Sally Morgenthaler, well known for her book Worship Evangelism and her web site, Sacaramentis, has published an article in the latest edition of Next Wave E-Zine, originally published with Rev! Magazine in June. See the Rev article here. Sally’s books, articles and seminars have helped thousands of churches to develop seeker-friendly approaches to worship. But she is now distancing herself from the worship-focused culture that has developed as a result.
“In the mid-90s, the community church section in the yellow pages was awash with self-conscious logos and catchy taglines, all competing with each other for that upwardly mobile, savvy church shopper. Strip malls and school gyms were bursting with “churches-on-wheels”: shiny-faced set-up crews towing two-wheeled storage trailers, each chock full of sound equipment, Plexiglas podiums, informational handouts, plastic plants, name tags, and nursery toys.
But by 1998 something had shifted. The set-up crews weren’t looking quite as fresh as they once were. Why would they, playing “portable church” 52 weeks a year, year after hopeful year? Of course, they were waiting for the “promised land” — the gleaming megaplex their pastor had envisioned on those 20 farm acres south of town. The savviest start-ups reached that promised land. Most did not. By 2000 there were only a few trailers backing up to warehouse doors. The start-ups had thinned out. It was as if the “if we build it, they will come” game had suddenly grown stale. Like last year’s action toy, the bright outfits, plastic plants, oozy choruses, and pink-shirts-with-Dockers-slacks went into culture’s garage sale bin. Contemporary church plants that hadn’t reached critical mass (300 to 400) by the end of the ’90s were in deep trouble.”
Sally is concerned that most worship settings engaging in the seeker-friendly approach avoid any hint of sadness, anger or despair. Even more worrying is the tendency to pour so much energy into developing dynamic worship that members are too exhausted to spend time with people in their community. When all’s said and done, the reality is that most celebratory worship is focused on the inner world of believers rather than engaging with the everyday reality of living in the world in which God has placed us.
I heard Brett Swann from Springfield Community Oasis (Church of Christ) speaking on Friday night, talking about a new church plant in which worship services went low-tech, using canned music and dialogue rather than up-front band and speaker. It was counter-cultural for Brett and his team. But two years later the church has runs on the board for community engagement with the Christian gospel.
Years ago I dabbled with a similar approach, occasionally moving an evening worship service away from an up-front focus. The feedback was interesting. A significant portion of attenders were disturbed – ostensibly because they didn’t believe they were worshiping any longer. One visitor was honest with me. “We come to this church because there’s a good band. And when there isn’t we feel as though we’ve been deprived of the good experience we were expecting”.
Stepping away from ‘worship evangelism’ is not necessarily a step into mediocrity or irrelevance. If anything, it’s an opportunity to rethink the level of energy required to create an gathering that will be sustainable, effective (in strengthening worshiping witnessing and serving disciples of Jesus) and good news for the community.