Comments on: Song Selection/Multi-Generational Church: The Life of a Worship Pastor

By: Fortuitous Bouncing « Man of Depravity

Fortuitous Bouncing « Man of Depravity — Sat, 20 Jun 2009 14:59:22 +0000

[...] was a great discussion on the multi-generational worship post from Monday. Make sure to check out some of the great [...]

By: CJ Mills

CJ Mills — Thu, 18 Jun 2009 02:23:09 +0000

Great response, Tyler. Bringing this discussion to a face-to-face meeting is a great next step.

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 18:09:41 +0000

This is something that I have recently been getting emails on as well… The funny point I found was that one woman requested that we do more hymns (not a prob for me…) and when I asked her for a list of the hymns she would like to hear occasionally, well, there wasn’t a single hymn on it! I did get a list of 10 or so CCM songs (5 we had just done in the past 2-3 weeks, 2 I have never heard in my life).

One thing that I have to keep reminding myself is that by the time I teach a new song to our team, I’ve heard it about 20-30 times. By the time the team has learned it and we actually begin teaching it to the congregation, I’ve heard it about 50-60 times and they’ve heard it about 20-30 times. The congregation has heard it once, and we are starting to get tired of it because we’ve been living and breathing it to learn it.

The other challenge that I have is a disconnect between who we WANT to reach, and who is actually filling the pews.

My pastor WANTS to reach out to the 20 & 30-somethings, with or without kids. Who is filling the pews? 40, 50 and 60+ people. I am the youngest person on staff by 9 years, and the only guy on the team that’s younger than me is in high school. There are 3 other couples around my age in the church – in that demographic we are WANTING to reach… and we can’t reach out to them right now, because we have run out of room for the kids!

Multi-generational? Yes. But we are missing that chunk in the middle that we are targeting.

Our worship music is younger, more edgy. Hillsong United, Tomlin, Starfield and Crowder are writers that regularly show up… and any hymns that we do (semi-regularly) are either modern or modernized (which I hear about too “they have stood for generations, why do we need to change them?”). The majority of the 40-50 crowd LOVES them, as do the older ones, but there are a few that were raised in the church and still have memories of standing with a hymnal turned to song 234, and singing out the rich theology that is now hidden in their hearts.

Do I love hymns? Yes. Do I remember Gaither? Yep… but I never liked them when they were the next big thing either. Smitty isn’t really my cup of tea, but there are lots in the church that like his music. Vineyard? Love it… but my pastor doesn’t want to do songs that are over 8 years old. He wants to stay on the leading edge. Besides that, the music that I really love, well, it’s hard to find a God-honoring version of. There are a couple, but not too many, and I can’t picture them used in a church setting.

I’m constantly seeking that balance between old and new, comfortable and challenging, engaging and frustrating. Leading worship and just worshiping alongside them.

Thanks for the discussion!

By: Stephen

Stephen — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 17:01:51 +0000

Song selection is always a difficult but necessary conversation for me. One, because a worship leader must develop in every skill of leading…from picking songs to arranging them, to singing them, to leading them. Two, because true worship is a heart and head integration…and not simply confined to a how to job…

The interesting thing is, that while some will say pick singable and common songs…some will say that they love learning new ones at the beginning…just like some will say that we should pick 2 happy (fast) songs and then 2 sad (slow)songs…just this weekend we had this very discussion after church…the conversation is world wide…I think we need a voice that will, in love, bring some clarity…maybe the Spirit???

The question then for the worship leader as well as the worshipper is…am I pleasing, blessing, and worshipping God-am I picking and leading, singing and worshipping from a heart of Love that wishes no one pain but rather edification and the worship of God…

I do believe that we should take the needs of people into consideration everystep of the process…but ultimately the point is to worship God and to help people do what our flesh…which is opposed to the spirit should do which is worship…beyond words, beyond tempos, beyond talent, and in the spirit Worship God…

People will always have opinions and better and worse ways…but like a prof of mine once said…”we should learn to eat the meat and spit out the bones…but always be obedient to God’s spirit”

Great conversation!

By: ash

ash — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 09:54:34 +0000

i think that his comment was kind, considerate and perhaps something to try. maybe next week, start w/ a hymn and then move into the other music. it can’t hurt- esp if it gets people’s attn. a little better to get into the flow of worship.

the first song can often make or break the flow for someone.

and if you already like doing a “hymn in the middle”- no harm in doing two!

bill gaither? eh….i think that mostly reaches a genre of older people rather than a generation. keith green maybe, and like said hymns can be hit….

make it beautiful. but above all, make it glorify God

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:03:59 +0000

Thanks for that encouragement Deana.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 05:00:38 +0000

My bigger point is that we have a pretty narrow vision of what relevant means. My church does have electric guitar on stage almost every weekend, we even have 2 electrics on about half of our weekends. But…I don’t think electric guitar = relevancy.

From the sounds of it, you have hit your groove at your church. What an awesome thing.

By: Tyler

Tyler — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 04:58:53 +0000

Good point Fred. As difficult as it is to reach all ages in an impactful way, I do still believe it is possible.

By: Deana

Deana — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:33:06 +0000

Okay..so I am not a worship leader…except for singing with 2-3 year old children since they don’t care yet that I can’t carry a tune. Just wanted to share that I enjoyed reading all the comments.

Worship Leaders…keep pouring your heart in to it and be authentic…from a person that thinks musical notes look like spilled ink on a page and only sings very very quietly….your attitude of worship in your own heart makes all the difference. And remember we need extra grace and patience to understand all this ‘music’ stuff!

By: Darrell

Darrell — Tue, 16 Jun 2009 02:26:54 +0000

Over the years, from the different churches I’ve led worship at, I’ve learned that there will unfortunately always be complainers about your song choices, instruments, arrangements, etc. The realization that I’ve come to is that the only way for a whole congregation to worship through the whole music time is to get them to worship before the first note is played. This goes for every member of the worship team (and especially the WL), too.
I realize that many people might not think this way, but I believe that we should NOT be relying on the music we play to bring us into a state of worship. If we come to church on Sunday not worshiping already, then we’re bound to be disappointed by something in the service (and let’s face it: the music is always the first thing to receive criticism). If, however, we can teach ourselves and our congregations that worship is more about lifestyle than it is about song choice, then we can pour our hearts out to God with any song (that’s theologically sound, anyway).
That means, as Worship Leaders, we can choose songs from a style that we don’t necessarily like, but that have special significance to some of those older saints in the congregation who would appreciate it. Not only that, but it also means that our congregation members can praise the Lord regardless of the tune, the beat (or the drums!) because they came to church that morning already worshiping, and they recognize that worship is less about what we want and more about giving praise to the Lord.
Realistically, I recognize the difficulty in achieving this goal for a whole congregation, which is why we always need to be sensitive to the needs of the congregation at large (all the while making a stand about who we are as worship leaders and what we expect from ourselves and our congregations), but the underlying goal of discipleship is that we teach each other how to worship without the music so that we see music simply as another part of what we do as worshipers.
Excellent post, by the way, and I really appreciate the discussion that’s going on here. It’s really nice to see a good, productive discussion about this kind of issue.