Brad Russell Ministries

Diffusing the Conflict of Corporate Worship and Change

Things are quiet...too quiet. Remember that line from the old war movies? Two guys are on watch late in the evening, and they stare out into the night knowing that something bad is about to happen. I was talking to a friend of mine the other day who said, "I don't know what the older people in my church are thinking during our worship services. They just stand there and look at me." He felt like one of the guys in the fox hole waiting for the battle to begin, and there have been plenty of battles over the divisive issue of music in the church.

I'm a worship leader. I've been leading in this area of the local church for over 17 years now, and I can relate with the feeling of frustration that many worship leaders feel because they don't see the people engaging the corporate worship experience. There have been many times that I've thought to myself or even said the words, "These people are dead." Like many of my colleagues I have wondered what it would take to get people to participate in the worship experience.

Not only am I a worship leader,  but I am also the youngest son of Don and Faye Russell of Sherwood, Arkansas. I was born when my parents were in their thirties, and I was raised in a small church where Gospel music was the only kind of music there was. I come from a very musical family. Each Sunday in our church the platform was filled with my grandparents, parents, brothers, aunts, uncles, and cousins. Occassionally they'd let me up there too. Music played a prominent role in our lives,  but specifically church music was the setting in which my love for music was fostered and my love for the Lord was nurtured. As I entered my teenage years, with the help of new friends who came into the church, I discoverd contemporary Christian music. My world changed.

My story is not so different from many of you who may read this. My new found love for modern music was a mystery to my parents. They were glad that I had found something that aided in my journey as a follower of Christ, but they couldn't understand what I saw in the music I had now come to love. Soon these musical influences made their way into the church. For some, the drums and guitars seemed totally inappropriate. For others, the songs were too repetitive and shallow. To many though, this new music was a breath of fresh air that carried with it the essence of a new thing God was doing in the world.

As you know, this cycle of new musical creativity coming into the church has been repeated again and again with the proverbial envelope being pushed farther and farther. There have been many fights and church splits. There have even been many walk away from church all together, feeling that their desires and tastes do not matter at all. This brings me back to those faces staring back at me on Sunday morning. What should my response to them be? Some have said, "They ought to be able to worship the Lord no matter what style the music is." While that may be true, it is true for me as well. I should be able to worship while singing "Victory in Jesus" just as I do while singing "Friend of God."

My goal here is not to argue for the virtues of Gospel music or make a case for "Blended Worship." My objective is simply to give you some helpful tips I've learned along the way to help you make those who may not love contemporary music feel more valued and honored. Here it goes:

1. Do a song that is at least 25 years old in every worship set. This gives you plenty of  room to do songs that fit into the musical style of your worship service. Most of the 50 and up crowd love "There's just something about that name" just as much (or more) than they love "Holy, Holy, Holy." Reaching back 25 years or so will give you a huge group of songs to pull from and avoid doing the same 5 - 10 anthems over and over.

2. Pay attention here. I said to "do the song" not your new fangled adaptation of the song. The more you change an old song the less it will mean to the people who love the song. The melody should not change much at all. You can change some of the phrases that come from a by gone era, but make the changes subtle. The basic ryhthm of the song should not change much. Sometimes shifting the melody forward by a half step makes the song more suitable for a modern worship set without changing the character of the original song too much. One helpful approach is to simplify the chord movement, taking out some of the chord progressions that are not used much in modern music. Try using the same basic tempo but changing the accompaniment ryhthm.

3. Give older songs a prominent place in the worship order. Don't just "get it over with." Find what makes the song special and incorporate it into the best place possible. One word of caution. If you are using old songs as a medley with new songs, and the old song is serving a momentary role in the service, you're not really accomplishing the intended goal. A common complaint is, "They did the song, and I was enjoying singing it, and then they just moved on." If you do this you might try going back into the older song as a reprise doing the song in its original form.

4. Write a new section for older songs. We all know and love Chris Tomlin's version of "Amazing Grace" now sung in churches all around the world. His contribution to the song with "My chains are gone..." gave new life to a song that was already meaningful to millions of people. In doing this, he helped make the song personal to young audiences too.

Here's something we all need to think about. Most of those people who stare at us on Sunday morning and don't sing are not choosing to abstain from worship. Their hearts cry out for God just as much as yours does. They want to get involved and offer their adoration to the Lord along with the rest of their church family, but they do not feel that they can. Maybe the words are too hard to catch. Maybe the melody is too hard to sing. Maybe they just have trouble learning so many new songs. Whatever the reason you can be sure of this: Their hearts are yearning to be able to come to church and worship freely instead of waiting until they get home to their Bill Gaither tapes. It might do us all some good to go pick up a few of those tapes and reconnect with the artistic expression and the spirituality of the music that helped our parents and grandparents pass their sincere faith from generation to generation.

I've hit an interesting spot in my life. I turned 40 this year. I know everybody says this, but here's one more person to say it again. When I was 20 I thought that 40 would be depressing. I've heard lots of people talk about mid-life crisis and all that, but I am really happy to be 40. I'm just as hopeful for the future. I'm just as optimistic, maybe even more so.

Even though, in many ways, I'm kind of starting from scratch at this age (pastoring for the first time, pastoring a new church) I don't think I feel as much pressure as I did in my late 20s and early 30s. Back then I felt like the clock was ticking on my musical pursuits. I wanted to "make it" in the music business. Now, I still want good things to happen,  but I've got no nagging feeling of needing to measure up. I guess you would say I've found a place of peace, and I feel good about it.