WHAT IS THE GRAPH NOT SHOWING ?
Firstly , let me say that this is not supposed to be a definitive , entirely accurate way to categorize people , groups of people , churches , or denominations . Please receive this in very general terms and as the helpful tool I intend it to be .
It ’ s worth noting that one congregation can include people whose emphases are placed very differently from most other members of the congregation , or perhaps even the church ’ s leaders . This can happen as individuals , families or a circle of friends switch church affiliation . Or as churches change in their emphases leaving some of the existing congregation feeling like their preferred emphases are no longer being catered for as they once were .
Does the phrase , “ We ’ d better have at least one old hymn ,” sound familiar ?
And please keep in mind that peoples ’ emphases can change . I know mine certainly have over the years ! My hope is that we can at least recognize and appreciate the emphases of other worshippers even if they are somewhat different from our own .
WHAT IS THE GRAPH SHOWING ?
From what I ’ ve observed , people who participate in sung worship generally have some preferences , biases , or emphases that they favor over others . They have particular goals or values when it comes to sung worship . No matter how strong these values may be , they influence their expectations or hopes for sung worship . This graph is my best attempt to show those differences visually .
Each Individual worshiper can be plotted somewhere on this three-dimensional graph . And since groups of people who agree with one another on these sorts of issues tend to flock together , it ’ s also true that each church congregation would tend to have a region or “ blob ” on this graph . The same could be said of each denomination . The position on the graph could be as a result of many different things but would certainly include theology ( understanding of God ), Biblical interpretation , experiences and the established culture or musical worship .
First , let ’ s look at
THE RED “ X ” AXIS : THEOLOGICAL VS EXPERIENTIAL
Some Christians have music in their gatherings primarily to teach and remind their congregations of correct theology . God ’ s truth . As they sing , the goal is that they would come to know God more deeply . Understand The Gospel more completely . As they sing , their reverence and awe for God should increase . I call this segment of the Christian Church the “ sing correct theology ” team .
The song lyrics for the “ sing correct theology ” team tend to have a lot of words . Often intense , rich , poetry that digs deeply into Christian doctrine . While congregants may be deeply moved internally , they might not show it on the outside . They will tend to remain fully cognizant - mindful , reverent - as they sing .
Repeating a section of a song too often , or extended periods of instrumental music can easily unsettle the theological emphasis worshippers .
But on the other end of the “ X ” axis , we find
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