"Church culture" - it's sort of a buzz word on the internet these days.
It's that invisible, intangible thing that subconsciously directs the decisions you make and, ultimately, how people respond to things in your church.
This is true for how they receive the message on Sundays, how they interact in their small groups, and how they view their own personal ministry.
It also affects your worship leading. And more specifically, "church culture" affects how your congregation engages in worship.
Here is how church culture affects congregational engagement during worship:
1 | If everything is designed to be an "experience" to be consumed, people will assume your time of worship is as well
If your church's culture is based on simply giving people an "experience" instead of a church family to be a part of, that will direct how they see the musical time of worship in your church.
Because people get "experiences" everywhere. They go to the movies and judge their experience - was it good or bad? They go to concerts and, afterwards, rate their experience. Restaurants: did my waiter keep my drink filled and was the food good?
And two things happen when people come for an "experience:"
First, experiences are always meant to be consumed and judged. How did the band sound? Was the pastor's message interesting enough? Why did they not have freshly brewed coffee from a local roaster available for me - don't they know I hate Folgers? (Seriously, I know it's cheaper but it's nasty!)
Secondly, experiences relieve people of personal responsibility. If you come somewhere for an experience, you expect to sit back, relax and be taken care of.
Now, it's obvious how this would affect your church's worship. When your church culture is focused on "experiences" you create a time of worship that people take no personal responsibility in, consume, and judge.
2 | If God's word is not the foundation of your gathering, people will not have truth to respond to
Worship is our response to God. It happens when we look at what God HAS done, what God IS doing, and what God WILL do in the future.
If your gathering is based on subjective statements that simply make people feel good, people won't have any truth to respond to.
If you want people to engage in worship, give them truth to respond to. And, not something that you simply THINK is true or your own perspective on a certain topic. Tell them what God's Word says!
3 | If people aren't challenged to participate in musical worship, they won't be challenged to participate in other forms of worship
As a worship leader, you know that there are MANY forms of worship. And the common denominator between all forms (giving, service, singing, etc.) is SACRIFICE. If something is worship, there must be sacrifice involved. It has to cost us something.
Now, at the very foundation, the cost of our worship is Jesus's sacrifice on the cross. It is through that sacrifice that we can freely worship God. But, there are smaller ways that our worship must cost us something.
Giving is perhaps the most tangibly obvious - when we give we are sacrificing money. Likewise, when we serve others, we are sacrificing time.
But, how does musical worship fit into all of this? Look at Hebrews 13:15:
"Through Jesus, therefore, let us continually offer to God a SACRIFICE of praise - the fruit of lips that openly profess his name."
When we musically worship God, we are sacrificing our praise to him. We are turning our attention away from everything else in the world that we might admire and saying, "God, you are better than it all."
And here's the thing... that sacrifice costs us very little. Musical worship is the easiest form of worship.
So, if your church culture does not enable your people to engage in the easiest form of worship, how will they respond when they are called to other forms of worship?
How will they respond when they are called to take care of orphans and widows?
How will they respond when they are called to give to a special opportunity God has placed in front of your church?
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