4 Ways to Kill Church Worship Fast

[Steve Epley]

We are loud but not performance based. Stuck in time still sing the old songs with a few new ones. Love congregational singing. If you came to our church it would be like stepping back into time 40 years. But we are happy.

[n david]

I've seen several articles like this within the past year. As a worship leader, I try to read a lot of various blogs and church/worship leader websites.

I do agree a lot of churches - mostly non-denominal/seeker-friendly - have made the worship into a concert performance with fog and a light show. And while UPC/Pentecostal churches haven't, as far as I've seen, gone that far, they've still allowed a select group of talented singers to take over as the "worship team."

Growing up in the church my father Pastored, there was one older man who led songs every Sunday. We didn't have a worship team. We didn't even have a video projector with the words overhead. In fact, most of the songs were from the hymnal, and others were choruses everyone knew.

IMO, while there should be changes made in the way worship is led, there also needs to be more of an effort from the pews. People have become more lazy and laid back in their worship, and it's not all the fault of the worship team or song selections or lighting. And there are no changes which will fix lazy people.

So, by all means, get rid of the fog and light show. Turn on the lights so people can see one another.

I'm preaching to myself here: sing songs in a key which is comfortable for the average singer. While I'm able to hit the notes, most songs today (especially modern worship songs) are in too high of a key for the average singer.

Bring back some hymns. Get some meat in the songs. I don't mind if a chorus or bridge repeats itself, but let the lyrics be worth singing. Sing about Jesus, the blood, power in His name, etc. Stop singing fluffy songs about ourselves. "I know who I am" and "I'm a Pentecostal" should be scrapped. Who cares.

BTW, the volume has always been loud in Pentecostal services. Always. It's not something new due to modern worship and praise teams. Growing up, there were people walking nearby who came into the service because they heard the music or preaching.

But, I do agree that the volume should be lowered. Yesterday I was playing the keyboard, which I very rarely do, and I was constantly motioning for the drummer, guitar and bass player to lower the volume, it was so LOUD! We're not wired into the system, so it's really difficult to control the volume of the musicians.

[n david]

Originally Posted by Steve Epley

We are loud but not performance based. Stuck in time still sing the old songs with a few new ones. Love congregational singing. If you came to our church it would be like stepping back into time 40 years. But we are happy.

[rick g mcmahan]

WOW is the Apostolic churches gone to this kind of worship service.

[CC1]

I can't believe you only came up with four! Slacker.

[n david]

[Abiding Now]

Originally Posted by rick g mcmahan

WOW is the Apostolic churches gone to this kind of worship service.

Thankfully not ours.

[KeptByTheWord]

NDAVID: Great illustration of how true worship really should be.

[KeptByTheWord]

Too bad you can't make the picture smaller.. I hate it when a picture is so big it makes half the page disappear....

[FlamingZword]

Originally Posted by KeptByTheWord

NDAVID: Great illustration of how true worship really should be.

Hmm..

I hate to bring this up, but the muslims pray five times a day and they worship all the way down, they even develop a prayer callus in their forehead.