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"No issue in our churches seems more divisive than worship. At one time it was language, but today it is worship," said Harry Olfert, president of Concord College, as he welcomed participants to the Refreshing Winds Worship Conference January 14-17, the first event under the banner of Mennonite College Federation.
Nearly 350 people from across Canada attended the conference, forcing organizers to adjust venues to accommodate the larger than anticipated number. For 25 years, Canadian Mennonite Bible College and Concord College have jointly planned biennial music workshops for churches. This year the conference theme was expanded to address the broader issue of worship.
Between times of worship and workshops, Dr. Robert Webber, president of the Institute for Worship Studies and professor of theology at Wheaton College,Wheaton, Ill., led participants through four days of worship renewal. Using the theme of "blended worship", the convergence of traditional and contemporary worship, Webber said the content of worship has not altered but the experience of worship has changed and needs to change with changing times. "Worship is rooted in Scripture and radically committed to contemporary relevance," he said. "The structure gathers the people, tells the story, celebrates the feast, sends the people forth but the style of worship may vary according to the cultural context. As churches, we can have the same content, use the same structure, but stylistically we can be all over the map," said Webber.
Webber worked with a four-fold structure for worship: Entrance, Word, Time of Thanksgiving, and Dismissal. Within each of these aspects there can be a blending of many styles to bring people into the presence of God, to minister to God and have God minister to the people. "Worship," said Gerald Gerbrandt, president of Canadian Mennonite Bible College, " is one if the most important factors shaping who we are." Every day of the conference began and ended with worship.
"Is it possible to have this multi-style worship and everyone be happy?" asked a participant. Blended worship is possible, instructed Webber. "You can experience transcendence and otherness, and yet have nearness and relationship." Everything in worship needs to be done with intention and needs to "unfold in a deliberate sequence of bringing the people from one place to another. It is a narrative, not a series of unrelated worship acts."
Worship has lost its participatory nature, noted Webber, with the cleric and sermon being central in worship. Worship has become familiar, and some contemporary worship has become frozen in time. A shift towards greater awe and mystery is apparent in our culture and is entering our
worship. "In this post-modern time we can draw from the liturgical with its emphasis on mystery, from anabaptism with its emphasis on the Word, and from evangelical tradition with emphasis on Christ."
Webber has seen a rise of worship leaders in churches over the last 30 years and predicts that in the next 25-30 years there will be a rise of "worship teachers". The study of worship has been neglected and there is little education in this field, he says.
Reflecting on the response to this conference and to many similar workshops he does across the continent, Webber said "people are looking for change in order to keep the kids. An enormous vacuum in worship has developed over the last four centuries. We have become incidental in the
way we gather. We need to be more intentional." Worship is learned, but the knowledge is hard to come by.
Music, he says, is central to worship. "It is the wheels upon which the four-fold structure moves. . . but we are almost to the point where we think music is our worship. It is part but not the fullness of worship," says Webber.
In our audio-visual world, we need more structure, not less. Webber notices "many churches are dropping their Scripture reading. Even in the face of audio-visual emphasis we need to read the Bible."
Looking ahead, Webber sees that churches will become less exclusive in their denominationalism. "We are in a time of enormous upheaval. We are in transition, reversing the fixed walls we created in the Reformation. Ten years ago, this conference would not have taken place." Evelyn Rempel Petkau
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