Contemporary praise and worship music has become a dominant force in churches worldwide. Groups like Hillsong, Bethel, Jesus Culture, and Elevation Worship are global phenomena, their songs filling sanctuaries every Sunday. While these songs are popular and emotionally engaging, it’s time for churches to critically examine the theology they embody, particularly concerning praise and worship songs. There are compelling reasons to reconsider incorporating music from these groups into your church services.
While concerns exist regarding the prosperity gospel leanings of leaders like Bethel’s Bill Johnson and Hillsong’s Brian Houston, or theological issues such as Steven Furtick’s (Elevation Church) modalistic views and Bill Johnson’s controversial teachings about Jesus in hell, these aren’t the primary reasons for caution. Similarly, while accusations of sexual abuse within Hillsong and Brian Houston’s stance on gay marriage raise serious ethical questions, the most fundamental issue lies deeper. Even lyrical concerns—the theological vagueness or potential misinterpretations in songs like “Who You Say I Am,” “Reckless Love,” or “So Will I”—while valid, are secondary to a more critical point. And yes, supporting these ministries financially through album purchases or song licensing indirectly funds theologies that are, at best, questionable. Furthermore, the influence of these songs on less discerning Christians who may explore the groups’ broader teachings is a valid pastoral concern.
However, the most significant reason to approach praise and worship songs from Hillsong, Bethel, Jesus Culture, and Elevation with discernment is that their music is deeply rooted in and promotes a specific, and potentially problematic, theology of worship – a “Praise & Worship” theology stemming from Pentecostalism.
The Rise of Pentecostal Praise and Worship Theology
Pentecostalism, emerging in the early 20th century, blended Methodist holiness traditions and revivalism with a strong emphasis on the continuation of miraculous gifts from the apostolic age. This “continuationist” theology reshaped understandings of the Holy Spirit’s role and, consequently, worship itself. Traditional Reformed perspectives on worship began to shift towards what Pentecostals believed was a more New Testament-aligned approach, emphasizing direct, tangible encounters with God during worship.
Charismatic theologians posited that the Holy Spirit’s central role in worship is to make God’s presence palpably known, facilitating a direct experience of the divine. This theology places immense value on physical expression and emotional intensity in worship, giving rise to the “Praise and Worship” movement. In this framework, experiencing God’s presence becomes the paramount goal of worship, and praise is seen as the key to unlocking that presence.
Praise as the Gateway to God’s Presence
Praise and worship theology offers a structured approach to worship services designed to lead worshippers into what is perceived as the “presence of God.” A cornerstone of this theology is the interpretation of scripture, particularly Psalm 22:3: “Yet you are holy, enthroned on the praises of Israel.” This verse is often interpreted to mean that praise not only accompanies God’s presence but actively creates a space for it—praise becomes the very vehicle to enter God’s presence. Early Pentecostal writers like Reg Layzell and Bob Sorge, and influential figures like Judson Cornwall, popularized the idea that “the path into the presence of God is praise.”
This understanding creates a distinction between “praise” and “worship.” Cornwall suggests, “Praise is the vehicle of expression that brings us into God’s presence. But worship is what we do once we gain an entrance to that presence.” Thurlow Spurr elaborates:
Praise and worship are not the same. Praise is thanking God for the blessings, the benefits, the good things. It is an expression of love, gratitude, and appreciation. Worship involves a more intense level of personal communication with God, centering on his person. In concentrated worship, there is a sort of detachment from everything external as one enters God’s presence.
Darlene Zschech, former worship pastor at Hillsong, encapsulates this Praise & Worship theology succinctly:
The word says that God inhabits the praises of His people (Psalm 22:3). It’s amazing to think that God, in all His fullness, inhabits and dwells in our praises of Him. … Our praise is irresistible to God. As soon as He hears us call His name, He is ready to answer us. That is the God we serve. Every time the praise and worship team with our musicians, singers, production teams, dancers, and actors begin to praise God, His presence comes in like a flood. Even though we live in His presence, His love is lavished on us in a miraculous way when we praise Him.
This theological shift significantly altered the understanding of worship music. Ruth Ann Ashton’s 1993 book, God’s Presence through Music, exemplifies this, elevating musical style to a central role in facilitating an encounter with God. Lim and Ruth term this “musical sacramentality,” where music itself becomes a primary means to experience God’s presence in worship.
The Liturgical “Flow” of Praise and Worship
This theology profoundly impacted liturgical practices. Moving away from traditional liturgical structures focused on confession and covenant renewal, Praise and Worship services are often designed to create an emotional journey. The goal is to guide worshippers through stages of emotional intensity, starting with energetic “praise” songs and transitioning into intimate “worship.” Judson Cornwall describes this progression:
Praise begins by applauding God’s power, but it often brings us close enough to God that worship can respond to God’s presence. While the energy of praise is toward what God does, the energy of worship is toward who God is. The first is concerning with God’s performance, while the second is occupied with God’s personage. The thrust of worship, therefore, is higher than the thrust of praise.
Praise and Worship liturgy prioritizes the emotional “flow” of the music. Worship leaders are instructed to curate song sets that build emotional momentum, starting with upbeat songs of thanksgiving to evoke “soulish worship,” and then transitioning to slower, more intimate songs to cultivate a sense of deep connection. Zac Hicks describes this flow as “understanding and guiding your worship service’s emotional journey,” emphasizing maintaining “the awareness of God’s real, abiding presence before his worshipers.” Carl Tuttle emphasizes the importance of “grouping songs in such a way that they flow together” for a positive worship experience.
Early guides for worship leaders, like David Blomgren’s The Song of the Lord (1978), provided practical advice on achieving this flow: continuous musical progression without breaks, natural transitions between songs based on content, key, and tempo, and a deliberate movement towards a climactic experience of worship. Blomgren outlined technical considerations for flow: thematic and scriptural coherence in song selection, smooth key transitions, and tempo progression from faster to slower to facilitate a growing sense of intimacy with God.
Reformed Worship: A Scriptural Counterpoint
This Pentecostal “Praise and Worship” theology represents a significant departure from the theology of worship held by Reformed Christians since the Reformation. Reformed theology emphasizes that emotion and singing are responses to the Holy Spirit’s work in a believer’s life, not the means to invoke that work. Calvin Stapert, referencing Ephesians 5:18–19 and Colossians 3:16, clarifies this:
“Spirit filling” does not come as the result of singing. Rather, “Spirit filling” comes first; singing is the response. . . . Clear as these passages are in declaring that Christian singing is a response to the Word of Christ and to being filled with the Spirit, it is hard to keep from turning the cause and effect around. Music, with its stimulating power, can too easily be seen as the cause and the “Spirit filling” as the effect.
Stapert argues that viewing music as a means to “beguile the Holy Spirit” grants it an inappropriate “epicletic function,” akin to pagan worship practices, not Christian worship. The Holy Spirit works through the proclaimed Word and the ordinary means of grace, not through manipulating emotions via music.
Furthermore, while the New Testament describes Spirit-produced emotions, the “fruit of the Spirit,” these are characterized by qualities like “love, meekness, quietness, forgiveness, and mercy,” reflecting “the lamb-like, dove-like spirit or temper of Jesus Christ,” as Jonathan Edwards described. True spiritual affections are not primarily about euphoric experiences.
Reformed worship emphasizes a biblically regulated service of covenant renewal. In this view, corporate worship is where God shapes His people through His Word, and the congregation responds with adoration, confession, thanksgiving, and dedication. Song selection and other worship elements are not driven by emotional manipulation or the expectation of conjuring God’s presence through music. Instead, they are chosen for their theological content and their contribution to the covenant-renewal structure of the service.
The Infiltration of Pentecostal Worship Theology
Pentecostalism’s shift in worship emphasis from covenant renewal to authentic emotional experience has had a far-reaching impact, extending beyond Pentecostal denominations. This theology, particularly through its music, has infiltrated broader evangelicalism.
Lim and Ruth, in Lovin’ on Jesus: A Concise History of Contemporary Worship, identify Pentecostalism as a key source of contemporary worship practices, alongside youth ministry, baby boomers, the Jesus People movement, and church growth strategies. They argue that Pentecostalism has shaped contemporary worship by:
- Normalizing physical and expressive worship styles.
- Elevating emotional intensity as a desirable liturgical quality.
- Fostering an expectation of a tangible experience of God in worship.
- Establishing “musical sacramentality,” increasing the importance of the worship set and worship leaders.
Pentecostalism, they argue, introduced the “expectation that God’s presence could be encountered in worship and the normal means by which this encounter would happen,” creating a widespread “expectation for encountering God, active and present through the Holy Spirit” in worship services. Daniel Albrecht notes that “The presence of the Holy Spirit then is fundamental to a Pentecostal perspective of worship… The expectancy of the Spirit’s presence is often palpable in the liturgy. . . . Their liturgical rites and sensibilities encourage becoming consciously present to God—even as God’s presence is expected to become very real in worship.”
This emphasis on the Spirit’s direct activity often leads to a preference for spontaneity and “freedom” in worship forms. Structured, regulated worship is often seen as antithetical to “Spirit-led” worship in this view. Lim and Ruth observe that contemporary worship, influenced by this Pentecostal understanding, often equates “extemporaneity” with “worship in Spirit and truth,” a view prevalent in Free Church traditions. Albrecht’s description of Pentecostal worship’s experiential focus has become the common expectation in much of evangelicalism:
In the midst of radical receptivity, an encounter with the Holy Spirit may occur. Pentecostals envision such encounters as integral to the worship experience. While an overwhelming or overpowering experience of/in the Spirit is neither rare nor routine for a particular Pentecostal worshiper, the experiential dimension of worship is fundamental. The liturgical vision sees God as present in the service; consequently, Pentecostals reason that a direct experience of God is a normal expectation.
This theological framework is embodied in the music of charismatic groups like Hillsong, Bethel, Jesus Culture, and Elevation Worship. Sociologist Gerardo Marti observes that “Hillsong represents a compelling musical pathway to an emotional one-on-one connection to God.” He further notes that Hillsong worship cultivates “the hopeful anticipation of the Pentecostal ego motivated to participate in an event-dependent effort (the gathering of worshippers) to surrender oneself with a characteristic openness to God… meant to lead the earnest believer to the deployment of spiritual power.”
From a Pentecostal theological perspective, this approach is consistent. However, the concern arises when evangelical churches without Pentecostal theology adopt worship practices and, particularly, praise and worship songs rooted in this charismatic theology. Marti terms this phenomenon the “Hillsongization” of Christianity. This is the crucial point: using music from Hillsong, Bethel, Jesus Culture, and Elevation Worship introduces embodied Pentecostalism into churches, regardless of their stated doctrinal positions.
The Embodied Theology of Music
It’s a common response to argue that “the lyrics of the songs we’re using don’t teach Pentecostal theology.” While this might be partially true for some songs, and even if the lyrics are theologically sound in isolation, the issue is not solely with lyrical content. The music itself is a powerful carrier of theology. The musical arrangements, instrumentation, and performance styles of praise and worship songs from these groups are intentionally crafted to evoke specific emotional responses, which are then interpreted as evidence of God’s manifest presence.
This aligns perfectly with charismatic “sacramental” theology, where music becomes a conduit for experiencing God. However, this is fundamentally incompatible with non-charismatic evangelical, and particularly Reformed, theology. The paradox is that much of evangelicalism now worships in a charismatic style, even when their doctrinal statements may not reflect that theology.
The crucial question is: what shapes the congregation more profoundly—a doctrinal statement on a website, or the weekly experience of corporate worship? If a church does not intentionally embrace Pentecostal theology, then using praise and worship songs from Hillsong, Bethel, Jesus Culture, and Elevation is theologically inconsistent and pastorally unwise. These songs, through their musical structure and intended emotional impact, are shaping congregations in embodied Pentecostal theology, whether intentionally or not.
One might ask, “Doesn’t the music from many other contemporary worship artists embody the same sort of charismatic theology?” The answer, unfortunately, is often yes. Discernment regarding music choices is crucial. Churches need to critically evaluate not just the lyrics but also the underlying theology embodied in the music itself when selecting praise and worship songs for corporate worship. Let thoughtful consideration guide your choices in worship.
References
|
