WORSHIP WARS!!! (Maybe the most controversial thing I have ever written).

As creatives in the church, we will sometimes be called upon, by God and man to try new things, sometimes these things will work and sometimes they won’t and when they don’t there can be backlash. We in the church can become very protective of worship, and by worship I mean style of worship. Some time around 2010, I did a web comic that was probably one of the most controversial things that I have ever done.

It was part of my Weird World of Weiss comic for Cyberlight Comics. It was written in a time of immense frustration and yet a whole lot of hope. You see I love the church of Jesus Christ. Having been in almost 150 different, diverse churches in the last four years makes me love it all the more. There are so many different expressions of God’s Kingdom out there, and here is what I’ve found, they all love Jesus and they all have their struggles.

One of the big ones is what I call Worship Wars. It’s where big division pop up over style of worship and more specifically style of music. It’s amazing the stuff we will split over. Can I just be honest. I love contemporary worship music. Before I came to Christ I had been to over 70 rock concerts in a five year period, most of them had been heavy metal. You might be surprised to learn I came to Christ in a church that did (essentially) nothing but hymns. Here’s the point, worship is not about a style of music, worship is about the one being worshipped. If we draw near to Him, He will draw near to us. We all like what we like. I much prefer guitars to organs, and, for me contemporary music is easier to sing, but you know what I like more, seeing people come to Jesus and dedicating their lives to following Him. Show me that happening and I don’t care if you have Polka Worship or Gregorian Chants. God is worshipped.

Worship is derived from an old English word, “Worthship”, basically meaning He is worthy of our praise and HE IS! If His worthiness is our first focus, worship will take care of itself.

One other thing, sometimes in the church we make the crucial mistake of thinking it’s about us and our comfort. It isn’t and we need to learn to get uncomfortable for the sake of the Kingdom. Does that mean I don’t think the church should minister to its members? No not at all, I just believe that we must stay on mission. Once I was interviewing for a pastorate and the people asked me a question that I have been asked at every pastoral interview I have ever done. “What type of worship do you prefer?” The underlying question is “What kind of worship (music) do you prefer?” I was feeling a bit cheeky (as our British friends would say) so I replied “I hate Disco!” (and I do!). I got strange looks from around the room as I left a brief and uncomfortable silence hang in the air. Then I finished my statement, “but if I thought people would be brought to Christ, get me a white leisure suit cause we’re having Disco Church.” I didn’t get the call but I stand by the statement. What matters is the Kingdom. What matters is souls. What matters is if God, the object of our worship, the audience of one we worship, is glorified. Worship should probably not break the heart of God, and that is what division in His body does.

There’s no excuse for worship wars. Keep God central and everything else secondary.

To view the rest of the comic, click here but be warned I was in a mood.