By Michael J. Quicke
Right under our noses a serious divorce is occurring. Preaching is separating from worship.
Over 1600 people attended the 2006 Calvin Symposium on Worship in Grand Rapids, Michigan. One of its organizers said to me: “Do you know that we have over two hundred and fifty pastors here this year?” I asked whether this was a good or bad number. “Oh, very good,” came the reply. “Pastors aren’t usually interested in worship.” That reply set me thinking. Could it be that most pastors aren’t interested in worship?
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I believe that a serious gap has opened up between preachers, on one side, and worship leaders on the other. By “worship leaders” I mean the person(s) designated to design and lead Sunday services. In larger churches these roles are paid and specialist, sometimes with significant budgets dedicated to excellence in Sunday worship, (which is often erroneously limited to the music program). Yet, even in small churches with part-time preachers and volunteer musicians, these two roles often play out with their own spheres of influence. And, sadly, sometimes it becomes preaching versus worship.
Why have preaching and worship grown apart?
First, because of professionalism. Frankly, some preachers just aren’t interested in worship, because they consider it to be a subject for other specialists. Why should they attend a worship symposium and enter alien territory? After all, argues a busy preacher, do you seriously expect me to be interested in training musicians, preparing orders of service and -- even worse -- identifying latest music trends? So let preachers get on with their job of selecting the Scripture text and (perhaps) identifying their next sermon themes, so that worship leaders can do their job of planning the rest of the worship service around the text.
Attitudes of preachers and worship leaders toward each other may therefore range from warm cooperation to competitiveness and even cold hostility. Sadly, for every one happy team there seems to be another dysfunctional one. Stereotypes abound. On one hand, preachers can demote worship leaders to a secondary role. Equating worship with merely choosing hymns and songs, worship leaders become simple preparers for the main event – the sermon. Sometimes it is presumed that organizing such preliminaries needs little more than a modicum of musical ability. While preachers by vocation have the all-important task, almost anyone can lead worship.
On the other hand, worship leaders have their own perspective. Most worship leaders would not be surprised by a recent survey that showed how a significant percentage of a worshiping community “perceived that other worship acts were just as helpful as the sermon, sometimes even more so.”1 Worship leaders know all too well how significantly communal acts of worship can impact worshippers. They can see it in the congregation’s body language. While some worship leaders believe their gifts and skills are underrated, they may also consider preachers as overrated and, in practice, less effective for creating and sustaining overall congregational life.
