Worship Arts – New Directions in a Changing Landscape

CHICAGO, IL (October 19, 2006) – Resourcing local churches for worship in a landscape of changing styles and preferences, as well as training for worship leaders and developing ways to connect them, were key topics of conversation and task group activity as the Covenant Commission on Church Music & Worship gathered Tuesday and Wednesday.

About 20 individuals representing a broad spectrum of church sizes and worship styles participated, bringing together representation from numerous ministry areas and institutions affiliated with the Evangelical Covenant Church (ECC), such as the Departments of the Ordered Ministry, Christian Formation, Communications, and Church Growth and Evangelism, as well as North Park University and North Park Theological Seminary.

The two-day event opened with a presentation and a time of worship led by Michael Van Horn, associate professor of theology and worship at North Park Theological Seminary.

Matt Lundgren, who directed Main Stage activities during the highly successful CHIC 2006 in Knoxville, Tennessee, shared insights into aspects of worship planning that went into that event, which drew more than 6,000 youth adults. The accompanying photo shows Lundgren speaking, with Katherine Martinez in the foreground center and Donn Engebretson, ECC executive vice president, who reviewed worship plans for the upcoming 2007 Midwinter Pastors Conference in January in Denver, Colorado.

Establishing a sense of community among worship arts leaders throughout the denomination was a strong theme of a keynote presentation by Martinez of Loveland, Colorado, who is working with the commission in the development of worship arts-related projects as part of the Worship:Connection initiative.

Developing a sense of community among worship arts leaders creates a context for learning and formation, Martinez suggests. “I think it’s possible to create this culture and facilitate learning and formation while remaining above-the-fray in terms of form and style – and the camps that naturally form because our preferences in worship,” she observes.

One of the reasons for her optimism in creating new directions and avoiding the conflict comes from her assessment of today’s worship leaders, who she describes as “curious, relational and not-very positional.

“Now the curiosity part means they have an interest in, and a capacity for, the larger themes associated with Christian worship – like spiritual theology or church history and tradition, or art and liturgy,” she notes. “If this is true, it’s good news for us, because if I understand our collective will here, we want to avoid communicating to our churches or leaders: ‘watch us – we know how to worship – now go do this at home.’

“The worship landscape has changed in the past 30 years,” she continues. “Many, if not most, of our leaders no longer plan worship by-the-book, and many do not use a book at all.” She suggests the landscape also has changed in terms of leadership – how worship arts folks lead the process, and design – how service elements are arranged for a meaningful and sensible worship experience.

“I would put it this way: We survived the praise and worship movement and the worship wars, and now it’s time to start reconstruction,” Martinez says. Or we might look at ourselves according to pattern of the psalmists: We’ve been through an orientation, a disorientation cycle, and we’re now in reorientation.  I think the praise and worship movement and the worship wars were a disorientation phase in our collective spirituality. In this new phase, leaders need an informing spiritual theology, a guiding philosophy, design skills, a leadership ethic, and leadership skills.”

To hear more of her view of why this is important, please listen to Martinez on Worship Arts.

The Commission on Church Music & Worship is chaired by Jane Hutchins-Peterson of Maple Grove, Minnesota.

Other commission members include Martha Freeman of Omaha, Nebraska; Dan Johnson of Hilmar, California; Matt Lundgren of South Barrington, Illinois; Adrienne Reedy of Easton, Connecticut; Daniel Sesay of Wheat Ridge, Colorado; Phil Stenberg of Minneapolis, Minneapolis; Michael Van Horn of Chicago, Illinois; Randall Wilkens of Mount Vernon, Washington; and Ted Yuen of McMinnville, Oregon.

Advisors include Ed Delgado of Chicago, ECC director of evangelism and prayer; Stephen Graham, dean of faculty and a professor at the seminary; Martinez; Jane Swanson-Nystrom, ECC managing editor of publications; and John Weborg, professor of theology at the seminary.

Administrators working with the commission include Dave Kersten, executive minister of the Department of the Ordered Ministry; Don Meyer,  executive minister of the Department of Communication; Doreen Olson, executive minister of the Department of Christian Formation; and Glenn Palmberg, ECC president.

Resource personnel include Margaret Brady, adjunct professor of music and worship at the seminary; Helen Hudgens, associate professor of music at North Park University; Rich Johnson, director of North Park’s University Ministries; and Carol Lawson, director of staff ministry for the Department of the Ordered Ministry.

To learn more about Worship:Connection, visit the newly implemented worship blog at Worship:Connection. The lower image shows one of the pages from that website area.