I have a small stream that flows through the woods behind my house. On a nice spring day, it is beautiful. The water shimmers as it dances over the rocks that make up the creek bed. That light sound of distant running water is so soothing and refreshing on a hot day. However, when Autumn comes around, those gorgeous trees dump all their leaves, and a few branches, into my otherwise healthy creek. As the leaves and branches gather in the shallow areas, the flow of the water slows down until it no longer is moving at all. Come back a few days later and you will see a greenish film settling on top of the murky water, and the whole stream begins to give off a stale odor. Amazingly enough, if you remove the muck – the obstacles – the water begins to flow freely and is beautiful and clean again in a very short time.
I am afraid this has happened to some of our worship ministries. What was once a vibrant flowing ministry has now been blocked by extraneous crud. We become stagnant.
If this is you, today is the day to pull on the garden gloves and get the trash removed that is inhibiting your ministry. Ask God to show you what needs to be taken off the path so that the stream will flow freely once again. You may be surprised with the answers, because some things that aren’t sinful in themselves can become so when they are put in the place of worship. Here are a few things I’ve seen make our worship stagnant, and some steps we’ve taken to clean it up:
1. Complacency with our current songs. You know, the Praise and Worship movement of the 1980′s and 1990′s didn’t catch on because the music was superior to the traditional hymns that churches were using. The problem was not the hymns, but hearts of the worshipers. They had grown so accustomed to showing up at church, mumbling through the same songs, and going home, that they had stopped thinking about the amazing words that they were singing. It had become ritual. When these people experienced the type of worship that grew largely out of the Vineyard, they found themselves thinking about the words, connecting to them, and encountering their Saviour. Now, it often feels as if the congregations are going through the motions again, even with a constant influx of great new music. One thing I am doing to remedy this attitude is challenging their tastes. I am trying to do things unexpected, even with a familiar song, or even a 500 year old hymn. I am trying to mix it up and force all of us to engage in what we are doing…you know, spirit AND truth.
2. We forget what Church is about and who it is for. There is simply way too much entertainment taking place in the modern church. Entertainment makes the minister a performer, and the congregation an audience. If our worship is focused on entertaining our audience, it is not worship at all; it is idolatry. If our worship is focused on anything other than the Person of Jesus Christ, it is in vain. So, what do we do to break out of the entertainment model? Do an all accapella set one week. Don’t even have singers back you up. Just sing your hearts out in unison. I’m sure many of you are scared to death at that idea. Me too, but why? Do we have to have props to worship our God. Is it impossible otherwise? What does that say about our souls?
I’m sure all of you have other great ideas for keeping things fresh that we’d all love to hear. What do you think? Let’s keep the river flowing!
