In this ChristianityToday.com exclusive, the acclaimed worship leader best known for the song “In the Secret (I Want to Know You)” explains what it is — and what it isn’t.
What is worship? It’s all about exalting Christ, and anything that leads towards a Christ-like life is on the right track of true worship.
When we use the word “worship” as applied to what we do in a church service, then most of what I do is musically oriented. Of course, preaching, prayer, the Lord’s Supper and even fellowship are all parts of worship. But there are several things that happen during the musical portion of worship. We express our love to God, and we sing and speak the Word to one another with psalms, hymns, and spiritual songs. We let the Word of Christ dwell in us by meditating about who God is and our role as children and servants.
That’s the cognitive element. Then there’s the spiritual or revelatory element—worshipping God with all that’s within us. Part of that involves our emotions, engaging our whole being in this act.
Style and substance
There are many different legitimate musical styles you can use in worship music—everything from classical to rock, from black gospel traditions to liturgical traditions. I think there are strengths in each of those traditions.
Some of my favorite moments come when the instruments are playing gently and most of what you hear is the congregation singing. On the other hand, it’s fine to rock out; the Bible is full of exuberant joy in worship. Both extremes, the quiet and the loud, have their place. We’re emotional beings, and we need to worship with all of our emotions—from quiet meditation to raucous celebration.
I love to see youth jump around and go crazy. And I love seeing people be quiet as they listen to God. And I love everything in between. There’s good in all of it.
While the particular musical style isn’t a big deal, choosing the right songs is. The worship leader is responsible for presenting a broad, balanced picture of God through the songs he or she has chosen. We are singing theology—what we believe about God’s character, and how we should respond to him.
One of the dangers is that we get too narrow in the focus of the song lyrics, because we sometimes forget that teaching is one function of leading worship. People often remember songs more easily than sermons because adding melody to words helps with memory retention.
With that in mind, I’m always on the lookout for songs that are not only help people connect with God, but speak a message that we need to hear. Do they have significant theological content? That’s one of the things that shapes my writing.
There are plenty of good worship songs that are more than just simple love songs. But we need those simple love songs too, because they touch a part of our soul that might not be touched through hymns. It’s part of touching all that’s within us.
We in the West tend to dismiss the simple things because we’re cerebral, cognitive people who tend to see the world “informationally.” We’re not as tuned in to the sensory or experiential—such as experiencing God’s love and power. In Western evangelical churches, including my own Vineyard tradition, we’re not as good at the mystical as we are at the cognitive. So, those “simpler” songs leave room for a person to interact with God on a personal basis.
To rock, or not to rock?
I come from the Vineyard background where, in the early days, we used the style of music to which most Boomers could relate—rock. That’s what they wanted, and it worked; we had some very powerful times of worship.
Rock music as a means of worship offers a very important element of relevance to a generation that grew up on that style. They’re hearing the sounds they’ve grown to love, an art form they appreciate. And when you appreciate an art form, it’s natural to sing a love song to God in that art form.
If you grew up in a traditional hymn-singing church, you might disagree. If you’ve learned to meet and experience God through the piano and the organ, you’ll be attached to that style. And that’s completely valid.
But how do you make one co-exist with the other? How do you introduce rock to an organ-loving church? You have to respect the tradition of the church you’re a part of. You have to realize people don’t change very quickly. They don’t want a wholesale change of their worship style, because there’s a sacred connection to the style of music they’ve always known.
One of the easiest ways to bridge the two worlds of contemporary and traditional music is to introduce new arrangements of traditional hymns. It makes the hurdle a lot lower for people to get over. They’re singing a song they’ve always sung, but in a new way.
There are so many rich gems in the hymns. Last weekend, we sang, “When I Survey the Wondrous Cross” two different ways in two different settings this past weekend. It works just as well both ways. Hymns like that are timeless.
But ultimately, worship music is about more than just style or the right song choices. It’s about what it does to the worshiper. You can’t divorce music from the fruit manifested in those singing the songs. You can’t evaluate the effectiveness of worship unless you look at a cross-section of what’s happening in a local church. Are people being discipled? Are they reaching out to people in need or to those who don’t know God?
That’s how to know if your worship is real and effective.
Andy Park is a veteran worship leader and songwriter currently serving at the North Langley Vineyard in British Columbia. Park has more than 90 works to his credit, including “The River Is Here,” “Only You” and “In the Secret.” He has led worship on numerous Vineyard recordings, including Blessed Be the Name and All I Need.Learn more about him at his website, www.andypark.ca. His new book, To Know You More: Cultivating the Heart of a Worship Leader, can be found at Musicforce.com
