The Worth & Worry of Worship Music

On a recent Sunday morning I was downstairs at our church taking part in a course. Upstairs, the first worship service was in progress. Hearing the worship team begin the final song, I recognized the Hillsong piece Praise the Name (Anastasis). My heart sank, knowing in another hour and a half I’d be asked to sing it too. I seriously considered leaving the service when that time came. And not because I dislike the song. Just the opposite. No other worship song affects me like it does.

Its lyrics paint a haunting picture of Jesus being brutalized, killed, abandoned, and resurrected. It’s bad enough to ponder the horror He went through, but then I’m reminded whose fault it was.

I cast my mind to Calvary
Where Jesus bled and died for me…

It gets even worse at the end of the fourth stanza.

And I will rise among the saints
My gaze transfixed on Jesus' face.

When I sing that last line, I weep. Not just a few tears, but in some instances, sob uncontrollably. This has happened in four different churches. Yes, I’m emotional and also weep singing other songs depicting Christ’s work. But with other songs, I have a chance. I have found that in Anastasis, gratitude and emotions collide violently and uniquely when reminded of Jesus’ return. Because He’s the only reason that this formerly condemned sinner will be among the saints on that day.

I stayed in the auditorium that Sunday anyway. With the expected results.

Although not a great one, I am a musician who loves to sing—and before arthritis, played two instruments. I love the power of today’s worship music. Having observed the genre’s birth, toddlerhood, adolescence and maturity over the past 45 years, I’m thrilled by its improved substance, biblical lyrics, and increasingly the great theology of some of yesterday’s best hymns have found their way into today’s worship music.

This music is of great worth. I love how it can move us, ignite worship, help us worship, assure us, comfort us, even challenge us. And it can do all of that for our children. I assume more than a few Christian parents are praying that someday their teenagers will replace—or at least add to their rock, hip-hop, pop or country Spotify playlists, ones labeled “Worship Songs.” Maybe they too will listen and sing along with good, God-glorifying lyrics that have the potential to deepen their love for God, and help them become more and more like Jesus.

On the other hand, worship music also worries me. Thanks to today’s ear buds, bluetooth speakers, and social media feeds, it can be everywhere, all the time. As such, it not only contributes to the Christian life, it can pretend to be the Christian life. Listening to music about faith is not the same as walking in faith. Especially if a person rarely reads their Bible, just prays in emergencies, or sees the church as expendable. And not if a person is failing to live a repentant life in which they are seeking out their sin, asking God to forgive them, hating their sin enough to wage unrelenting war against it. And not if they are not seeking to make disciples who make disciples.

On that point, this is a second worry: Sunday in and Sunday out, while rightfully lifting praise to God for who He is and reminding ourselves and each other who we are to be in Him, in our singing we are rarely being reminded of the centerpiece assignment Jesus gave each of His followers. Where is the theme of Jesus’ mission in today’s worship music? Where are the songs which speak about evangelism, disciplemaking, and mission? (And this is a fair question to not just ask of today’s worship music, but of the Christian music written down through the centuries.) Given that Jesus not only dispatched the 11 apostles to make disciples—but each of us as well, the few lines about mission in all of worship music, is both puzzling and concerning.

A couple of years ago I was with a wellknown songwriter and learned that he was part of a global team that was writing new music to include in a new hymal for the worldwide church. When I asked him if they would be writing some songs about mission, he grew animated. When he was done speaking, I was excited too.

“Yes! We asked ourselves what themes tend to be neglected in the songs churches sing. Mission was an obvious one. So yes, we’re writing some songs about mission.” I’m eagerly looking forward to some new offerings in the future.

But until such time as we see more church music available that reflects Jesus’ assignment, our mission antennae may need to be refreshed exclusively through other means like sermons, Bible reading, mission biographies, and mutual encouragement.

One final worry about worship music is the troubling number of professing Christian artists deconstructing their faith—abandoning it. Those departing include one of Anastasis’ writers. In 2019 Marty Sampson publicly admitted he was losing his faith and had come to believe that Christianity is “just another religion.” He posted this on Instagram:

“I’m genuinely losing my faith, and it doesn’t bother me. Like, what bothers me now is nothing. I am so happy now, so at peace with the world. It’s crazy.”

“This is a soapbox moment so here I go … How many preachers fall? Many. No one talks about it. How many miracles happen. Not many. No one talks about it. Why is the Bible full of contradictions? No one talks about it. How can God be love yet send four billion people to a place, all ‘coz they don’t believe? No one talks about it. Christians can be the most judgmental people on the planet—they can also be some of the most beautiful and loving people. But it’s not for me.”

Both mature Christians and immature ones flounder in their faith. And there will always be false Christians. But could the very nature of today’s Christian music universe be an onramp to deconstruction? Consider that in just the first six months of 2024, the Christian music industry made $8.65 billion—with the worship music genre being a sizable subset. The perks are significant enough to attract the attention of all kinds of artists—devout, faithless, and everything in between. The industry offers the potential to make big bucks writing music and performing around the world in large-venue concerts.

Yet these traveling artists are rarely in a home church. Or under a home church’s accountability. And what of the Bible? Are artists reading it? If so, is it mainly for ideas for songs, or to hear from God?

Other musicians who have either renounced the faith or distanced themselves from it include Jon Steingard (Hawk Nelson), Jennifer Knapp, Audrey Assad, Michael & Lisa Gungor (Gungor), Derek Webb (Caedmon’s Call) and Kevin Max (DC Talk).

What—if anything, is to be done? Pray for good, God-glorifying, impactful songs about Jesus’ mission to be written for the Church. Pray for Christian musicians to be sure they know Jesus—not just know about Him. And let’s pray that all believers—you and I and the rest, would bow at the feet of the Christ of the music, not at the feet of the music of Christ.