With so many preferences out there when it comes to worship, where is the healthy balance? This article looks at the healthy tensions that we must embrace to meet the needs of all of the people and not just the few.

This article is based on an amazing class I attended of the same name at an excellent seminar on worship I attended last year. This class really convicted and inspired me to have a healthy, balanced perspective on the different “sides’ or “tensions” there are in worship. You hear about it often, where one person loves old hymns sung a cappella and practically labels anything else “heresy”, and then another person loves modern gospel with a full band and almost labels anything else “dead worship”. Who is right? Where does preference cross the line into right or wrong? Churches have split over less than what worship music is played, so it’s important that we have a healthy mentality when it comes to our church’s worship.

Much like poles that hold up a volleyball net, each of these sides creates a healthy tension that "holds up" our worship of God and strives to meet the different needs that people have.

Worship is an Offering

The most important thing to remember is that above all worship is an offering to God. It is not about what we get out of it, but what we give to the Creator who is forever praised in heaven. Now, we all have preferences of what kind of music helps us to give our best offering to God and what blesses us in return, but it’s not about what us humans get out of it, it’s all about what we give. So if you’re ready to give your whole heart, voice, and body to God in worship, that is all that is needed regardless of what music is played.

Since some things help us individually to give more and some don’t, we do have a wide spectrum of people clamoring for different worship experiences, which does lend to tension between the worship leader and different groups within the congregation. It’s important that we all have a healthy perspective when it comes to these “tensions”.

Here’s a few examples:

I. Instrumental vs. A Cappella four part harmony

With our church’s tradition coming from "all a cappella worship all the time", it can be unnerving to see churches start to use instruments more in worship. Yet, for many churches, maybe they don’t have as strong of singers to put together a really moving a cappella worship service; or maybe the same songs sung for the last 10 or 20 years aren’t as helpful anymore and some new songs and new ways of worship are needed to re-engage our hearts.

I really believe that both instruments and a cappella four part harmony worship are valid, righteous methods we can use to give an offering of worship to God, and that it’s wrong for those who love a cappella to look down with disapproval towards those who love instrumental worship; as well as it is wrong for those who love instrumental music to look down with disapproval on those who prefer a cappella music. Both are valid, in fact both can be needed!

1 Chronicles 16:9
Sing to him, sing praise to him; tell of all his wonderful acts.

1 Chronicles 16:23
Sing to the LORD, all the earth; proclaim his salvation day after day.

2 Chronicles 5:12-14
All the Levites who were musicians—Asaph, Heman, Jeduthun and their sons and relatives—stood on the east side of the altar, dressed in fine linen and playing cymbals, harps and lyres. They were accompanied by 120 priests sounding trumpets. The trumpeters and singers joined in unison, as with one voice, to give praise and thanks to the LORD. Accompanied by trumpets, cymbals and other instruments, they raised their voices in praise to the LORD and sang: "He is good; his love endures forever." Then the temple of the LORD was filled with a cloud, and the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God.

2 Chronicles 29:26-28
So the Levites stood ready with David's instruments, and the priests with their trumpets.
Hezekiah gave the order to sacrifice the burnt offering on the altar. As the offering began, singing to the LORD began also, accompanied by trumpets and the instruments of David king of Israel. The whole assembly bowed in worship, while the singers sang and the trumpeters played. All this continued until the sacrifice of the burnt offering was completed.

Psalm 33:3
Sing to him a new song; play skillfully, and shout for joy.

Psalm 71:22
I will praise you with the harp for your faithfulness, O my God; I will sing praise to you with the lyre, O Holy One of Israel.

Acts 16:25
About midnight Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns to God, and the other prisoners were listening to them.

Revelation 14:1-3
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, standing on Mount Zion, and with him 144,000 who had his name and his Father's name written on their foreheads. And I heard a sound from heaven like the roar of rushing waters and like a loud peal of thunder. The sound I heard was like that of harpists playing their harps. And they sang a new song before the throne and before the four living creatures and the elders. No one could learn the song except the 144,000 who had been redeemed from the earth.

Revelation 15:1-3
I saw in heaven another great and marvelous sign: seven angels with the seven last plagues—last, because with them God's wrath is completed. And I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire and, standing beside the sea, those who had been victorious over the beast and his image and over the number of his name. They held harps given them by God and sang the song of Moses the servant of God and the song of the Lamb: "Great and marvelous are your deeds, Lord God Almighty. Just and true are your ways, King of the ages."

We see numerous examples and commands to praise God with our voices as well as with instruments. We see God bless the use of instruments and there are even instruments in heaven! We also see that there’s a lot of singing, too. Both can be needed, and both can be important to our worship experience.

I personally love great a cappella worship done in four part harmony when it’s done well. It’s amazing when you are in a congregation of a few hundred or more singing a cappella four part harmony well. But being a part of a smaller church, we don’t always have the resources available or the number of strong singers who can sing in parts well, so a cappella singing can be a struggle sometimes. But we do have some talented and skilled instrumentalists, and we’ve been able to put together a band that has gotten to the point where we can lead worship quite well. So we play to our strengths, which is our band, and supplement it with a cappella singing so that it’s a good mix. The cool thing is that each makes the other better! Our a cappella singing is a lot better now because the band takes some of the pressure off of it, and the a cappella singing makes our instrumental worship better because it lends some great variety. Working to do both as well as we can helps our worship services so much more than if we just had only one or the other. We need to keep a healthy tension here.

Now, just to be clear, if all you do is a cappella singing, either by choice or just by circumstances, I think we can all agree that you can have an amazing worship, there's just nothing wrong with desiring the use of instruments as well.

II. Contemporary vs. Traditional

Contemporary Christian music has just gotten better and better over the last few years, and a lot of times is much easier to sing, and just simpler lyrically and vocally, which can make it much more accessible. It also has that “new car smell” where it’s new, so it can connect with you much more than another song that has become too familiar sometimes can. But its simplicity can mean it wears out fast, and can lack a certain depth for some. Plus, too many of us have experienced singing contemporary Christian songs with a group that was filled with hypocrisy so we are a little scarred with bad memories that are unjustly linked to this kind of music. Contemporary music also lends itself to have more “vertical” songs which we’ll talk more about later, but that also draws some of us more in that direction.

Traditional music, mostly associated with older Hymns, can be rich with doctrinal and lyrical depth and complexity that makes them inaccessible to some, but to others of us, we need that depth, and we need the complex lyrics that speak the truths of God in a different language. It’s much like those who love Shakespeare. There are some things Shakespeare writes that are timeless and give a whole different meaning to a thought or emotion; and then there are those who just don’t understand what the heck the guy is saying and turn to comic books. Traditional worship can also be familiar, because many have grown up with it. It can also remind us of “dead” groups we have been a part of, and can be incorrectly associated with “deadness” and being "old". But these traditional songs when sung with all of our passion and understanding can bring us very close to God, cement deep doctrinal truths in our minds and hearts, and have great meaning for many, many years.

We need both kinds. We need to sing songs that are easily accessible to anyone, songs which are new and modern and help us connect in new ways with and give our praise to God; but we also need the depth and complexity that comes from some of our great traditional hymns that speak of great truths and doctrine in ways that nobody speaks anymore.

I’m a big Chris Tomlin fan, I also love music by Paul Baloche, Lincoln Brewster, Leeland, Robbie Seay, and many other more modern worship leaders and song writers. These songs get into my head and heart quickly and help me sing to God with all of my heart because they are easy for me to pick up. I also LOVE songs like “O Sacred Head Now Wounded”, “Take My Life and Let it Be”, “How Great Thou Art”, “Have Thine Own Way”, “A Mighty Fortress”, and other very traditional hymns as they get to the deepest places in my heart and speak those truths in a very powerful way. Just last week, I put "O Sacred Head" in the service, and we had to pull it because our part singers didn't know the parts, I was very sad! I had been singing that song all week in my head and really needed it. We definitely need both.

III. Vertical vs. Horizontal

One need that was identified in our worship (in Spokane) a few years ago is a need for worship singing that is directed to God, and not just about God, about the church, or about each other, sung to each other. It’s been great to see that trend growing as many churches are experimenting more and more with vertical music. It’s important and it’s needed. Like the Psalms, we need worship directed to God and it’s a great trend. We need that intimacy with God to help be the fuel for our passion for His Kingdom.

Ephesians 5:19-20
Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs. Sing and make music in your heart to the Lord,always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.

At the same time, we also need to sing to each other, to offer encouragement to one another through songs we sing about God, about His Glory, and His Kingdom to each other. We need to remind each other of the truths of God and His Word through song.

Like Ephesians says above, sing to one another AND sing to the Lord.

IV. Reverent vs. Celebrative

Ecclesiastes 3:1, 4
There is a time for everything, and a season for every activity under heaven:
a time to weep and a time to laugh, a time to mourn and a time to dance,

1 Peter 1:17
Since you call on a Father who judges each man's work impartially, live your lives as strangers here in reverent fear.

Hebrews 12:28-29
Therefore, since we are receiving a kingdom that cannot be shaken, let us be thankful, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe, for our "God is a consuming fire."

In our worship there is a time to be reverent and solemn, a time to reflect on the Kingship of Jesus, the fact that our God is a great King, the Lion of Judah, and Ancient of Days who deserves our reverence, our respect, our silence as we listen to Him and Him only. He is the Judge and the Word and it is right that we take time to worship the Creator in reverence and awe; getting down on our knees and bowing down before Him.

2 Samuel 6:14-15
David, wearing a linen ephod, danced before the LORD with all his might, while he and the entire house of Israel brought up the ark of the LORD with shouts and the sound of trumpets.

God is also a loving Father, Jesus our brother and Savior as well as Lord. God has saved us from sin, from ourselves, from this lost world! All of heaven celebrates with Him when even one sinner decides to repent. We also must have times of celebration! Celebration of what God has done in our lives and in our world, celebration of who God is, of His character, and celebration when sinners give their lives to Jesus.

We need both times of reverence and awe as well as times of celebration and joy in our worship!

V. Intellectual vs. Emotional

This is another one where you can see some division, one group which desires an emotional experience, or really wants their heart moved; and another can look down on anything “emotional” and can over emphasize the intellectual.

Again, we need to meet both needs. We need to help people emotionally connect with God, and rouse that heartfelt passion for God and His Kingdom; and we need to help people think and use their heads as well, not just "zeal without knowledge". Emotions are great followers, but lousy leaders…we need worship that gets you thinking and intellectually engaged as well as reaches the “deep waters” of our hearts to rouse a strong passion and devotion to God.

VI. Planned vs. Spontaneous

I can be an ‘over planner’, where I want everything planned for, accounted for, planned to the Nth degree, and I go nuts if anything unexpected happens. If we're not careful we can plan things to the point that the service feels very ‘scripted’. Then there’s the other extreme where any planning whatsoever is discarded as ‘unspiritual’ or a lack of trust in God, and everything is spontaneous, unplanned, and all over the place. No one knows whether we are coming or going…it’s just “go with the Spirit” and 3 hours later hopefully something meaningful happened.

Again, there’s a happy medium. Our God is a God of order and not of chaos, He had a plan from the beginning of the world to send Jesus to save us from sin and He has a plan for each one of our lives since before we were born. So planning is a good thing. Planning helps everyone feel secure and successful in that they know what they need to do and how to react, so they can just focus on God easily. A well planned service where the people in the pews are considered has the highest chance of success at transforming people’s hearts, I believe. God knows exactly what people need a week, a month, and even a year from now and if we let Him, He can help us plan. But at the same time, we need to be flexible enough to obey the spirit and be unflappable when the unexpected happens. When you have a plan to turn left at a certain time, then when God is tells you, “turn right”, go ahead and turn right and obey the Spirit, but if God doesn’t say anything, at least you know ahead of time what you are doing and don't have to think about it. We need to be planned, but flexible, and be spontaneous when the time calls for it.

OK, let me selfishly add some specific thoughts here...worship leaders, please make sure your fellow servants on the worship team know what the songs are at least a few days before the service; and church leaders, please do not make the worship leader change the songs during the pre-service meeting! Work all of that out before Sunday! Nothing distracts your worship team with insecurity more than having them do a song in front of everyone that they haven't practiced. The only time I ever change a song is I'll cut a song that I think we aren't leading good enough to not be distracting, and maybe replace it with a song we know well already, but at least run through it before service. I might get up and lead a song by myself that's a last minute addition, but I don't expect the band or the singers to do it with me unless they feel very confident.

VII. Edifying vs. Evangelistic

Who are our worship services for? Are they for edifying the Christians and building up the body, or are they for calling sinners to make a decision for Jesus? I think we can agree that they are for both. I believe that if you have a worship service that the Christians love to be at, where their needs are met and their lives are being transformed, then they cannot help but tell other people about it. I also believe that our worship services need to be able to reach the seekers who are visiting. We need to meet their needs as well. I do think that if we meet the former, we can also meet the latter’s needs even more effectively, but we need to consider both groups as we put together our worship services.

Conclusion

You are not going to be able to please everyone all of the time, but I think a good goal to have is to try to have a worship service where everyone can say that there was one transforming moment in the service that really helped them connect with God. For some it will be the sermon, for others it will be “Holy, Holy, Holy” sung a cappella, for others it might be a moving video testimony, and for still others it could be the band leading them in the song “Open the Eyes of My Heart”.

So as we lead our churches in worship and try to be sensitive to all of the different needs that are out there, let’s first of all embrace the fact that there are healthy tensions in worship, things that seem in opposition to each other, but are necessary to meet all of the different needs different people have. Let’s not look down on others that have different needs or different ways of worshipping God. And we need to have an attitude that we will give God His due worship using any means necessary, and be willing to try anything that the Bible does not expressly prohibit when it comes to our worship of Him.

For more articles on worship by this author and for resources for your worship ministry, go to www.freetoworship.net.