Catch up with The Worship Wars series here.
What to do now? Easter has come and gone. I know it’s just another weekend. Yet, in the same vein, it isn’t just another weekend. We’re celebrating the risen Savior who comes to unite us all under His name. So why is it then, that the Worship Wars never feel as real as they do after our big holidays? Why is it that we can sometimes walk away from the biggest victory celebrations feeling defeated?
It has been said that working in ministry would be great if it weren’t for the people. Yet, when we read the Bible, we find that people are our calling, not our tasks within specific areas, i.e. – worship leader. Jesus has called us, as much as he did Peter, James and John, to be fishers of men. We gather people. And our issue is that sin has created a divide between us. This divide, this tension, is what we encounter within the worship wars. But enough with the setup, most of us already know the tension exists. Our struggle is how to deal with it.
So what now? We’re a few weeks removed from Good Friday and Easter services. In many cases, we probably left our services on a high note (I couldn’t leave that out, sorry). Walking on sunshine with how well everything was pulled off and pulled together is probably the case. So why then do we find ourselves in our offices, or on the phone, talking with our version of Modern about how many complaints there were? And better yet, why don’t we just quit? It would be so much easier not having to deal with this turmoil.
Let me challenge you. Don’t buy into the lie that ministry is better somewhere else. It’s not. It won’t be. From the outside that mega-church down the street or across the country looks very appealing, but inside there are problems too. Mega-churches have mega-problems. I’m not dissing megas here; just don’t think that jumping from where you are to “where-it’d-be-nice-to-be” is your only solution. And also don’t automatically look for the escape hatch. Sometimes our instinct to run gets in the way of healthy conflict. Remember, Jesus’ healthy conflict involved a cross, without that, we’ve got nothing. There are times that the tension we feel is meant to stretch and grow us, be strong enough in the spirit to discern why God has deemed you worthy to feel the weight of the tension you’re in.
Don’t buy into the lie that your Easter wasn’t successful. We have a promise that the Word of God will never return void. As long as we weren’t crazy with our service structure, content or surroundings, and as long as the name of Jesus Christ was lifted higher than our own names, we were successful. You are a successful worship leader when you point all men, women and children to the risen king Jesus. Personal preference and unmet congregant expectations do not remove the object of our worship.
Don’t buy into the lie that personal preference and unmet congregant expectations determine your win. Unity is the ideal in the body of Christ. Appeasement in the body of Christ has never led to unity. However, appeasement drives selfishness. Selfishness drives division. Division drives destruction. I mean, “Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself will be ruined, and every city or household divided against itself will not stand.” (Matthew 12:25 (NIV)).
The Worship Wars are the hardest to fight when certain victory is known or seen. Easter weekend is nothing more than a reminder to our enemy Satan that victory is won. And he knows his defeat is closer every day. Don’t expect him to go down without swinging. Unfortunately, when he swings he usually does so through the people around us, the people in our churches. We don’t ever expect to get sucker punched from behind, that’s why it hurts so much more. But don’t lay down your weapons of war of the eve of victory because you’re exhausted, hurt and bloodied. Keep on fighting until Jesus comes back riding a white horse. That’s when we’ll know that victory. That’s when we won’t get hit from behind. Then and only then will there be no more war.