring up an important point that the way we define the terms we use, such as "worship" & "entertainment", make a big difference in how we approach these subjects. It's usually a good idea to set a base line definition so everyone's coming at it from the same angle.
I think the quote in the post above is saying that if our approach to corporate worship is motivated simply by the desire to help people enjoy themselves (my definition of entertainment) we run the risk of compromising the message of the gospel (i.e. if the gospel is offensive, than as an entertainer I won't want to focus attention there because my audience won't enjoy themselves). I think it starts with the motive - what is driving us in our worship leadership. I do agree, as you stated, that encountering God in worship through quality music IS enjoyable. It can also be terribly convicting (not so enjoyable). The key is the encounter with God.
For me as a worship leader it comes back to motive. When it comes to leading worship, if my motivation is to help people into a life changing encounter with God and that process is also enjoyable (entertaining) - great. But if my sole motivation is giving people a good time then I think I sorely missed something.
On another note: I do think there is a place for "Christian entertainment" - a wholesome place for believers to gather and have a good time - outside of the sphere of what we call "worship". But that's probably a topic for another day.
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