Is it Okay for Worship to be a Performance?

Because, if we're being honest, it kinda seems like it is

You know how it’s sometimes better to just keep your mouth shut and not say anything? Well I’ve never been good at that, so let’s talk about what happens when worship turns into a performance.

With the recent Hillsong documentary, questions about performance and worship have come up again on social media, and I thought I’d give my thoughts on the subject too. Let me start with acknowledging a few things that I appreciate about Word of Life church so that you know where I stand on the subject.

Entertainment and Consumerism

Every Sunday the Word of Life Church recites a confession of worship as the service is getting started. It goes like this:

We have gathered in the name of Jesus Christ.
We have come to this moment to worship God.
We have come to confess that Jesus is Lord.
We are not here to be entertained,
We are here to encounter the sacred.
We are not consumers,
We are worshipers.
We praise and adore the living God,
Who is Father, Son, and Holy Spirit.
Amen.

I love this.

Let’s focus on the first bold statement: “We are not here to be entertained.” I take this to mean that their primary purpose is not to be entertained. That is, they gather to worship God and encounter the sacred. But just because you did not come with the intentions of being entertained doesn’t mean that you won’t be entertained along the way. I enjoy Brian Zahnd’s preaching, especially his recent series on Ruth. Although I was entertained by his preaching, I clicked on the video to learn something new about Ruth.

If we’re being honest, I think we can all admit to this. We want someone who is a talented singer to lead worship. We prefer someone who can hold our attention (or entertain us) while they expound upon the scripture. This doesn’t make us bad people; it just makes us human (albeit humans with short attention spans).

The other statement is also important for our discussion today: “We are not consumers.” When we move from being participants to consumers we move from worshipping to being the objects of worship. What I mean is that we expect to be entertained, to be comfortable, and to have a “worship experience” that meets our preferences and expectations. If we don’t like the style, we might go somewhere else with a better band, a more entertaining speaker, or a church who sings songs we like. While these things might be important to some degree, as we will see, it can be possible to elevate these things over truth, justice, mercy, and fellowship. We also end up skipping steps like talking to the worship leader, sitting down with the minister, or evaluating what’s important to us

So at the outset, I want to make it clear that I do not think that people should go to the corporate assembly to be entertained or to function as consumers. With that being said, let’s talk about why worship being a performance is okay.

If We’re Being Honest…

If we’re being honest, our worship gives off some strong performance vibes already. The word performance means, “An act of staging or presenting a play, concert, or other form of entertainment.” And while we may not have a script (at least not a written one—separate and apart, guide, guard, and direct us, etc.), we do have parts, pick people to fill those roles, and expect them to fill out their role well - starting the songs on key, picking relevant songs, speaking plainly, etc.

In most churches I know of in the Churches of Christ, there is a stage in a room called the auditorium (not the sanctuary), and a man who “tried out” by competing with other ministers by delivering one or more sermons stands in front of everyone else in his Sunday best to deliver an eloquent sermon that presents the right information in a clear, hopefully concise, and entertaining way.

An auditorium, by the way, is “the part of a theater, concert hall, or other public building in which the audience sits.”

But of course God is the audience, right?

And I do think that God is the audience. I sincerely do, but we shouldn’t pretend that we just want barebones, monotone sermons. We don’t want a song leader who stinks at singing but really has a passion for it. We have favorite speakers and favorite song leaders. We really like it when he says a prayer or when he reads scripture.

Sorry for all of the “he’s” by the way, but until we start utilizing all of the members of the body of Christ, I’m stuck with that pronoun.

Could I preach from my seat on the pew or the balcony where nobody can see me? Sure. Could I even hide in the side closet like the Wizard? Yep. But where am I expected to be? On stage, preferably wearing certain clothes, and being energetic and on time.

And could the song leader lead singing from his seat? Sure. Sometimes he might, but where is he expected to be? “In the pulpit.” Yes, or you could just say… on stage in the… auditorium… in front of the… audience.

That is, if we’re being honest.

But is This Wrong?

Nah.

Now don’t get me wrong, I think that this way of “doing church” really is suboptimal and unbiblical. By unbiblical I do not mean that it is a sin; instead I mean it is something that we just can’t find in the Bible. We read about people meeting house to house, on boats, on mountainsides, by the river, and in jail cells, but we don’t read of a church having its own building in which everyone gathers once a week to sit in pews facing the front, taking communion in the way we do with the portions we do, having one person lead everyone else in singing, and listening to a sermon that gets everyone out in less than an hour.

But that doesn’t mean that it’s wrong. And, yes, this kind of worship is entertaining, and it can be a performance, but, again, that isn’t a bad thing.

Here’s the thing.

The temple service was performative. It was designed to use colors, movement, sounds, and smells to evoke emotion and put flesh and bones on the spiritual aspects of their actions. It was theatrical. The priest had special clothes he wore, and sometimes he would throw in casual garments with his fancy robe to make a point about the whole congregation entering the holy place with him. He had cool rocks he wore to make a point about something that we are unfamiliar with now. He would raise his hands to bless the people, and he even performed an elaborate ceremony with two goats.

God has Moses select the best craftsmen to construct the tabernacle and make all of the veils, vessels, and sacred objects. He didn’t pick someone who was passionate about working with gold but had no skill. When they picked the tabernacle singers, they didn’t choose the people whose voices only sounded beautiful to God, but they picked the best of the best to lead the worship in the house of God. And David was no slouch at playing the harp.

The point is that while God can and does use people who may not be the best at their craft, like Moses (Exodus 3) or Paul (1 Corinthians 2), there is also a time and place where God chose people who were skilled and could create beautiful candlesticks, an elaborate veil, and music that glorified God while being entertaining.

Our Talents Glorify God

The truth is that our talents glorify God while being entertaining. This isn’t a bad thing, and it is not something to be ashamed of. Now we can get our priorities out of line for sure, but that doesn’t mean that we should shy away from something just because someone will write it off as being a performance.

Let me give you an example.

This video is about how worship bands shouldn’t overplay. In the video, Don Moen has each band member “overplay” by adding in some licks or drum fills that they wouldn’t normally include in worship on Sunday morning, but here’s the interesting thing: for me, the video made the opposite point it was trying to. Watch the faces of the instrumentalists, especially the bass player (that dude is awesome; watch the video just for him). When they are allowed to “overplay” they come alive and the song connects with me way more than it did in the normal version, at least in my opinion.

Here’s the video:

Did you get the same impression I did? Now if you watched the whole thing, it did get a little crazy at the end, but I feel like some of those guys were doing themselves a disservice by holding back.

I wanted to share this video because of a passage you are familiar with in Ephesians:

…as you sing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs to one another, singing and making melody to the Lord in your hearts… Ephesians 5:19

Scot McKnight’s version, which I’m sure you saw coming, says,

…speaking to yourselves in string-accompanied songs and hymns and spiritual odes, singing and playing the strings in your heart to the Lord. - The Second Testament

Both versions say that our music should be performed in the heart. Some take this to mean that our songs should be sung without the use of instruments, but I don’t think this is the best way to read this passage. “In your heart” denotes the full participation of the person. If you rewatch the video, notice the transformation that takes place when they are allowed to play “from the heart.” Anyone who plays music should know what this feels like.

Singing and playing from the heart is transformational. Like in the movie Soul, when someone gets totally invested in their talent like that, their joy spills over into everyone around them. While this may be classified as performing or entertaining, I think those who “overplay” or use their gifts can be primarily worshipping God.

But They Just Want to Be Seen

In Churches of Christ that have praise teams, there is a discussion of whether or not they should be on stage.

Let me just stop and say that even typing those words makes me want to scream. Like why do people even argue about stuff like this? (I know why… but still)

Someone might say, “Well they just want to be seen.”

I think this is a weak response. Does the minister just want to be seen? Does the song leader just want to be seen? I don’t think so. I think both the minister and the worship leader understand the importance of body language in communication. And I think a similar argument could be made for a praise team.

HOWEVER, I literally do not care and am down for whatever as long as it brings glory to God and helps people discover Jesus.

But I do care about the arguments we use and whether or not they are sound, and personally, I don’t find this one convincing.

And, besides, maybe being seen is the point—not that they want to be seen for the purpose of fulfilling some egotistical need to be the center of attention, but because they believe they can better lead people in worship if they are seen.

But at the end of the day, I think our time can be better spent talking about other things. If someone is passionate about it, I’m down to support them, but this is not a hill I’d personally die on.

A Quick Reminder About Worship

But let’s not forget what worship in the New Covenant really is. We are only having this conversation because our whole model of worship gives off performance vibes with our stages and well-dressed presenters and talented worship leaders. Worship in the New Convent, however, is primarily our lives as priests who constantly live in the temple of God (Romans 12:1-2).

While the saints gathered for corporate worship, like in 1 Corinthians 11-14, they did not flip off their worship switch when they went home.

If everyone had this view of worship and was consistent with it, then a lot of these discussions and concerns would fade away, but until that happens… I guess we’re stuck talking about these kinds of things.