Carlos Whittaker

Jun29

The Future Sound Of Church Worship Music

Posted by loswhit in Music

Let’s talk about the future of Christian Web Font use at a later date. #wow

The guitar is the new organ.
“Modern Worship Sound” isn’t modern anymore.
Rock is going to leave the church sooner than later.
Sorry dotted 1/8 delay heads.
It’s true.

So what would you love the next wave of sounds in worship music to sound like?
And where do you think it is heading?
Los

http://www.twitter.com/mattbunk Matt Bunk

The future: Dotted 1/16.
http://www.valleychurchonline.com @aldisal

Great thought Los. I agree worship music is at a crossroad. Much like the 80s of over produced epic anthems what came next was real, raw and unpredictable. It was alternative it was grunge.

Worship music needs its Smells Like Teen Spirit moment… real, raw, and unpredictable.

And much like the music of the 90s the Pearl Jams and the Nirvanas they never wanted to be famous. They just wanted to make good music, I miss that.

And I’m waiting for Christians to make just good music.
benji

sorry to be “one up guy” but what if there is a better question to be asking… maybe its what is God doing in the church at large and what is the right soundtrack for that? or another way of stating it..what are the invisible movements of God in His church and how can we make the invisible visible in our art….
but to answer your question, I’m hoping against a movement back towards Southern Gospel… but I am confident that if Jonny Lang started writing worship songs, the church would be a better place for it…just my two cents..

Leon

“What is God doing in the church at large and what is the right soundtrack for that? What are the invisible movements of God in His church and how can we make the invisible visible in our art?”

Love this

http://www.richardmatsondaley.com Richard

I’m surprised that there hasn’t been more electronic, glitchy, dub-step-y worship music as of late (or maybe I’m just missing it).

I really enjoy that style so I wouldn’t mind if that’s the next wave.

http://Outsideisbetter.net Chad

Folks in Europe have been doing club church for almost 20 years. I am sure it is happening over the pond

http://www.seanpritzkau.com Sean Pritzkau

Why must there be ‘a sound’ and not many sounds? I dream for the day that I can go to church and the team isn’t trying to emulate the latest ‘sound’ off a worship record, but is using their own personal style to offer worship to Jesus.

Los

There doesn’t have to be a sound. But there will be one. And there is one now.

http://www.twitter.com/chriswhill @ChrisWHill

I’m not sure the tools even matter that much. I think music will become more personal to the specific church from which it’s created. I see more and more churches writing their own soundtracks, birthed from experiences unique to their own community.

So with that trend, I think that Church music as a whole is about to be more diverse than ever before.
http://twitter.com/rameytime Paul Ramey

Seems like a strange question and conversation and has the potential to reduce the church’s musical expression of worship to one sound. This seems pretty near-sited and assumes “worship music” IS a genre. Seems to me that the “next sound” of worship music should be a contextualized sound. It should be one that reflects the city and culture in the which the church finds itself; one that speaks the language of the culture.

http://www.ragamuffinsoul.com loswhit

It is only a strange conversation if you do not see trends in church culture. I agree that we should be diverse, but the truth is that there is not much diversity. Therefor there will be a sound. Agree or not. It is coming

jon

Dubstep,
Hip Hop,
Irish Jigs.

All with acoustic guitars. We’ll never give up the acoustic guitar.
I’m 31 & realize i maybe, MAYBE have 10 years of relevance in musical style. All I need to do is sing songs that teach Jesus well, then teach these young whipper snappers to love Jesus with everything they have so they can make the most theologically sound dubstep record ever.

There will come a day when Louie Giglio will host a concert like Bill Gaither. We’ll all gather and sing “forever” with a 65 yr old Chris Tomlin & a balding David Crowder in a high back chair clapping slightly off beat. I’d buy those videos.

Ben MacGill

I second that about the video. Even as a young worship pastor just out of college, I’m wondering how much of this musical relevance I have in me. There is a burgeoning hymn retooling thing happening again. I wonder if that will pick up.

I can see a dozen different directions…and I’m wondering what will be the most genuine for my church. Prayer and Jesus, Prayer and Jesus.

…or maybe huge supergroups will form. Hillsong/Passion/Mumford/Gaither???

Jon (again)

Churches will always emulate other styles of music. Sometimes we get lucky & invent one ourself.
What makes the music we play & sing different than EVERY other genre of music is the lyrical content.
Without solid theology in the lyrics, the music style takes precedence. When the lyrics are solid, the musical style doesn’t matter nearly as much. So this is a good conversation to have. It helps us think through how we can implement solid lyrical content into any style of music.

Also, Kristian Stanfill’s playing a dubstep set at the camps he’s doing. Kills it.

terrence Gooden

I laughed at your first comment and I too would watch those videos! I also agreed completely with your second comment. The lyrics really matter a lot. I think the style of music will continue to reflect what’s happening in music throughout popular culture as a whole.But hopefully we will be able to be more innovative. But even if our music continues to sound like Coldplay,U2,Arcade Fire,Jonsi,Mumford and Sons or 80′s Rock anthems,it must be our lyrics that truly give hope and stength.

http://www.taintedcanvas.com Jonathan Siggy Sigmon

I think it will be that indie-hipster sound that is up and coming next. Gungor, Rend Collective – those kind of guys it what I think will be the future.

But you are definitely right that rock is on its way out. Out dated. If Nickelback worship dies, no one will be sad.

aaron cook

Why does everyone hate on Nickelback? Serious question.

Andrew San Ramos

I agree that there is a sound to our music nowadays, in that there is a predominance of driving rock and roll. I’ve thought for a while that folk would be rising up the ranks, but I also see dance music climbing to the top. Beyond that, there is a band called The Heritage that does rock-n-roll music, but they’re more songs about what God has done and enjoying/celebrating Him than specifically naming praise (I.e. singing “somewhere over the rainbow” and the twist is that they’re singing about Heaven). One last thing, I’ve noticed an increasing trend in songs where the voice is of God singing to us, instead of us singing to God. Like “Open Up Your Heart” that Jesus Culture sings
Conor Scholes

Bluegrass alternative Rock featuring the didgeridoo?

http://Www.cherryunleashed.com Justin Cherry

Haha. You made my day on this one. I could rock out to God hard core with a didgeridoo! Nice addition!

http://seanpmarion.wordpress.com/ Sean P. Marion

I think worship music is headed into uncharted territory. Instead of being like modern contemporary focusing on being different just to be different only resulting in everyone being the same and ultimately phasing itself out, what we have on the horizon is something completely different than anything else we’ve ever seen. The cool thing about this different is that the intent was never to be different but to just worship God and not try to fit it into some nice little prefabricated style or genre. Just to focus on God and let it flow from the inside in a organic, reckless, beautiful mess. I can’t really put a label on it but im excited to be a part of it and look forward to seeing God recieve the most glory possible through it. So bring it!!!

Sean
Paul

Fun question Los.

I think the things are going to move on 2 fronts. 1) Worship will get shorter and shorter and have a more bit part to play on Sunday mornings. 2) Worship will get longer and longer with more and more people hungry to experience what they sense at night’s of worship & conferences… but having it on a Sunday morning.

Both are positives – depends what the church is trying to accomplish.

All Sons & Daughters might be pointing a little bit to the future… maybe throw in a little electronica here and there.

Cool thing is – worship will happen. That’s the wonderfully fun part. Worship is going to happen- God get’s the glory and all of us get to have fun creating the music and environments to foster His glory.

Fun question dude. Maybe we’ll meet some time.
God bless.
http://shaungroves.com Shaun Groves

I’m leading in a more rural setting these days, Carlos. About half our church wasn’t in church ten years ago. So they don’t have an expectation of what church has to sound like. And since most of them like country music? We’re tipping that way more and more. Not far enough to be called country. But far enough to be called Americana? Southern? Sonic sweet tea ; )

http://Outsideisbetter.net Chad

Shaun-
I was at a church for several years where we did that. Took a a hillbilly mountain music approach to hymns and some modern songs…because these were hillbilly folk who had moved to the city. It was great worship and I really miss it.

Jon

A more grass roots, garage type, natural sound of worship. More driven musical sound instead of the simplistic sounding worship tunes that start to sound the same after a period of time.
Chris Moore

Asian Pop based sound. More focus on melody and harmony than rhythm. A move back to words with profound depths and multiple syllables.
http://thesomniumblog.wordpress.com Garrett S

I think it’s headed in a more “folk” direction. Just enough to remain familiar but fresh enough to hold new content.

Especially as Christian music’s subject matter changes into progressively deeper and more emotionally jarring content, I think the alt. rock sound can’t communicate the angst well enough.

The American church just isn’t prepared to accept any form of electronica as a large part of their worship. Rap, though it’s surging in popularity, won’t find enough of a general audience for Sunday mornings. And country, while ever popular, is too regional to connect outside its borders.
Marcelo

The distant future. The distant future… the year 2000. :0)
Art

Country. Dear God, please let it be country. Actually I hope the sound is quiet.
aaron cook

Blurred lines between the “band” and “congregation.” Congregants bringing instruments to gatherings and leading songs–acapella or with instruments. Less of the classic drums, bass, guitar, keys, vocals arrangements; more clapping, banjo, synth, tambourine, cajon, singing, cymbals, electronica, harmonica, dancing… rawness. Wild. Arrangements straying from verse, chorus, verse, chorus, bridge, chorus, chorus. More 34 minute odysseys. A peculiar music fit for a peculiar people. Also, the word “worship” no longer being lazily thrown out to mean “musical worship.’ And quite possibly a decline in the overall emphasis that is currently put on musical worship in our gatherings.
http://www.outstretched-arms.com/ Albert

Rock is saying goodbye, bluegrass/country coming in. And I can tell you that lyrically, songs are going to be a combo of liturgical and personal in nature.Maybe it’s just me, but I sense amidst all the distractions in the world, people are craving truth and a need to be completely honest with life as it is for them.
http://Www.cherryunleashed.com Justin Cherry

I live in the west part of Auckland, New Zealand & I think a lot of people here would love to see a DJ mixing it up rather than a worship leader with a guitar.

More and more we are seeing the music culture mix genres; like country & rap, rock & hip hop, etc. I think we might see music in worship going the same way. The church should be one of the most creative places in the world, so seeing that creativity thrive in music would be awesome.

But we might also see worship taking some layers back and creating a steippe

http://Www.cherryunleashed.com Justin Cherry

Oops! Stripped back, more intimate version of what we do now.

Radioblues

Wanna hear something funny? I lead worship in Puerto Rico and just NOW we are discovering the dotted 8th sound! LOL Although we have access to all the stuff mentione here, and even though most worship leaders like myself listen to the up and coming stuff you mentioned plus the RoyalRoya , (<–FUTURE right there) in PR people are still into the 90's sound of worship…so bringing up a new sound is always an uphill battle here. Add to that the fact that the Christian radio stations here don't even know who John Mark McMillan, Crowder, RoyalRoyal, Jesus Culture, All Sons and Daughters, are… True and sad story bro…
Chad McIlvenna

Not sure how we are defining rock, but I don’t think rock is going anywhere in the main stream considering it since the 50′s it has been the predominant band music and it has been progressing ever since. I think the creators of commercially available worship music are going to drive the style because like it or not…worship leaders tend to emulate whatever it is on their iPods that they are really into or influenced by, be it worship or any other type of music.

For me I see a lot of upbeat 4 on the floor type stuff happening in pop music right now I I think it is only natural that things will will lean that way. When I write worship tunes I like to capture whatever feeling I want a song to put out emotionally and then the music just kinda follows whether it be really rocking’ or really dance oriented or acoustic driven:-)

It really is the million dollar question though, isn’t it? As long as God is glorified in the music I am good with it!
Amanda

Bagpipes and bells all the way, ftw.
Blain

I agree with Groves. It looks like a Somewhat modern country sound maybe more folky. To the those who mentioned; yes , there will always be a diversity but Los is right there’s also a driving voice of the majority of worship music. I think the next is a really under produced folky sound that shows musicianship and has depth lyrically. It’ll include a resurgence of hymns I believe and great story tellers like Andrew Peterson will become more popular because people will have their ears tuned to his style. Having said all that, I reserve the right to be completely wrong
http://brendasbrainchild.blogspot.com Brenda

I’ve heard some thoughts from our worship director about trends in popular music and how that relates to what our sound is like on Sundays. We use a fair amount of electronic loops, which I love, and we’ve had a few Sundays of all electronic music, no guitars at all.

http://Omegaamps.com james

As a worship leader kinda guy, i LOVE ta worship on my electric guitar to electronica! As long as it is HEART driven it is GOOD!! And as long as STRINGED instruments can be found in THE BIBLE, me blvs they have a stay!

http://jamestealy.com James Tealy

Singability, I hope. Church as “a people to belong to” means we don’t want to be spectators anymore. Songs arranged with instrumentation and vocal range that emphasize max participation over quality of performance.
Jason Cormier

Whatever the next big hype is, they will simply copy and paste. What they need is their own original sound.
http://mattlewis.typepad.com/blog/ M@ Lewis

What if the next phase isn’t about a style of music? What if music is less of a focus for the church?
http://jamienunnally.com Jamie Nunnally

Dude, this question has been owning me all weekend. At first I didn’t like it because I thought it was too music-focused. But its absolutely true that there is a new trend appearing and it would be dumb to ignore it in the name of sanctimonious worship theology. We all know worship isn’t music.

I do think there is a new sound coming and is already here. But while it is manifested in musical tendencies, its source is spiritual. A simple change in instrumentation will not duplicate it (yet that’s already happening).

I believe God is pouring our musical freedom to His church. Freedom, not to be used for the flesh and to prop up a style or person, but freedom to serve the local communities we’re called to. Does your community like country or jazz? Cool. It’s OK to not sound like U2. I believe what we’re hearing through Gungor, All Sons and Daughters, The Royal Royal etc. is the freedom to minister without musical restraint. Freedom to be creative outside of the bounds of what worship music has typically sounded like.

So how will this new freedom translate into musical style? It will sound like your ministry target. It will sound like synth and programming. It will sound like banjos and harmonicas. But most of all it will sound like the guitar player spent more time in prayer than in crafting his tone. It will sound like a worship leader that weeps in private more than he sings in public. It’s a spiritual revolution that’s the sound of service and will use any instrument or style necessary to connect the Father with his children!

Bring it on.

Chad McIlvenna

Love it bro!!! Well thought out and I love that the focus is on what the community looks like in your ministry! That is key. I thought it was a no-brainer to lead in that way but it dawned on that it not as I have pondered the question more.

Andrew

I really feel like things are moving into a more acoustic, much more low-end feeling of worship, the energy will still be high at times, but people are going to try to stay away from ‘hype’ as much as possible. The more ‘real’ it is the better. Electric guitars are starting to be used with many more effects, and like you said Carlos, ‘rock’ as we know it is leaving the mainstream church. Sounds such as Gungor, Zachary Simms, Josh Garrels, and many other worship leaders and artists that are relatively unknown will begin to change the sound of modern day worship in the American Church in ways that we’ll never exactly expect or understand. I believe that God purposefully affects the sound and creative style of worship during different time periods for different purposes and different generations. We just have to tap into what the Father is saying!
Angie Meeker

(whoa. after writing the comment – it’s long!)

About six years ago I was a youth pastor at a large Vineyard church in Ohio. I was new, but the youth group wasn’t, and for years had a pretty typical Vineyard youth worship team. It just mirrored whatever was out in Vineyard music at the time, if I remember (and most definitely whatever was being played in the adult services).

The problem was the students themselves didn’t. They were suburban white church kids, sure… but they were also increasingly urban black unchurched kids. Even the white Vineyard church kids didn’t mostly listen to acoustic guitar or rock music in their free time – they listened to hip-hop. Anytime the worship team played, it just seemed like a freak-show. They were good enough, don’t get me wrong… but the total disconnect between the music they were playing, and WHO the majority of the group was… almost made me sick. I just couldn’t let us BE that, and the worship team we had couldn’t play hip hop.

So, I cut worship.

Pissed off the worship team, of course, because they were an aspiring Christian band (who today, are starting their touring career, good for them). Parents got mad because I “wasn’t giving their kids an outlet for their talents,” or “for the believers in the group to share their love for God through music and worship.”

We still integrated music into the student worship services through CD’s and videos, both secular and Christian. I think, too, we were able to use a better variety of styles that way and use it in a much more directed manner since we didn’t have to consider whether the band could play the music.

We had a unique situation. With a student ministry split 50/50 black and white, 50/50 church/unchurched… musical worship was REALLY challenging for us. It’s hard enough to overcome the Christianese in worship music…add to that the one-note styling of popular Christian music and it was even worse.

At the time, I felt REALLY alone in that situation. I’d love to hear from some readers who are in churches that aren’t predominantly white, or in truly diverse churches, and how they’re dealing with it.

http://jamienunnally.com Jamie Nunnally

Angie,
I feel your pain. Our congregation is a about 25% black with a wide variety of socio-economic backgrounds in the deep south. I am a rock-style leader, one of my main soloists is an R&B style black woman (who has PIPES!) and my lead guitarist was a session player in Nashville for years and still wears cowboy boots. LOL! It’s not uncommon for us to start with a Tomlin/Hillsong opener, move to a Houghton groove, go deep with a IHOP/Bethel type song, then tie it all together with a hymn.

Though I don’t know all the details of your situation, it seems to me like you made the right choice. I’m very practical when it comes to leading worship and see a big difference between being a worshiper and a worship leader. “Worship is all about Him. Worship leading is all about Her (the Bride)” – J. L. Riddle. Seems to me you gotta do what best ministers to the people.

http://www.firetonguemusic.com Guillermo Quezada

I believe that as the church embraces more diversity, it will trigger a different sound in our worship. Recently in my church, a worship song by a Guatemalan worship leader was translated into English and sung in the predominately black congregation. We sung in English and in Spanish, and it was a beautiful experience.
http://donothave Herb Johnston

What is:”sorry 1/8 dotted delay heads”, sounds like an insult..I suppose if I could read music(just realized..)
many things come and go in the church,with or without,unfortunately,our obedience.Where I think it will go is probably foolish speculation..I have seen SO MANY ego centric behaviors in the church…nonetheless..do you remember when Paul Simon brought over from Africa the indigenous musicians from that country..probably 25 or so on stage with him…primarily drums..other very non traditional instruments(in the mid 90′s I think…).. to western culture..how can anyone even think about what GOD Almighty will do next..?? Please remember it is not a sin to play the guitar…I am still trying to learn after a long time..many things we must learn on our own in this world..even the christian world.
http://jennyrain.com Jenny

I’m actually asking this very question right now…. I don’t know what the answer is, I only know the question…

When my husband walks into a church service, he looks for a hymn book like it is sacred, special, sacrosanct…. I’ve never looked at a PPT screen like that.

Just makes me wonder if I’m missing something…
Ashley

Heavy reggae beats.

The church I went to in NYC had an amazing worship team. Two of the men had heavy Brazillian bass and drum backgrounds. While playing “Mighty to Save” they all of the sudden went into a heavy reggae rhythm and it blew my mind.

I now live in the midwest and I must say, it warms the soul to have any type of island melody in your head come mid January.

I also second the “more diversity” comment above. Love a worship service that an go from an old hymn, to Hosanna in Spanish, to a southern gospel song… It is a steady reminder of the diversity of the church.
http://www.thisisreylo.com Rey

What I see trending here is that the best stuff is the original stuff that rises out of each community and uses the skills and gifts of the people unique to that community. I hope that this is the future of worship.
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