presentations

Contemporary Worship Beyond
The Worship Wars
Virginia Wesleyan College
Sacred Music Summer Conference
July 30, 2014
Lester Ruth
Duke Divinity School
The Robert E. Webber Institute for Worship Studies
Defining
“Contemporary Worship”
• Use of current, updated language
• Musical styles derived from current types of popular
music (music of the people)
• A desire to adapt worship to match current people,
sometimes to the level of strategic market targeting
• Extended times of congregational singing
• Physical expressiveness
• Centrality of the musicians, including spatially
• Electrified
• Informality
• Extemporaneity/spontaneity in prayer
2
Contemporary Worship
A complicated phenomenon…
Not monolithic in its beginnings…
Not monolithic in its evolution
3
Six Major Sources for CW
• Each contributing something to the DNA
to form the hybrid which is “contemporary
worship”
• Adjust the genetic contribution to have
different versions of contemporary
worship
4
#1
Youth Ministry Developments
• Since the mid20th century
• Generationally
geared worship,
especially in
music
5
#2
Pentecostal Developments
• From mid-century, hints of
• Rising physical expressiveness
• Singing short choruses
• A sense of the direct, immediate
presence of God
• An expectation for the Holy Spirit to
move and act through spiritual gifts
• The rise of passion and intensity as
liturgical virtues
6
The 1960s: A Critical Time
• Pentecostal developments spread across
denominations through Charismatic
Renewal movements
7
#3
Baby Boomers
• Contributing to contemporary worship’s
basic ethos:
• Authenticity
• Distrust of institutions and inherited
forms
• Use of music as a marker for individual
and social identity
8
#4
Surging Experimentation
• A surge of
“experimental”/”creative”/”modern”/”con
temporary” worship forms in the late
1960s and early 1970s
• Instilling a sense of the good of innovation
and exploration
9
Reinforcing “Contemporary”
Sensibilities
• Contemporary…
• …English: How do contemporary Christians
speak?
• …Concerns: What do contemporary
Christians think about and feel?
• …Music: How do contemporary Christians
make music?
10
#5
Jesus People
11
Jesus People Lingering Impacts
• The original contemporary worship music:
Maranatha! Music
• Focused liturgical piety on Jesus
• Imminent return of Jesus: anticipate
heaven now!
• Informality, including dress
• Reinforcing of Pentecostal/Charismatic
background
12
#6
Church Growth Movement
• A theory of mission based on sociological
analysis and numeric assessment
• Applied to North America, reinforced an
underlying liturgical pragmatism: What
“works” in worship? What “works” to
produce the greatest numbers?
13
#6
Church Growth Movement
• A theory of mission based on sociological
analysis and numeric assessment
• Applied to North America, reinforced an
underlying liturgical pragmatism: What
“works” in worship? What “works” to
produce the greatest numbers?
• Liturgical + Evangelistic Concerns: What
works best for the people who aren’t
here?
14
The 1990s: Emergence
• Mainline pastors and leaders look around
for new ways, for example,
• Megachurches
• Renewal movements, e.g., Walk to Emmaus
• Neighbor church down the road
• Their own prior youth experience
• Backdrop: Underlying anxiety about
declining numbers
15
The 1990s: The Term as We
Know It
16
Cathy Townley and
Mike Graham, Abingdon
Press, 1995
A Sampling of Sights and
Sounds
17
ChurchOTheque,
1968
18
Maranatha! Music’s first Praise
album, 1974
• “Seek Ye First” by Karen Lafferty
19
1982, Calvary Chapel, Yorba
Linda, CA
20
Source: Ruth Ann Ashton, God’s Presence Through Music
21
1991
Issue of
Reformed
Worship
22
Increasing Structural
Complexity of Songs
Example: “I Could Sing of Your Love Forever,” 1994
23
Overall Evolution of CW
• An increasing domestication
• A dissolving pragmatism
• Increasing distancing of the congregation
in worship
• Increasing technical sophistication
24
The Musical Evolution of CW
• Increasing complexity of structure,
melodies, and rhythmic lines
• Decreased lag time between sound of
worship music and pop music
• From folk sound to rock sound
• Decreasing shelf life for individual songs:
the push for new songs is accelerating
25
The Musical Evolution of CW
• The top songs now come from a
smaller handful of songwriters
• Joint composition of songs is now
very common
• Professionalization and “pop”ularization of musicians (increased
commodification and
commercialization)
26
How Contemporary Worship (CW)
Has Emerged Within Congregations
• New “paradigm” congregation: CW as “indigenous,”
“natural,” “native”
• New congregation: prior tactical adoption of CW style
• Adding new CW service within an existing congregation
• Morphing one established service out of several within a
congregation
• Morphing the one established service over time for a
congregation
• Morphing the entire congregation to a new “paradigm”
congregation, including its worship
27
When Adopting CW Has
Worked Well
• Fed off inherent lay desire; where are they already outside the
box worship wise?
• Prior familiarity by someone within the church, the larger the
better
• Mutual commitment across laity combined with respect for
already existing worship
• Non-competitive with already existing services: alternative
space and time
• Used internal talent, making democratic the processes for
music making and creativity
• Team approach to planning that feeds off of creative skills
among a range of people
28
Different Architectural Models
• Worship space designed specifically for CW
• Adapted worship space/sanctuary
• Utilized (but not adapted) worship
space/sanctuary
• Adapted church fellowship hall
• Adapted church multi-use space
• Adapted secular space (e.g., school cafeterias,
pubs, auditoriums, etc.)
29
The Range of Possible Music
•
•
•
•
Pre-mid 1990s P&W “choruses”
Post-mid 1990s “modern” worship music
Updated, contemporized classic hymn tunes
Adapted hymns (old verses, standard tune, + new
choruses)
• Retuned hymns (old texts, completely new tunes,
sometimes with and sometimes without new
choruses)
• Sources: worshiptogether.com; SongSelect from
CCLI; enhanced subscription (SongDiscovery) to
Worship Leader; igracemusic.com; cardiphonia.org
30
If Adopting, Don’t Forget
• To pray in your service
• To tell a compelling narrative in your service
• To let the congregation sing and hear themselves singing in
your service
• The importance of a renewed dependence on the Holy Spirit
in your service
• The importance beyond your service of
singing/praying/fellowship (e.g., small groups) for cultivating
the ability to worship well
31
False Presumptions to Avoid
• “The preaching has to be topical, life-situational, or feltneed based.”
• “Everyone of the ____________ generation wants a
____________ style of worship.”
• “If we add a contemporary service, we’ll automatically
attract unchurched and new people.”
• “I need to imitate _____________ church if I want any
chance of success.”
• “Form is neutral. We’ve only changed the form of
worship, not its Gospel content.”
32
Worshiping in a Different Style
Is Like Learning a New Language
• There are real differences in styles of worship beyond
instrumentation and bodies of song.
• Think of a way of worship as a language or culture.
• Being able to participate well in it is similar to being
conversant in a language or able to live comfortably
within a culture.
• Can we learn to bi-lingual and multi-cultural with respect
to worship styles?
33
Style Differences
• Indirect, descriptive, respectful praise vs. direct,
personal, adoring praise
• Praise in the third person (God is……) vs. direct
affection for Jesus Christ
• Less praise vs. more praise
• Heightened vs. lessened communal awareness
• “Booked” and less physically expressive vs.
unbooked and more expressive
34
Style Differences
• Overtly ritualized with cultural distinct practices vs.
subtly ritualized with culturally-appropriated practices
• Sequential, one thing at a time vs. cyclical, simultaneous,
layered
• Delayed access to heaven vs. immediate access to
heaven
• Expected virtues for a worship: patience/respect vs.
passion/intensity/intimacy
• Maintenance and continuation (traditioning) vs. novelty
and creativity (contemporizing)
35
Ideas for Doing Denominational Orders
of Worship in a Contemporary Style
• Integration of music: developing a narratival
Scriptural imagination
• Integration of music: what standard features
and actions of the order of worship could be
done in song?
• Integration of music: aim for seamless flow in
the service
• Use music sets after the sermon.
36
Useful Resources
• See sites.duke.edu/lruth under “public presentations” for a
long bibliography on contemporary worship.
• Consider these specific books:
• Greg Scheer, The Art of Worship (Baker, 2006); good introduction
• Constance Cherry, The Worship Architect (Baker, 2010); for a
useful look at constructing services that can be done in a
contemporary way
• James B. Torrance, Worship, Community, and the Triune God of
Grace (IVP, 1997); insightful exploration of a Trinitarian theology
of worship that should apply to all worship
• Lester Ruth et al., Walking Where Jesus Walked (Eerdmans, 2010);
for a completely different approach to discussing worship in a
church, with no one having vested interested, look at this 4th
century case study of Jerusalem to get people discussing worship
essentials
37