I don't disagree with that. I would say that I think my church is represenative of many. Maybe not.
I We are constantly keeping our focus on songs with lyrics that promote WORSHIP, not performing.
Yep.. I've played hours of those. Wish I had a dollar for everytime they sang the words "we praise you lord". What's the text about the worship in words alone?
I began becoming disenchanted about a year ago. I think if a person really takes time and studies what worship is, what experientalism is, and what forms of worship and offerings are acceptable to the Lord..... I think a lot of people would re-evaluate things. Maybe not.
Like I say, I've never been to your church.... you guys may very well be right where we were 7 or 8 years ago. If you are, then hold on to it. It's a special place. The other side of that line in front of you is not special.
Actually, we were on the other side of that line, at least in the opinion of many in our church. What ended up happening was that the woman in charge of the band was offered a paying gig at another church. And this is the creepy part: THE ENTIRE BAND, sans me, went with her. That is when I became the "music director" for my church. For a year the whole band was me and a bunch of teenagers. But it worked and we have improved quite a bit.
That little foray over to the "performance" side of the line gave me the creeps and wasn't really "fun" or particularly edifying. We sing some Hillsongs stuff but mostly semi-traditionally sounding stuff just re-arranged for a four-piece band type of sound - with lots of vocalists.
Our motto is, if the entire congregation ends up on stage, so much the better.