Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Ponder Anew

Home
Evangelical
Keith Getty States the Painfully Obvious: Contemporary Worship is “Dangerous”

Keith Getty States the Painfully Obvious: Contemporary Worship is “Dangerous”

Last updated on: November 24, 2019 at 11:38 am by Jonathan Aigner

Keith Getty States the Painfully Obvious: Contemporary Worship is “Dangerous” 2019-11-24T11:38:13-05:00 Jonathan Aigner

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

In a recent interview with The Christian Post, Keith Getty had some strong words for the so-called “contemporary worship movement.”

Modern worship is an movement of “cultural relevance.”

It’s “utterly dangerous,” and is leading to the “de-Christianizing of God’s people.’”

“An authentic generation doesn’t begin with catharsis; it has to begin with an authentic picture of the God of the Bible.”

“Over 75 percent of what are called the great hymns of the faith talk about eternity, Heaven, Hell, and the fact that we have peace with God. Yet, less than 5 percent of modern worship songs talk about eternity.”

No kidding. In other words, Keith Getty says what anyone who dared look at the movement with a critical eye has been saying for decades. Contemporary worship isn’t helping the church, it’s infected it with a resistant and insidious strain of narcissism, an addiction to jesusy entertainment, and a self-soothing pseudo-gospel.

Keith and I would likely have diverging ideas about how to fix this problem, but he’s absolutely right about this. Moving away from a sung liturgy, the Psalter, and robust hymnody has largely turned the service of Word and Table into a Christian parody of the rock concert. Contemporary worship, or pop worship, as I like to say, is spiritual junk food, a quick and easy answer to deep spiritual hunger. But in the end, it only leaves the church bloated and addicted.

Worship that seeks personal fulfillment or release is a fundamentally masturbatory pursuit, and as such, is idolatry; a substitute for the discipline and dedication required by the costly grace offered to us. If we’re not careful, we can easily find ourselves addicted to the over-stimulation “worship” experience, deadened to the actual presence of God around us, and unsure about the nature of the faith with which we align ourselves.

In the end, pop worship is a disastrous failed experiment. Instead of giving worshipers what they need, we’re merely leading them on. Instead of offering them the well-balanced meal of historic liturgy, we’ve discovered that empty fast-food carbs are cheaper, easier, and addictive. But that sort of thing can only sustain for a little while. How long, church, until we figure this out? When we finally do, will there even be anything of value left in place?

I think the answer is clear.

It’s time to pull the plug.

End the pop worship experiment now.

Photo:
Flickr, creative commons 2.0

Previous Post

November 10, 2019

Accommodating Needs without Installing Jesus Jumbotrons in Your Sanctuary

Next Post

November 25, 2019 Speaking of Keith and Kristyn Getty...

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category Church of St. YouTube congregational singing congregational song contemporary critiques corporate worship Hymn of the Week hymn singing hymnody and hymnology hymns masturbatory worship Uncategorized worship Worship Quotes

Select a Month February 2023 January 2023 October 2022 September 2022 April 2022 February 2022 January 2022 December 2021 July 2021 June 2021 May 2021 April 2021 January 2021 December 2020 November 2020 July 2020 June 2020 May 2020 April 2020 March 2020 February 2020 January 2020 November 2019 September 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 October 2017 September 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz

Who compared himself to a gentle lamb led to the slaughter?

Select your answer to see how you score.

Jeremiah Isaiah Ezekiel Job