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How We Worship
A study of Intervarsity
worship habits and values

Matt Frazier,
Worship team director, Urbana^® 2000

 
“Worship is what we, as students, look forward to the most.”
—I-V student from Florida

Worship is such an important part of Christian student life and growth that it bears careful thought on the part of staff and students. In fact, I spent a good part of the last 16 months traveling to several regions observing worship and interviewing staff teams and student leaders. I want to share some of my findings with you and also make some recommendations for improving our corporate worship.

Not everything you read here will be true for your campus or even your part of the country, but you’ll certainly gain a bigger picture of what God is doing among us and on our campuses in this generation. NOTE: for this article, I use the term ‘worship’ to refer to our acts of corporate worship, not the decisions each of us make daily to live faithfully.

There is a two-part structure used below (in five major categories). The first describes what we already knew or believed about I-V—communally accepted knowledge of our national movement and its general social culture as it relates to worship. (The term ‘we’ just means what most I-V folk would agree on across the nation.) The second part describes what I’ve learned, based on my own intentional observations. The side bar “Ten Recommendations for Worship in InterVarsity” offers some practical steps for those interested in developing corporate worship on their campuses.

Student and Staff Values

1. What we knew: Musical worship is important to students.

What I’ve learned: It’s probably even more important than we thought.

How important is it to students? Consider a few of the things I saw and heard: Christian students on campus often pick their fellowships by the musical style used. One regional director told me they’ve learned that the way to have a large fellowship is to have a good band. A staff in Northern California reported that she regularly leads 45 minutes of singing at large-group meetings, and the students complain that it’s not enough. Some students have left fellowships because the music wasn’t that great. This puts a lot of pressure on worship teams. One staff worker pointed out that worship is a safe (and presumably rare) place to be vulnerable.

2. What we knew: Some staff and student leaders are concerned that their members are “too” excited about worship.

What I’ve learned: We can relax! Students want their worship to be true and right as much as we want it for them. No one is interested in fake worship.

Many students and young staff with whom I spoke expressed their desires for new worship songs dealing with real issues of faith: reconciliation, confession, anger and other honest emotions, and “fast songs with sound theology.”

“Many worship songs are so happy,” I was once told, “that it seems like a sham.” But when asked what is important to them about worship, students often said, “That it’s real,” (though they might not always know exactly what this means or how to achieve it).

3. What we knew: Content and functionality are generally valued over experience in InterVarsity.

What I’ve learned: Even when we talk about experience being important, we tend to do it in a content-oriented way through books, discussions and papers. Worship is also relegated at times to a “functional role,” merely bracketing other content.

One worship leader gently expressed to me her frustration that worship is often “used” to focus people on the Word, to respond to the Word, to get people excited or even just to get them in the room.

Worship is important in and of itself. So is it right for us to dwell on the experiential nature of worship? After all, worship is not for us, it’s for God. True, but that’s just part of the picture. The more complete truth is that we do encounter God in worshiping him and that’s good for us. We want to give God all the glory due his name, but God is not threatened by our enjoyment. We find joy in praising him and calling on him.

4. What we knew: Our student leaders and staff are remarkable people.

What I’ve learned: Student and staff worship leaders are extremely dedicated and passionate about the ministry God has given them.

I routinely met worship leaders who take what they do very seriously. Student worship leaders are amazed to see God use them in the lives of others. For some, worship leading is the most exhausting thing they do.

Bolder, Broader Worship

5. What we knew: Students have a hard time relating to traditional hymns.

What I’ve learned: With very rare exceptions, students absolutely are not singing hymns.

In nine regional visits, I heard two traditional hymns—Amazing Grace and O For a Thousand Tongues. One student I was talking to vehemently expressed his disdain for hymns. When I pressed him, however, he conceded that it is actually the musical style of hymns that he does not personally relate to.

In one region, I learned that hymns remain as a part of the music at large-group meetings (often updated melodically and rhythmically). The hymn singing is generally initiated by staff and is an acquired taste for students. Even when they sing hymns, students still seem to respond to the affect of the music more than the content of the lyrics.

6. What we knew: Standard terminology is that ‘worship’ equals ‘music.’

What I’ve learned: This has tremendous impact on how we relate to worship and what we model to chapter members.

When worship leaders say things like, “Let’s worship God now,” at the beginning of group singing times, it can imply that whatever was done before (and perhaps after) is not related to worship! Though students admitted to me that worship is more than just music, most were unable to list other forms of corporate worship. No one ever talked about listening to preaching as a form of worship.

7. What we knew: Christian musicians have been slow to accept stylistic developments outside of the church for centuries.

What I’ve learned: The church in America disciples its musicians in particular styles of music—styles that are frequently not found in contemporary student culture. As a result, our worship music is often culturally foreign, even to the people playing and singing the songs.

Electric guitars are rarely found in our meetings, and even when they are, they are played with acoustic guitar technique. Keyboard players use acoustic piano sounds which are seldom found in popular music in the late 90s.

More Ethnically Diverse

8. What we knew: Cultural experiences of God are important.

What I’ve learned: It’s a challenge for us to worship together.

Asian-Americans experience tension when others clap and cheer after every song (sometimes they just want to be quiet, calm and meditative). One group of students shared that Black and Latino students have complained that I-V music is “folksy” (not a compliment). Urban students in one region referred to I-V worship music as “Old MacDonald Had a Farm.”

9. What we knew: We’re a mostly-white organization.

What I’ve learned: Our worship times are even more mono-cultural than we really are.

Even in groups that were fairly well mixed, the music (and often the worship team) did not represent the kind of ethnic diversity in the room. At one large-group meeting, for example, the group was relatively multi-ethnic, but the entire worship team was Asian-American and there were no Black Gospel songs or Latino-influenced music used.

10. What we knew: Musical worship is especially important to Asian-American students.

What I’ve learned: This may be because they experience freedom in it. It’s a necessary freedom to respond to God without concern for how others are evaluating them.

One group of Asian-Americans told me they would rather sing than study Scripture. Some Asian-Americans are frustrated not to be able to pinpoint cultural forms of worship associated with them (like Black gospel, or songs in Spanish).

Worshiping Communities

11. What we knew: We’re an individualized society.

What I’ve learned: There are many symptoms of undervaluing community in our worship times.

In some chapters, for example, lights go down without any apparent thought to the impact on the communal experience of worship (it builds community when we can see each other). Sometimes very little thought is given to the different experiences of worshipers when they are or are not familiar with songs. At one chapter camp, for example, the worship team had not repeated a single song after five consecutive nights of lengthy worship times. Communal experience can be built through common songs and singing.

Teaching and Training

12. What we knew: Students need training in becoming sound worship thinkers.

What I’ve learned: Students aren’t receiving as much help as they want.

Over and over, when I asked students what is important to them about worship, I received blank stares. When asked what is important to them about worship times, students most often spoke in emotional terms (that is, some version of “how it feels”). The second most common response was “that it flows.” A close third was that the worship leaders should be prepared.

13. What we knew: Students need training to become good worship leaders.

What I’ve learned: They need help in the the less obvious areas as well (for example, the physical environment of worship). Worship leading is not often recognized as a gift to be developed.

In several campus meetings I visited, there was no apparent design, theme, common thread or even discernable pace to corporate worship times. And in spite of how often students talked about “flow” being important to a good worship time, it was frequently absent (maybe that’s why they talked about it so much).

Also, it is clear to me that very little thought is generally given to the environment of our worship times and how it does or does not encourage worship that symbolizes the gospel and God’s presence. In some chapters, sound equipment is used very thoughtfully. In others, it is under-used, over-used or poorly used. Even in the cases when audio considerations are taken seriously, the visual effect is often not. (For example, the arrangement and lighting of a room will increase the sense of community when worshipers can see each other.).

14. What we knew: When it comes to worship musicians, we generally take what we can get on campus.

What I’ve learned: Our worship leaders are frequently chosen based on their musical skills alone and sometimes are not equipped spiritually to lead worship.

One very good guitar player I met was almost completely unaware of the needs or experiences of the fellowship. Many of our chapters do not draw musicians, and many musicians they do attract are not necessarily good worship leaders, yet most chapters see worship leaders as the key to good worship times.

Worship leaders hold very public and therefore vulnerable positions. This puts significant pressure on worship leaders. They are often the first to be criticized. I’ve received much harsher critique about the music I’ve led than I would ever get about a talk I delivered.

15. What we knew: Neither students nor staff give a lot of energy to training and encouraging musicians and worship leaders.

What I’ve learned: There are exceptions to this rule, but they are rare.

Students are very open to receive help. In my travels, some have asked me for resources such as realistic steps for growth in the area of worship, advice, feedback and even spontaneous training while I was with them.

Conclusions

We are a diverse movement when it comes to corporate worship. At the same time, there are certain characteristics that most of our chapters seem to have in common. The centrality of corporate worship in the daily walk of faith is one such characteristic that the vast majority of our students share.

College students are clearly more experience-oriented than at any other time in the history of the ministry of IVCF. As a result, corporate worship is extremely important to them and it is one very significant way they grow as committed disciples. Though Christians have always needed corporate worship, previous generations of students likely related to their faith on a more cognitive level than they do now. This change in students calls for a change in our approach.

Students face tremendous challenges in developing relevant worship for their campuses in addition to their other important ministry demands and the high expectations of chapter members. But many have dedicated themselves to quality chapter worship and are to be commended for their truly fine work. Overall, however, it is my opinion that there is generally a gap between the huge role that corporate worship plays in the lives of students and the amount of emphasis we give it in our planning and strategizing. In a ministry with so many good priorities, we must not downplay the role of corporate worship in the lives of our chapter members.

Related Sidebars: Ten Recommendations and a quote from a student.