T. Allen Burr Ministries

Bishop Michael Curry, the Presiding Bishop of the Episcopal Church, has a wonderful podcast episode on worship. It’s part of the Episcopal Church’s Way of Love teaching.

One thing he said stuck out to me and it was this:

“The whole worship experience is ingeniously designed to de-center myself and recenter my life on Christ.”

Bishop Michael Curry

Many times, as I listen to contemporary Christian worship music, I find that the focus is on the experience of the believer instead of on God. However, worship is designed to recenter our focus on God and realign ourselves with His will and Word.

Discussing this in an online forum, one friend said to me:

While I do think that liturgical worship is important and does put us in a position which is centered on God, I won’t undersell the experience of the believer and how that helps us to experience God. The two are not necessarily at odds with each other, quite the contrary. While traditional worship and hymns focus on the holiness of God, a lot of modern worship music focuses on the experience of God. Both are important in Christian living.

I agree that the experience of the believer is important. However, in my opinion, too many worship songs focus on the believer’s experience. Those, in my mind, are proclamations of faith, which are necessary, but when worship begins to focus more on our experience and less on who God is, I feel that there is an imbalance.

I’m not saying that there’s an easy way to circumvent the personal language of worship, nor do I think we need to circumvent it. I simply think that the focus of worship should be centered on God and magnifying who He is. However, my issue does lie in the hyper-personalized language of many worship songs today. I’ll just throw a few lines out there as examples:

I’m gonna see a victory. I’m gonna see a victory, for the battle belongs to you, Lord.

See A Victory, Elevation Worship

I am chosen, not forsaken. I am who you say I am. You are for me, not against me. I am who you say I am.

Who You Say I Am, Hillsong Worship

I raise a hallelujah in the presence of my enemies. I raise a hallelujah louder than the unbelief. I raise a hallelujah; my weapon is a melody. I raise a hallelujah; heaven comes to fight for me. I’m gonna sing in the middle of the storm, louder and louder, you’re gonna hear my praises roar.

Raise A Hallelujah, Bethel Music

Now, don’t misunderstand me. I think these songs and these artists are wonderful. They’re the evidence of God’s gifts working in mankind. But, I simply think that the focus of worship should be centered on God and magnifying who He is. These songs were written and performed by three of the largest groups on the Christian worship scene. Their songs aren’t all like this, but there are more and more songs being sung during worship services that follow this same pattern of proclamation.

This is a problem.

Bishop Curry is right. Worship is designed to de-center the self and recenter the believer’s mind and life on Christ. It’s hard to do that when the experience of the believer is the focus of the songs we sing during the time when we’re supposed to be focusing on the majesty and mystery of who God is.

But what do you think? Has worship become too believer-centric?