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This past weekend I visited one of the larger, more well-known Vineyard churches. My first impression was that this was a Vineyard mall, complete with the requisite bookstore, coffee shop and various age-appropriate ministries (the Age of Specialization). This one, however, included statues, a very cool art gallery, and a grand piano in the lobby, which someone insisted on playing after church. It might have been okay, except that the acoustics were terrible, and it only served to make it extremely difficult to carry on a conversation.

Church was pretty standard, high-end Vineyard, obviously operating like a well-oiled machine (strains of “Welcome to the Machine” playing in my mind). That is, comfortable seats, large video screens on either side of the auditorium, and great sound system. The service was well-produced, and it was executed without a glitch. Announcements were minimal, and included a professional-quality video clip emphasizing one particular ministry in need of help.

In spite of the professionalism, or more probably, because of it, I did not like the musical-worship segment. So, because I’m a typical American and it’s all about me, the fact that I didn’t like it is important.

During the worship time, I was aware of several things:

• The worship leader was not an exceptional vocalist, but competent and seemed sincere.
• The backup vocalists were less than stellar and for the most part unnecessary.
• The bass player, using a 5-string bass, was really good and had some very interesting techniques that I would like to learn.
• The lead guitar player was standard-fare Vineyard, kicking out great solos in each song to “enhance” our worship experience.
• The congregation applauded after every song.
• The song selection was also standard Vineyard, but for the most part very up-tempo, and attempted to include both personal expression (as long as you agreed with the lyricist) and theological affirmation (“God you are great”).

And I didn’t like it. One thing I have become aware of, in spite of the fact that I am a rocker whose personal worship-playing style tends toward alt-folk-grunge, a great worship band does not enhance my worship experience, and tends to just get in the way.

The fact that I was aware of everything on my list shows that I was aware of these, I was not worshipping. When I am admiring the soaring guitar solo, I am not worshipping. Whenever the audience broke into applause, I couldn’t help wondering if they were clapping for God, or merely responding to the music (even though the worship leader threw in a “thank you, God!”). Would they have still clapped after a corporate reading of the song lyrics? (Chances are they all would have been aware of how repititious and trite many of the lyrics really were.)

If the expectation is that I have an individualized worship experience in the midst of the American Idol style worship performance, it failed. If the expectation is that I would blend with the community of saints in corporate adoration and worship, it failed. If the expectation is that the lyrics would inspire or catalyze some type of response to God, it failed. If the expectation was that I would groove to the music, it may have come close.

It seems that many rate worship in the style of the old American Bandstand show: “It had a good beat, and it’s easy to dance to.” What’s that about?

What started out as a worship revolution – bringing in a needed personal dimension to corporate worship (I am not against that) – has, I believe, turned into a worship distraction. Most of us really like Matt Redman’s “When the Music Fades” because it’s a great song.

Does anyone else see a problem here?

In the mid-70’s I became part of what was, at that time, the currently emerging church. There were myriad groups either breaking away from established institutions, re-imaging established churches, or just coagulating on their own to form new churches. It was free, it was youthful, it was at times rebellious. The cry of the established church was “bloom where you’re planted” in an attempt to keep their own numbers from dwindling.

This was, I think, a product of the times. Even while still a part of my Lutheran church (which was heavily influenced by the Jesus movement), I became a student of these new movements, and eventually a student of the more established traditions, including the oldest, the Greek Orthodox (from my reading of history, it was the Roman church that broke away).

My thought was to find the One True Church – common sense told me that it should exist. But, I didn’t find it, and 20 years ago found myself in the Vineyard movement, where I am today. I like it because they found what has been called the “radical middle” – that place that tries to balance experience with sound theology. For the most part, the Vineyard has done that well, with a few odd turns here and there.

However, in considering the issue of an individualized Christianity, there are a couple of aspects of the current non-traditional church tradition (yes, it has now become its own tradition…) that I see as problems.

The first issue I saw as a problem very early on: without any kind of regular group affirmation of a basic creed, you could be a part of the church for years before being recognized as a heretic. A couple of people tried to insert a semi-creed in worship choruses (I-yi believe in Jesus…), but you just can’t bring yourself to sing that every week. This is not new with Vineyard-style churches – the Baptists, for example, have had this problem for years, which is why their youth are easy targets for JW’s and Mormons. Very few pastors tend to teach basic Christian doctrine (that’s so boring), choosing instead for a topic-of-the-month. You can be an expert on personal finance and tithing, but still not know that Jesus actually is God.

The other issue is the worship style. I’m not talking about musical style, but the “do your own thing” right of expression thing that we do: Feel free to sit, stand, raise your hands, kneel or dance, as you feel led… Now, this is not necessarily a bad thing, in and of itself. But, I’m wondering if this “freedom” has just added to the individualized, isolationist Christianity that we now see. The whole purpose in coming to church was to engage in corporate worship – you’ve always had the opportunity to worship as you saw fit at home. Sunday morning was a corporate expression of the church, doing the same thing, reciting creeds together, and singing unsingable songs as we rose and sat and whatever, together. It was not only an expression of worship, it was an expression of community- you simply couldn’t do this on your own.

Today, I can go to church, and not “be there” at the same time. I don’t have to stand if I don’t want to. Certainly there’s something to adding your voice to a hundred or more other voices- that’s at least a taste of corporate worship. However, the attitude of corporateness just isn’t there. There’s not even a real expectation of a corporate experience – it’s all really focused on the individual. Plus, a lot of the songs are theological hash, so I find that often I can’t even bring myself to sing along.

Perhaps these are reasons why these churches are always talking about the lack of community, trying to get people into small groups, and so on. How can you encourage community when you spend Sunday mornings encouraging individualism?

These are just thoughts in progress from an admitted rugged individualist. There will be more …