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Christian Vision For men

Turn It Down

by Carl Beech - August 25, 2009 in Carl Beech with 12 Comments

I want to turn some attention to men and worship culture, writing from the perspective of one who is in the arena and not carping from the sidelines.

I do have things to say but all my comments and thoughts come from a passion to see blokes not only become full on followers of Jesus but to see them integrated into healthy, vibrant, life giving, radical, dangerous churches that are good for everyone involved.  These blog posts are about evangelism … not about the Christian ghetto.

So here we go.  Time to put a head above the parapet!  And boy is this dangerous territory.  If worship is our highest calling then it is no wonder that it’s the area in most churches that causes the most debate, ungodly aggression and immature reaction.

Important: when you start engaging with this, please don’t think from your personal perspective. Remember, these posts are about missional thinking (i.e. doing stuff that isn’t about what we like) so, think for the rest of this article about your bog standard average bloke who walks into church; try to think from his perspective.  It might be useful as well to think about what God likes.  There’s a radical thought!  (More on that point later.)

Here are some subjects I will be commenting on:

  • Volume
  • The Sexualisation of worship
  • Recasting the language of intimacy
  • Worship styles
  • Alternatives to singing
  • The working class and worship
  • Who should lead worship
  • Small groups and worship

We begin by looking at “volume” a seemingly harmless issue but the cause of so much tension and ungodly reaction in congregational churches.

Volume

I was once invited to go to a classical music event called “Prom Praise” at Christmas with a contingent from my church.  Some of the party were people who were being quite forthright in their complaint that the worship in church was too loud. However, that evening I saw the light! It was so loud in the Royal Albert Hall that I couldn’t hear myself sing!  Man, the hall was rocking! So why weren’t the complainers complaining?  Why were they glowing after?  Why wasn’t the volume in this context offensive?

Of course, the whole time they hadn’t really found the volume in church worship offensive.  They couldn’t have!  After all, I had the evidence in front of me.  What they were finding offensive in church was the style! Drums, bass, lead guitars, jeans etc.  But where there was an orchestra causing the noise by people who were classically trained, that was ok!   It’s amazing how often we aren’t aware of what is really upsetting us and blame something else.

So what about blokes and volume? (Be aware that I write as someone who isn’t always into high volume.  I appreciate peace and quiet! For example I appreciate the subtle tones at the start of Barber’s Adagio for Strings, although I like the volume cranked up later!).  Here are some brief thoughts:

High volume levels are bloke friendly because I suspect that most men don’t like to hear themselves sing. This is because most men can’t sing very well.  When the volume is up it feels safer and better for all concerned!

We will talk about style later but for now I also want to make the point that men like songs that have objective truth in them that speak about who God is and what he is about.  We don’t like stuff that tries to tell us how we feel! The sort of songs that men like to sing need to have a bit of welly! It’s no good singing the praises of the living God who made something as outrageously huge and spectacular as the Eagle Nebula at reduced volume.  What’s that all about!?

When William Booth of Salvation Army fame wanted to use music to reach poor, white, working class blokes he used brass bands.  Loud, distinctive and from the street with many colliery bands already in existence, it was the sort of sound that the working class loved.  The rich weren’t the biggest fans but that didn’t matter to Booth.  He wanted to go to those who the church had passed by.  If we were to employ the same tactic today we would have very loud drum and bass music or progressive rap on the streets and in church.  We need to get that kind of missionary perspective back.

Is there a time for quiet?  Yes of course.  Is there a time for reflective worship?  Yep!  Do we need to crank the volume up more and adopt styles that allow for it?  Absolutely.

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About Carl Beech: Fearless CVM leader and cyclist-extraordinaire, Carl Beech, known as 'Beechy', writes on a variety of subjects to do with men and the church.

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  • John

    Speaking as a male and someone who has led worship in a variety of different churches over the last 10+ years I can definitely echo some of the sentiments expressed in your blog. Often the volume followed by song choice can cloud people’s judgement of worship before they have become to think about what worship is all about. I forget the amount of times people have grabbed me after the service and said that was “too loud” or “too reflective” and I have had to stop myself from making similar comments at times. For those of us up and the front leading it can be very uncomfortable at times hearing the sound of our own voices or instruments you can feel slightly exposed. Personally I like to remember what it is that I am actually doing – let me explain. Worship and the leading of worship isn’t like going to a secular concert where the aim could be “loud” and putting on a bit of a show rather it is an expression of our love for God and and our desire to show His Worthship. back in the 90′s there were a few groups pioneering music that you would have expected to have found in a club and not a traditional worship time. This was revolutionary as it crossed into mission for those just couldn’t relate to the traditional style of worship. You only have to look up and down the country at boy racers with beefed up cars and loud music playing (rash generalisation I know) for them that is how they connect with their peers. For people like William Booth they connected with society who the church brushed by by music that was culturally relevant to them.

    Volume is important because it can include or exclude people from worshipping If we are serious about mission to the wider world and our communities we are definitely going to have adapt to stuff that they can connect to. Does loud music mean its not worship NO, does quiet more reflective styles mean its not worship NO rather the heart behind the worship is what it is about. I say if louder music helps my un-churched friends and those around me connect to worshipping God – Bring it on equally same for more reflective music. I may not personally like it but worship is not meant to be for me or about me.

  • Les Crosthwaite

    Good post!
    You might want to check out where William Booth got his idea from. It was from the Black Country Hallelujah Bands. They were made up of working class men (some of them of bad reputation) who had got saved and toured the area playing, singing and giving their testimonies. See some info on the Salvation army website.

  • Bob

    Hi Carl, good post and what a topic!
    I agree, most men do need the volume up to really sing out much, but it may be more than simply volume. Men (and women) have terrible memories of mumbling boring songs in school assemblies, music and words that do not reflect the culture and an environment that may not be totally conducive to singing; we have all been in such situations.
    But men do sing and do belt out songs with real passion. I am thinking of situations where men will sing their lungs out, places such as at a footie / rugby match. Saturday at the match – loads of passion, a feeling of being together with the other fans as well as a real stake in the outcome; it’s not hard to get the blokes to sing. We are there to support, cheer and celebrate the teams we follow.
    Sunday – well…How often is our worship characterised as being full of passion, a sense of us all being together with a real desire to make our voices count?
    If we come together and are excited about who God is and what he is doing. If we have a mix of songs and music that allow us to express that excitement, celebration and thanks to God (who thinks we are the best thing since sliced bread) then listen to us sing!
    Looking forward to the rest of the blog
    Cheers

  • http://blog.leitch.me.uk Roger Leitch

    The heart of worship – it’s a well known song – which expresses a valid point. Who is worship for?
    If us, then we can pick our favourite style*
    If others, then we should pick styles that suit the audience.
    If God, then his criteria is based on sincerity. (John 4 vs 24)
    Jesus does not impose a style – probably because that would alienate 80% of the christian population.

    This is slightly off topic – it is a link to an article about family worship.
    http://familyworship.org.uk/articles/family-worship-like-good-meal
    I really like the analogy used and wonder what kind of meal appeals to a bloke.
    Curry – rich and hot?
    Chinese – lots of flavours and you want another one 30 minutes later?
    Bacon Butty – simple and satisfying?

    * I enjoy most styles apart from rap and opera, as long as it is good and if words are used, that I can hear them. (And I like it loud, but don’t like wearing earplugs).

  • Ray

    Speaking as a musician born into a Salvation Army background a lot of what you have said resonates with me Carl. However, I think it’s a complex issue and one that needs plenty of good theology and masses of creativity.

    I went to Sunday church for the first time in over a year this week. On the topic of sung worship there was three quarters of an hour of songs – nearly all of them in the ‘we really love you, you’re woderful, beautiful etc’ mould. Give me a break! When the guy preaching started he told the story of how he was in the shower singing one of the songs we’d just done and that his wife thought he was being romantic. Did he realise what he was saying? He had just highlighted the problem. And I don’t think this is just a bloke thing – it bothers anyone, male or female who wants a bit of depth and reality.

    The other thing I noticed about the sung worship was that no-one really seemed to be engaging with it. Again not just the blokes – several women did appear to be near to reaching orgasm, but most simply looked bored despite the smiles that they had clipped on.

    This was a very well known church and the music production was very good – the young lad leading had a great voice and won me over with his humbleness and didn’t spout any rubbish. The preacher seemed lovely too. But PLEASE – what on earth are we doing?

    After the talk the girl who was MCing, also lovely, got up and said something like ‘I really feel God might be saying that there are people here who’, and then repeated exactly what the preacher had said. And then… you guessed it……. more ‘I love you’ songs.

    Aaaaarrrggghhh!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

  • http://mark.tranchant.co.uk Mark

    As a bass player and PA man, my opinion is that high volumes in typical church services (indoors with non-optimal sound systems and amateur staff) are a bad thing – you’re going to repel more people than you include. I believe it’s important to be able to hear your own vocal input to the worship, both musically and meaningfully – and in small buildings with big PAs, it’s easy to drown out the congregation’s voices.

    The Sally Army brass bands were outside and acoustic – no feedback, no reverberation.
    Also, hearing loss is a real danger that occurs at surprisingly low levels.

    In summary, I’d rather keep the volume moderate (below the level where your ears are ringing), but use punchy dynamics to bring some power to the music.

  • Carl Beech

    Mark; I like the punchy dynamic idea to bring power to the music…

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  • Nick Gypps

    I think men are hard-wired to sing about subjects such as victory, exploits, power defiance and love-in-action (as opposed to lovey-dovey feelings). And a big ol’ chorus helps a lot (something to belt out like a football chant!).
    My favourite worship song at the mo’ is Hillsong’s ‘This is Our God’ Here’s the chorus:

    Freely you gave it all for us
    Surrendered your life upon that cross
    Great is your love
    Poured out for all
    This is our God!

    It’s a big chorus, great tune, speaks of a great exploit and love in action. We need more songs like this.
    BTW, I agree that a ‘punchy dynamic’ is better than mere volume. Unfortunately, few pa teams have the skill, time or equipment to mic up a drum kit properly so it doesn’t sound like a couple of dustbins and a baking tray.

  • joel

    I’d like to just briefly add that isn’t there a time for everything? It annoys me when people try to get me shout out how much I love Jesus just because I might cheer at a football match – no one scores a goal at church so why am I suddenly going to leap around in explosive passion?! The thing about trying to find one answer to volume is the same as trying to choose between brass bands or matt redman. You’ll never please everyone. Occasionally I might like ten minutes of brass band – and increasingly rarely I might also like a spot of matt redman…
    My humble opinion is this
    a) to echo the first response – it’s got to be about our heart as worshippers – I think i’d like to see someone ‘preaching’ for a few minutes FIRST sometimes, to get us ready to worship when we’re ready to mean the words and respond to God; rather than singing just to get us in the mood for a spot of sermon. I know from experience that if my heart is right I can worship to a tin whistle (what the hell is a tin whistle?!) but when my heart is distracted I’ll end up moaning about the band.
    b) Sometimes I like to be quiet. Sometimes I like to be noisy and passionate. This is also true of my relationship with God; let’s have churches that can respond to and/or lead the needs of the congregation by sometimes rocking out and chanting non-sensically out of an expression of loyalty to God; or allowing us to dance away (in near pitch black please) to drum and bass (halelujah no words to sing!!) or another moment it might be more poignant to all chill on bean bags half asleep with some whale music or something or meditating on a scripture in worship. If our relationship is sometimes shouty; sometimes reflective; sometimes lovey-dovey then so should our worship be also…?

  • Alan Price

    A lot of my non christian friends will be happy to relax and sing at say a rock concert or a foootball match, but I suppose it needs to be somewhere they can be comfortable, feel part of it and there are things familiar to them.
    I have often looked at the congregation singing and thought would my mates enjoy this? So far the answer has been – NO.
    For my daughters wedding the church was full of non – christians and we did not have the normal worship but a gospel choir. Comfortable,people felt part of it and familiar. They all loved it.
    The volume is however a difficult thing. I don’t like it too loud. I have asked the volume to be turned down in a night club before now, much to the amazement of the dj! But I think you are right that a higher volume will allow blokes to be absorbed in. Don’t forget though that when its too loud you can’t make wise cracks to your friend because he won’t hear you. Thats my problem in night clubs. So it may be harder to share how you feel about the experience when its too loud.
    I did feel I was at a worship time when I went to see Radiohead in concert last year. Lots of worshipping around me, lots of arms raised and everyone singing along to the words. They didn’t need projcted words though – they new them all off by heart. Such adoration. I don’t think people were thinking oh dear Thom this songs too loud or too quiet – they just loved it/him!

  • http://www.soundbp.com Steve Lucas

    For the last 10 years of my life untill recently i have been running audio in church and at other events. I now run my own audio visual and production business. (which i mainly manage and get other people to do the mixing!) At every church i have been to when i have done the PA I have had at one time or another many complaints and sometimes been quite hurt by the complaints i have had by people at the church!
    But one thing i would comment on is that if you have a profeshional PA system (which would have been used at the albert hall) then you can crank these PA systems up and yes it very loud but it is not painfull to your ears. For example it would have more bass energy and less around the 1kHz which humans are sensitive to. However i have heard loud worship coming from many “semi pro” PA systems which first of all feedback but can be very scremy when played back loud and i have found it painfull and had my ears ringing after the service. This is where if your in a church which has an empises on worship it is worth investing in a pro audio PA system. Of course it also comes down to the indevidual mixing also. I find a badly mixed worship band a distraction and people would see that as too loud. ie the bass players wife who cannnot sing being turned up really loud in the mix!