Programming Your Music to Serve the Purposes

#1 · April 19, 2002, 12:33 pm

Quote from Forum Archives on April 19, 2002, 12:33 pm
Posted by: pastormike <pastormike@...>

Insights on the Purpose of Worship

Programming Your Music to Serve the Purposes
By: Rick Muchow

It is a common myth that the seeker-sensitive worship service is a shallow worship service. The premise of this myth is that deep life-change and God-honoring worship must somehow be insensitive to the seeker.

Equally as common, is the myth that worship and music are synonymous. Music is a method and worship is a purpose. Music is a powerful way to take the purposes deep into the life of the listener. As Rick Warren says, "A song can often touch people in a way that a sermon can't. Music can bypass intellectual barriers and take the message straight to the heart."

At Saddleback, I use music to serve the purposes and strategies of the purpose-driven paradigm. Before I tell you how, let's review some purpose- driven church terminology: five purposes, five circles of commitment, target, event and event feature. In a nutshell, the purposes are the what, the circles of commitment and target are the who, the event is the where, and the event feature is the how. Now, lets explore these each in a little more depth.

The purpose states exactly what the church exists to do. Saddleback's five purposes come from The Great Commandment and the Great Commission:

Love the Lord with all your heart worship

Love your neighbor as yourself ministry

Go and make disciples evangelism

Baptizing them fellowship

Teaching them to obey discipleship

The PDC paradigm uses a diagram of five (concentric) circles of commitment to illustrate Saddleback's goal of moving people from the community (lost) into the core (leaders). The five circles are: community, crowd, congregation, committed and core and they are broad categories of people groups. The target is who we are trying to reach within a commitment circle. Events are gatherings where the purposes are presented to a target group (i.e. weekend church services, Bible studies, or small groups). Event features are communication methods used at events (i.e. speaking, drama, music or other creative arts).

Aristotle said, "Music has the power to shape a culture." There is no doubt that God is using music as a primary event feature in today's western culture. Connected to the Spirit of God, music is one of the most powerful tools available to reach and win your target group. The senior pastor who embraces this fact can allow music to transform, whether he is confronted with compliments or criticisms of the purpose-driven music. The music minister who uses music strategically to serve and support the purposes of the church, as understood and communicated by the senior pastor, should enjoy a confidence and an unity as he ministers.

Here are a few tips that will help you program your music to serve the purposes. As an example, let's program the music for a seeker-sensitive service:

Identify the purpose of the service: seeker service = evangelism

Next, let the Spirit lead. Jesus said, "I am the Vine you are the branches, apart from Me you can do nothing." It is vitally important that the programmer is experiencing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and depending on the Spirit to lead. I know this may sound basic, but it is something that all of us need to remind ourselves of every day. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. My best days begin and end with a quiet time, including Bible study, prayer, devotion and praise.

Now, it is time to identify your target and define the event. The target at Saddleback's weekend seeker services is the adult seeker. The target determines the musical style, lyric content, presentation (congregational/special music), length of service and "stage look" of the event. The target does not determine the purpose. That would be target-driven not purpose- driven; however it is important to look at the event from the target's perspective.

Next, select event features and sequence them in a service flow that will attract your target to the event, keep him listening, eventually move him to a life-change, and ultimately to becoming a Christian. In a given event, all of the purposes may be represented, but only one may be emphasized. However, the target must be specific to maximize effectiveness. In our example, though Saddleback's weekend services emphasize all five purposes throughout the year, the target is always the adult seeker. The most common event features used at Saddleback are music (performance and congregational singing), sermon (message), drama, video, and testimony. The five purposes do not change, but they are communicated through the event features in a way that the seeker can understand.

In worship, the seeker probably will not sing a lot because he does not know the songs. He may feel hypocritical singing songs that say he is a follower of Jesus when he is not. For whatever reason, he may choose not to participate in the singing; that is fine. The seeker can watch worship. He will hear the message especially if he can relate to the music and understand the words. Deep truths can be communicated in clear ways. The role of music in the seeker service is to magnify God in a way that the seeker will not feel threatened and can understand what is being said.

Seeker-sensitive music can help open up the heart of the seeker to the good news. It can express it in a way that only music can and at the same time, provide an opportunity for believers to be fed and express their faith. The fact that the purpose of the seeker service is evangelism does not preclude other purposes from being represented in the service. Each week we worship, grow in Christ, serve and fellowship, but in a way that is sensitive to our target group.

Let's look further into the seeker-sensitive service. At Saddleback, we sing 4 songs and do 2 solo songs, one before and one after the message. The song after the message is thematic, relating to an appropriate response to the message. Avoid giving the message away (saying the same thing the speaker is going to say) in a song before the message. Drama, video, and testimony are programmed within the pastor's message. We generally close the service with a brief chorus inspiring community and fellowship.

When selecting songs for the seeker-sensitive service, choose songs with common, everyday words, avoiding words only "Christians" use or understand. Use musical styles that relate to the seeker. Mix up the styles and tempos and keep the slow intimate songs brief. Intimacy does not have to take a long time to be real or meaningful. If the songs are too repetitive and slow, the seeker will become uncomfortable. Try to sing a new song every week. Keep it fresh.

When leading worship, the leader must worship! Do not direct. Certain cues for the band or congregation might be needed to keep things together, but it is great when the crowd's focus leaves the platform and is caught up in the moment experiencing God's presence. Likewise, ask your worship team to smile genuinely and avoid bringing attention to the platform. Start on time and use appropriate volume (loud but not too loud). At Saddleback our dB level ranges from 98dB to 108dB (every 3 dB doubles the volume level). Saddleback seekers do not just want to hear the music they want to feel the music.

The opening paragraph of chapter 15 from Rick Warrens book, The Purpose Driven Church, summarizes his conviction about the power of music in the church. "I'm often asked what I would do differently if I could start Saddleback over. My answer is this: From the first day of the new church I'd put more energy and money into a first-class music ministry that matched our target. In the first years of Saddleback, I made the mistake of underestimating the power of music so I minimized the use of music in our services. I regret that now."

If you follow the simple purpose-driven paradigm and make the purposes of God your ministry's priority, you will find that the worship time you lead will be balanced, rich, and exactly on target!

Rick Muchow is the Pastor of Magnification at Saddleback Church.

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Posted by: pastormike <pastormike@...>

Insights on the Purpose of Worship

Programming Your Music to Serve the Purposes
By: Rick Muchow

It is a common myth that the seeker-sensitive worship service is a shallow worship service. The premise of this myth is that deep life-change and God-honoring worship must somehow be insensitive to the seeker.

Equally as common, is the myth that worship and music are synonymous. Music is a method and worship is a purpose. Music is a powerful way to take the purposes deep into the life of the listener. As Rick Warren says, "A song can often touch people in a way that a sermon can't. Music can bypass intellectual barriers and take the message straight to the heart."

At Saddleback, I use music to serve the purposes and strategies of the purpose-driven paradigm. Before I tell you how, let's review some purpose- driven church terminology: five purposes, five circles of commitment, target, event and event feature. In a nutshell, the purposes are the what, the circles of commitment and target are the who, the event is the where, and the event feature is the how. Now, lets explore these each in a little more depth.

The purpose states exactly what the church exists to do. Saddleback's five purposes come from The Great Commandment and the Great Commission:

Love the Lord with all your heart worship
Love your neighbor as yourself ministry
Go and make disciples evangelism
Baptizing them fellowship
Teaching them to obey discipleship

The PDC paradigm uses a diagram of five (concentric) circles of commitment to illustrate Saddleback's goal of moving people from the community (lost) into the core (leaders). The five circles are: community, crowd, congregation, committed and core and they are broad categories of people groups. The target is who we are trying to reach within a commitment circle. Events are gatherings where the purposes are presented to a target group (i.e. weekend church services, Bible studies, or small groups). Event features are communication methods used at events (i.e. speaking, drama, music or other creative arts).

Aristotle said, "Music has the power to shape a culture." There is no doubt that God is using music as a primary event feature in today's western culture. Connected to the Spirit of God, music is one of the most powerful tools available to reach and win your target group. The senior pastor who embraces this fact can allow music to transform, whether he is confronted with compliments or criticisms of the purpose-driven music. The music minister who uses music strategically to serve and support the purposes of the church, as understood and communicated by the senior pastor, should enjoy a confidence and an unity as he ministers.

Here are a few tips that will help you program your music to serve the purposes. As an example, let's program the music for a seeker-sensitive service:

Identify the purpose of the service: seeker service = evangelism
Next, let the Spirit lead. Jesus said, "I am the Vine you are the branches, apart from Me you can do nothing." It is vitally important that the programmer is experiencing a personal relationship with Jesus Christ and depending on the Spirit to lead. I know this may sound basic, but it is something that all of us need to remind ourselves of every day. Apart from Him, we can do nothing. My best days begin and end with a quiet time, including Bible study, prayer, devotion and praise.
Now, it is time to identify your target and define the event. The target at Saddleback's weekend seeker services is the adult seeker. The target determines the musical style, lyric content, presentation (congregational/special music), length of service and "stage look" of the event. The target does not determine the purpose. That would be target-driven not purpose- driven; however it is important to look at the event from the target's perspective.
Next, select event features and sequence them in a service flow that will attract your target to the event, keep him listening, eventually move him to a life-change, and ultimately to becoming a Christian. In a given event, all of the purposes may be represented, but only one may be emphasized. However, the target must be specific to maximize effectiveness. In our example, though Saddleback's weekend services emphasize all five purposes throughout the year, the target is always the adult seeker. The most common event features used at Saddleback are music (performance and congregational singing), sermon (message), drama, video, and testimony. The five purposes do not change, but they are communicated through the event features in a way that the seeker can understand.

In worship, the seeker probably will not sing a lot because he does not know the songs. He may feel hypocritical singing songs that say he is a follower of Jesus when he is not. For whatever reason, he may choose not to participate in the singing; that is fine. The seeker can watch worship. He will hear the message especially if he can relate to the music and understand the words. Deep truths can be communicated in clear ways. The role of music in the seeker service is to magnify God in a way that the seeker will not feel threatened and can understand what is being said.

Seeker-sensitive music can help open up the heart of the seeker to the good news. It can express it in a way that only music can and at the same time, provide an opportunity for believers to be fed and express their faith. The fact that the purpose of the seeker service is evangelism does not preclude other purposes from being represented in the service. Each week we worship, grow in Christ, serve and fellowship, but in a way that is sensitive to our target group.

Let's look further into the seeker-sensitive service. At Saddleback, we sing 4 songs and do 2 solo songs, one before and one after the message. The song after the message is thematic, relating to an appropriate response to the message. Avoid giving the message away (saying the same thing the speaker is going to say) in a song before the message. Drama, video, and testimony are programmed within the pastor's message. We generally close the service with a brief chorus inspiring community and fellowship.

When selecting songs for the seeker-sensitive service, choose songs with common, everyday words, avoiding words only "Christians" use or understand. Use musical styles that relate to the seeker. Mix up the styles and tempos and keep the slow intimate songs brief. Intimacy does not have to take a long time to be real or meaningful. If the songs are too repetitive and slow, the seeker will become uncomfortable. Try to sing a new song every week. Keep it fresh.

When leading worship, the leader must worship! Do not direct. Certain cues for the band or congregation might be needed to keep things together, but it is great when the crowd's focus leaves the platform and is caught up in the moment experiencing God's presence. Likewise, ask your worship team to smile genuinely and avoid bringing attention to the platform. Start on time and use appropriate volume (loud but not too loud). At Saddleback our dB level ranges from 98dB to 108dB (every 3 dB doubles the volume level). Saddleback seekers do not just want to hear the music they want to feel the music.

The opening paragraph of chapter 15 from Rick Warrens book, The Purpose Driven Church, summarizes his conviction about the power of music in the church. "I'm often asked what I would do differently if I could start Saddleback over. My answer is this: From the first day of the new church I'd put more energy and money into a first-class music ministry that matched our target. In the first years of Saddleback, I made the mistake of underestimating the power of music so I minimized the use of music in our services. I regret that now."

If you follow the simple purpose-driven paradigm and make the purposes of God your ministry's priority, you will find that the worship time you lead will be balanced, rich, and exactly on target!

Rick Muchow is the Pastor of Magnification at Saddleback Church.

---
Outgoing mail is certified Virus Free.
Checked by AVG anti-virus system (http://www.grisoft.com).
Version: 6.0.332 / Virus Database: 186 - Release Date: 3/6/2002