there's no question about it Hillsong bethl Jesus Culture and elevation have become a global phenomenon and you should stop singing their music I could give many reasons why you should stop singing or listening to music from these groups I could point out the Prosperity Gospel advocated by leaders Within These movements such as bethl Church Pastor Bill Johnson who argues that Jesus did not perform perform Miracles as God quote if he performed Miracles because he was God then they would be unattainable for us but if he did them as man I am responsible to pursue his
lifestyle unquote Hillsongs Brian Houston just comes right out and says ite you need more money unquote I could cite theological concerns with leaders such as Steven fdick of Elevation Church who appears to believe in the heresy of modalism which teaches that God is not three persons but one being who manifests himself in different modes or Beth's Bill Johnson who taught that Jesus had to go to hell and be tortured for 3 days before being born again I could reference the charges of sexual abuse that have plagued leaders from Hillsong I could address Hillsong Pastor Brian
Houston's questionable views of gay marriage I could give examples of theologically vague lyrics or theologically questionable lyrics I could highlight the charismatic Pentecostal Theology of these groups often manifested in their lyrics I could point out that when you buy their albums or sing their music you are financially supporting questionable theology at best and heretical theology at worst I could caution that when you sing their music in church weaker Christians might listen to other songs from these groups and be influenced by their poor theology all of these are legitimate reasons to stop singing music from these
groups but they are not the most important reason you should stop the biggest reason you should stop singing songs from Hillsong bethl Jesus Culture and elevation is that their music embodies a false Theology of worship Pentecostalism emerged in the early 20th century combining the Methodist Holiness movement and revivalism with a conviction that the miraculous signs of the Apostles continue today this continuationist Theology and expectations concerning how the Holy Spirit Works led to a redefinition of worship from that of reformed Traditions to what they considered more consistent with New Testament teaching charismatic theologians argue that the
holy spirit's primary work in worship is that of making God's presence known in observable tangible ways such that worshippers can truly encounter God this theology places a high emphasis and expectation in worship upon physical expressiveness and intensity resulting in what sometimes is called a praise and worship Theology of worship the goal in this theology is to experience the presence of God In Worship but praise is considered the means through which Christians do so praise and worship theology seeks to provide a blueprint for a worship service that ensures worshippers will truly enter the presence of God
fundamental to this theology is the idea that in scripture praise is inherently connected to God's presence in fact praise is the very means of entering the presence of God a central text underlying this idea is Psalm 223 quote yet You Are Holy enthroned on the Praises of Israel unquote early Pentecostal authors such as rej Lael and Bob Sorge taught that this text and others reveal that in the words of Judson Cornwall quote the path into the presence of God is praise unquote this leads to an understanding that praise and worship are distinct as Cornwall suggests
quote 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 thurlo spur explains more thoroughly the distinction between the two quote praise and worship are not the same praise is thanking God for the blessings the benefits and 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 God's presence unquote
former Hillsong worship Pastor Darlene Sheek represents well praise and worship theology quote the word says that God inhabits the Praises of his people it's amazing to think that God in all his fullness and habits 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 unquote this change in Theology of worship led to a new understanding of worship music perhaps best described by Ruth Anne Ashton's 1993 God's presence through music raising the matter of musical style to a level of significance that swe Hong Lim and Lester Ruth describe as musical sacramentality where music is now considered a primary means through which God's presence can be encountered in worship this theology affected lurgical practice breaking from a confessional lurgical structure praise and worship instead aims
to bring the worshippers through a series of emotional stages from rousing praise to intimate worship Judson Cornwall explains the process quote 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 concerned with God's performance while the second is occupied with God's personage the thrust of worship ship therefore is higher than the thrust of Praise unquote praise and worship liturgy is centered around the
emotional flow of the music worship leaders are encouraged to begin with enthusiastic songs of Thanksgiving leading the worshippers to an emotional solish worship and then bringing the mood to an intimate expression where quote a gentle sustained chord on the organ and a song of the spirit on the lips of the leaders should be more than sufficient to carry a worship response of the entire congregation for a protracted period of time unquote Zack Hicks suggests quote part of leading a worship service's flow involves keeping the awareness of God's real abiding presence before his worshippers as all
of the elements of worship pass by the one constant the true flow is the presence of the Holy Spirit himself unquote this kind of flow according to Hicks quot lies in understanding and guiding your worship Services emotional Journey un grouping songs in such a way that they flow together worship leader Carl Tuttle explains is essential to a good worship experience Lim and Ruth describe the earliest guides written to help worship leaders achieve flow one of which is David blomgrens 1978 the song of the Lord he says quote the flow should move continuously with no interruptions
the flow should move naturally using connections from songs content keys and tempos and the flow should move toward a goal of a climactic experience of true worship of God blomgren spelled out technical aspects for achieving proper flow quote the content of the songs and sequence makes sense having scriptural and thematic relatedness the key signatures are conducive to easy un jarring and smooth transitions between songs the tempos of the songs usually faster to slower overall with songs having similar tempos grouped contributing to a growing sense of closer encounter with God this Theology of worship is a
distinct break from the Theology and expectation of reformed Christians in the wake of the Reformation until the rise of American revivalism in the 19th century and Pentecostalism in the 20th century worship theology that was reformed according to scripture taught that emotion and singing come as a result of the work of the holy spirit in a believer's life not as a cause of the holy spirit's work Calvin ster helpfully makes this point with reference to Ephesians 58- 19 and Colossians 3:16 quote Spirit filling does not come as the result of singing rather spirit in 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 such a reading of the passages ster argues gives song an undue epic aleicf and turns it into a means of beguiling the Holy Spirit unquote he argues that such a magical eple function characterized Pagan worship music not
Christian the Holy Spirit Works in a believer's heart through the sufficient word that he inspired and the ordinary means of Grace that he prescribed therein further while the New Testament does describe certain emotions that rise out of a heart of a spirit Sanctified believer such as the fruit of the spirit these will be characterized not by extraordinary Euphoria but by what Jonathan Edwards calls quote the lambl likee dove likee Spirit or temper of Jesus Christ unquote truly Spirit formed religious affections according to Edwards quote naturally beget and promote such a spirit of Love meekness quietness
forgiveness and mercy as appeared in Christ unquote this Theology of worship led to a philosophy of corporate worship that considered it to be a biblically regulated service of Covenant renewal wherein God forms his people through his word and his people respond with adoration confession Thanksgiving and dedication the songs and other elements of worship are not chosen for their emotional mood or any expectation that God's presence is made manifest through music rather they are chosen based on how their content fits in the Covenant renewal shape of the service Pentecostalism shifted the emphasis for corporate worship from
covenant renewal to authentic emotional experience and this theology did not stay only in Pentecostal churches worship that embodies Pentecostal theology began to introduce embodied Pentecostalism into broader evangelicalism primarily through its music in their insightful concise history of contemporary worship lanon Jesus suong Lim and Lester Ruth convincingly demonstrate that Pentecostalism with its quote revisioning of a new testament emphasis upon the active presence and Ministry of the Holy Spirit unquote is one of five key sources of contemporary worship they suggest that quote pentecostalism's shaping of contemporary worship has been both through its own internal development and through
an influencing of other Protestants in worship piety and practice unquote including the following ways its theology has shaped contemporary worship mainstreaming the desire to be physical and expressive in worship highlighting intensity as a lurgical virtue in a certain expectation of experience to the forms of contemporary worship and a musical sacramentality that raises the importance of the worship set as well as the musicians leading the set they explain quote Pentecostalism contributed contemporary worships sacramentality that is both the expectation that God's presence could be encountered in worship and the normal means by which this encounter would happen
creating an expectation for encountering God active and present through the Holy Spirit unquote Daniel alre agrees quote the presence of the Holy Spirit then is fundamental to a Pentecostal perspective of worship the conviction that the spirit is present in worship is one of the deepest beliefs in a Pentecostal lurgical Vision the expectancy of the spirit's presence is often palpable in the Liturgy their lurgical rights and sensibilities encourage becoming consciously present to God even as God's presence is expected to become very real in worship unquote thus Worship in which the holy spirit is directly active is
often necessarily connected with spontaneity and freedom of form worship that is structured and regulated is the opposite of spirit-led worship in this view as lmon Ruth note most contemporary worship impacted as it is by this understanding of the holy spirit's work in worship considers quote extemporary anity as a mark of worship that is true and of the holy spirit that is worship in spirit and Truth this view of extemporanea of worship unquote what albrech observes of Pentecostal worship has become the standard expectation for most of evangelicalism quote 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 or in the spirit is neither rare nor routine for a particular Pentecostal worshipper the experiential dimension of Worship Is Fundamental the lurgical vision sees God as present in the service consequently Pentecostals reason that a direct experience of God is a normal expectation unquote this theology is what music from charismatic groups like Hill song bethl Jesus Culture and elevation embodies as sociologist Gerardo Marty notes quote Hill song represents a compelling musical Pathway to an
emotional one-on-one connection to God unquote he continues quote Hill song worship involves 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 which involves setting aside distractions and letting go that is meant to lead the earnest believer to the deployment of spiritual power unquote and we would expect nothing less it makes perfect sense that groups with charismatic theology would worship like charismatics we would disagree with their theology but we would understand that their worship would flow from that
theology the problem is when evangelicals who do not affirm or teach charismatic theology worship like charismatics and this has come largely through the music produced by groups like these Marty calls this the hill song isation of Christianity this point is critically important to recognize when you sing music from Hill song bethl Jesus Culture and elevation you are bringing embodied Pentecostalism into your church but the lyrics of these songs we're using from these groups don't teach Pentecostal theology you might reply well maybe although many of them do in both overt and subtle ways but again I'm
not talking about the lyrics here I'm talking about the music the music itself has been carefully designed to create a visceral experience of the feelings that then become evidence of God's manifest presence this fits the sacramental Theology of charismatics perfectly but it does not fit the Theology of non-charismatic evangelicals especially those who consider themselves reformed and so I repeat most of evangelicalism worships like charismatics even if their Church's doctrinal statement does not affirm that Theology and here's the thing what is more potently formative for the people in the Pew a doctrinal statement on a Church's
website or how they worship week in and week out if you do not want to teach Pentecostal theology to your people then don't sing Hillsong bethl Jesus Culture or elevation because when you do you are shaping your people through embodied theology wait you might reply doesn't the music from many other popular contemporary worship artists embody the same sort of charismatic theology why yes yes it does let the reader understand
