An age-old problem: wants vs. needs

As I continue to reflect on the struggle of worship in the 21st century, it seems to me that a major dilemma is the age-old problem of wants vs. needs. Such a subject is tough when it is considered in relationship with worship, because congregations don't want to acknowledge the difference between wants and needs. And, if they do recognize the difference, they rarely apply it to faithful living.

Each of us has basic needs: food, shelter, clothing, a desire to love and be loved, among others. The same is true for our faith - we have basic faith needs. We have a need to be in relationship with God, and relationship with other brothers and sisters in Christ, as well as a relationship with those beyond the boundaries of the congregation. Faithful worship seeks to meet those needs.

A struggle the church finds itself in is this: people place limits on how they will meet God. Our wants encourage us to only meet God in a certain way - through incense, processions, and robes; through multisensory worship with a band, uplifting music, movie clips and PowerPoint presentations; through the order of worship and music familiar in the 1920's and 30's. We each have ways that we want to meet God that allow us to maintain familiar patterns and comfort. We want a choir, or we want a praise team. We want the hymns that our parents sang, or we want the latest praise choruses. We want the church to offer things that inspire us and give us a feeling of uplift, all while keeping us safe and comfortable.

In my experience, we meet God when we are outside of our comfort zones. God can and does speak through the familiar, but God also speaks to us and inspires us through the stretching of our minds and experiences. For example, I like ancient worship, with incense, chanting Psalms & prayers, grand processions, fiery organ music, and the grand sense of tradition that style of worship embraces. At the same time, I like worship of the monastic, Taize, and contemporary traditions. The church I serve offers none of these types of worship styles during the principal worship times. What I've listed are my preferences for worship; yet, somehow, I manage to meet God in both of my church's Sunday morning worship services.

The reason I encounter God in Sunday worship is that I prepare myself to meet God. God is present wherever two or three are gathered, and if I prepare my heart and mind to find always-present God, I will find myself changed. In worship, my innermost needs are met - to encounter God and be in relationship with others. When that happens, my wants don't matter so much after all.

Perhaps, if we all prepared our hearts and minds to meet God in worship, we wouldn't have a need for this conversation about wants and needs. Maybe there wouldn't be so much church shopping and hopping. Maybe, just maybe, if everyone prepared themselves to meet God in worship, we would see the church be the church on a consistent basis, and God's kingdom would come on earth.

Worship for the future

I'm blogging for the first time...so you'll have to bear with me!

I have been thinking about worship and the church for a long time. This is my 11th year in worship ministry, and I've been involved in many aspects. I was a church musician for the first nine years of ministry, and I led and experienced many types of worship - in a traveling praise band, the very formal worship of Duke University Chapel, and everywhere in between. Since then, I've been involved in leading and planning worship experiences in pastoral ministry.

The church I currently serve is a microcosm (I think) of what churches around the world are experiencing today in terms of diversity in worship. Everyone has an opinion about what they want in worship - a style that speaks to them. I've heard people describe it as generational, but I don't think that's the case. There are people in older generations that desire the worship style of the 1920's and 30's only; others want more formal worship with processions and incense; still others are open to the multitude of music and worship that comes out every day. I believe the same is true for almost every generation.

I don't know that there is a perfect solution. I've heard and experienced many different styles of worship that seek to address this diversity - blended worship, emergent worship, and multigenerational worship, to name a few. In my experience, these trends are attempting to address the desires of people in congregations throughout the world - and sometimes they are successful, and sometimes not.

I wish I had the perfect solution, but I don't. Instead, I want to use this space to offer some insights I've discovered throughout my journey in ministry. Keep taking a look to see what I post, and let me know of your thoughts so that we can grow in ministry together.