Contemporary Worship

“It matters whether those who lead us in song see their task as creating a mood or a memory. If primarily a mood, lyrics can take a back seat …. If primarily a memory, the lyrics are critically important. Like the Psalms, they should be able to stand on their own, combined with music or not.” - CToday

“…there’s an even deeper flaw in our thinking. Worship is not an evangelistic tool. We don’t worship together to attract unbelievers.” - C. Leaders

“Seeing ourselves as the Body of Christ is not to demean personal experience, but a help to guard against allowing our focus to shift to ‘our’ personal experience rather than on who Christ is and what He as done.” - C.Leaders

“In short order, we went from 250 songs everyone knows to more than 250,000 songs nobody knows… . The key is familiarity. People enjoy singing songs they know.” - C.Leaders

“So the question becomes – in spite of today’s worship music often being meaningful, well done and engaging, what have we lost when a few hundred members of the congregation stand there watching 5 or 6 members of the worship team do all the singing?” - Phil Cooke

“Theology matters,” Morgan writes. “I can’t even stress that enough. It matters if a song is weak in theology and is not accurately displaying the Holiness of our God. It matters if churches are spreading a prosperity Gospel that is different from the Gospel found in Scripture.” - C.Leaders

“A professional musician can miss reading the moment. And worse yet, a worship leader can fall into executing the songs instead of leading the worship.” - C.Leaders

“The argument that worship, especially music in worship, is just a matter of taste is spurious, and it needs to be retired, just like the pop worship trend.” - Patheos

“…this style is specifically designed for solo artists, which means that it does not lend itself well to congregational singing. It is also written to be a performance for an audience, which means that it does not lend itself well to corporate worship.” - Veith

One result: “I don’t know that… that God is actually going to show up in this gathering. So I’ve got to make something happen. I’ve got to make people feel something. I’ve got to make them feel moved. I’ve got to make them feel engaged.” - TGC