What Do People Want?
Oct 11
I read an article a few days ago questioning what young people long for in worship services. You can read it here.
I have mixed feelings about such articles. I, too, long for the type of worship service he says young people are longing for. Yet, I wonder if young people at large really do want that kind of service. If so, why do they flock to the “hip” services? Why aren’t young people abandoning these hip services and starting their own, if they really long for them?
I think this article generally reflects the frustration of a few, probably including the author. But as a whole, I don’t see it. However, as a church leader, I think my time is more well-spent investing in this minority. Where are these people who desire authenticity and knowing Christ in a real, deep way? Let’s come together and do something substantial for the kingdom of God!
I do think twenty-somethings (or really any age group) desires the genuine, but I would posit that there are two huge reasons that they aren’t starting their own or going to different services.
1. They don’t know how to have a genuine worship service. A genuine worship service should transcend form, but how do you structure a worship service to go beyond form? A worship leader’s stated job title is usually almost all form.
2. They aren’t convinced any other service is more genuine than what they are already experiencing.
Beyond that, of course there are a lot of people who are drawn by the lights, glitz, and (most of all) all of the other people who are attending the high-production services. I think that for most worshipers genuine worship would trump production values if they were convinced it was genuine. Add to that the fact that most twenty-somethings are not going to have a ton of experience with which to compare the genuineness of worship, and that automatically props up the importance of production quality in the decision-making process.
I think you make a good point about how staff are hired for their performance/form value, and that is the major basis for determining whether they are commended or not (there is other criteria as well, but this is more important usually).
Curiously, do you think that if there were two worship services going on simultaneously (one at a location where they had all the lights, smoke, solely focused on production, etc.) and one where they chose not to go the production route and tried to focus more of that energy on other things like authenticity, etc….which one do you think would be more highly attended?
I think the first one would be more highly attended nine times out of ten, because although I think deep down inside people want something genuine, there are other base desires that take precedence for most people.
That’s a hard question to answer because how do you measure authenticity? Let me play devil’s advocate for a moment.
Just because something is low-production value doesn’t make it more authentic, and since worship is very personal some people might feel more comfortable and therefore be more authentic in their worship in the high-production-value service. Low-production-value might be more of a distraction than the lights and what-have-you in the high-production value service.
I think there are valid reasons for attending the less “authentic” service as well. One of my biggest hangups in a service is that I can be uncomfortable with Southern Gospel music. I’m sure it sounds a bit petty, but I have felt like the genre was forced on me in the past so it’s difficult to get past the genre into worship. That was more of an issue in the past than it is now, but if I have to choose between two services and one is Southern Gospel I will probably choose the other regardless of the authenticity I sense in the leadership.
A final point is one that doesn’t fit my being a Pentecostal. Praise and worship is important, but it is secondary to the message that is preached in a service. I suspect that there are others who feel the same way. Furthermore, the most important part of worship is not what happens in the song service, but in how I live for Him through my everyday life. Worship in service should be an extension of my daily submission to God rather than the other way around.