Call a Truce to Worship Wars
The worship war is real, though putting those words together—"worship" and "war"—seems unthinkable. I once found these words written by John Greenleaf Whittier in the front of a hymnal in St. Martin-in-the-Fields in London: "To worship rightly is to love each other, each hymn a smile and each kindly deed a prayer."
But the present state of some churches doesn’t faintly resemble these poetic words. In pastors' conferences and lay leadership retreats, I sometimes ask, "Will you please raise your hand if you church is having a worship war?" The percentage of hands in the air is astoundingly high—maybe 80 percent. These wars dishonor Christ and confuse many good people.
We need a truce, a cease-fire, an armistice. Rather than wounding any more of our troops, we could agree to turn our firepower on the enemy by considering the following issues:
1. Today versus 10 years from now. Those now adamant about a certain kind of music will face their own children in the churches of tomorrow. When this rising generation demands its new music, how will today’s generation react? Will they deny their grandchildren the music they want? If our Lord tarries, it will happen.
2. Check the message of the music. Obviously, modern technology must be used to make sure our message is heard and understood. Most Christians agree that new methods must be used to communicate the changeless gospel. Keeping outdated strategies will cause us to miss the masses, but changing the message is spiritual suicide.
3. Encounter versus entertainment. Church services that merely entertain are not worship. Authentic, corporate worship must produce a holy meeting with God—a unique, awe-inspiring, divine meeting that cannot be found anywhere outside the community of faith.
4. Need-centered preaching versus needed preaching. For years, I have strongly advocated that effective preaching must speak to real needs real people feel. I believe that still. But there is a danger to focus preaching so much on human problem solving that we neglect preaching on more needed themes. Preaching on themes like sin, salvation, holiness, faith, hope, love, and peace is more needed than ever.
5. Our wants versus God’s will. Jesus tells us that God is seeking worshipers who worship Him in spirit and in truth. When God examines our inner life, I’m sure He looks past the music style to see whether we come to Him humbly, desiring to know Him better and to obey Him more fully. In the glory of the throne room, all that is shallow and peripheral must go. Every worship form must pass the test of being worthy of His approval.
6. Who leads worship. I wonder how anyone can authentically lead worship who has not cared for straying sheep, interceded for the lost, married the young, buried the dead, or carried the people’s burdens to God in prayer.
7. New people versus old saints. Do we possess a shred of evidence that these two groups need something different in worship? Surely, developing seeker-sensitive services does not mean crafting believer-alienating services. Surely, services designed to help believers mature do not repulse seekers. Can anyone conceive of Jesus saying, "If you don’t like what we do in worship, learn to live with it or get out"?
8. Reality versus emptiness. Every worship form can be empty or full, depending on the leader and the worshipers. If we want our worship forms to express our adoration of God, we must seek His guidance in our planning for music and our preparation for the pastoral prayer, and we must ask for His anointing on our preaching. Argument about worship forms usually starts when meaning is missing.
Let’s declare a cease-fire to the worship war. Let us find ways to lead people into the majestic, awesome, life-changing presence of our holy God. His welcome awaits us there.

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