Top 5 Reasons People Aren’t Worshipping

In my roles in the past, I have been both a worship leader on staff and a senior pastor…in the same church.

Both positions had unique challenges and demands. 

As a lead pastor, I was once invited to a gathering of a dozen senior pastors of large churches. In one facilitated discussion, the topic of worship came up and I was stunned to hear that every one of the pastors was having difficulties with their worship leader.

Every.Single.One.

One senior pastor blurted out, “What do these guys do all week? What am I paying them for?”

I gave the “time out” signal and said, “Um, I’ve been on both sides of this. Let me tell you a bit about what I did when I was in that position…and how frustrating it was to work for you!”  They were taken aback a bit and then laughed. “Bring it on!” one responded.

But that’s a story for another time—I really just wanted to give a little context for this topic. In my work with the Elemental Group, I visit a lot of churches, and one trend I’ve noticed is: very few people actually engage in worship, in both liturgical and non-traditional settings. I’d like to offer a few reasons why.

These observations are mostly about the contemporary approach: a block of songs done typically with a “pop band” approach—guitar(s), keyboard(s), bass, drums, several singers, etc. But they can easily be translated to more traditional contexts.

So here are The Top 5 Reasons People Aren’t Worshipping:

1.  We’ve trained people to be “performance spectators”. In the challenge of wanting to be culturally-relevant and engage the arts, we trained people to watch a stage. Creative lighting, hazing the room, video walls…we’ve got it all. But at what cost? The pendulum swung hard.

2.  The songs are pitched too high for the average voice. I have to smile when I notice men struggling to drop an octave when the worship leader is hitting his best Adam Levine range. Suddenly, only a few Johnny Cash singers are left in the room.

3.  Too many new songs. I get it—musicians are easily bored. But introducing a new song each week is overkill…and especially if it’s not used again for another six months. Plus, any newly introduced song should be repeated off and on over the next several weeks. When an attendee can sing the song without looking at the video screens, you’ve reached a good familiarity with it.

4.  Sound system volume. The “over-emphasized-subs” trend has created an artificial sound reproduction. When you can’t hear a room filled with people singing, we’ve just promoted the performance aspect further. It’s a delicate balance—but we should be able to hear the congregation at some level. And sometimes it’s not just the dBs, but the EQ.

5.  The lack of flow. Songs should flow naturally and effortlessly from one to the next. The ultimate goal is taking people to a place of intimacy and connection with the Father. That’s the vertical journey; it takes a bit of time, discernment, and nuance. But each time a worship leader talks between songs or radically shifts song-types, the congregation is yanked into horizontal communication…and the vertical connection is broken.

There you have it.

If you’re a worship leader or senior pastor, take a few minutes to honestly look around the room next weekend. A true, authentic, non-hyped worship experience will have a profound effect on any non-believers stumbling in…and much more than all the smoke and mirrors.

Dave Workman | The Elemental Group

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