When Church Becomes the Audience

In Nashville, I’m a highly prized commodity. Let me tell you why. I can’t sing. I can’t play an instrument. What’s more, I know I can’t sing or play any instruments. I don’t even try. You would think that in Music City, not being able to play or sing would be a distinctive disadvantage. It’s not. In fact, my friends who do have talent love having me come see them perform. Why?

Because I’m a great audience.

When I go to a show, I’m always amazed at how anyone could sing like my friends do. I’m mesmerized by how one strum of a guitar or a simple chord change can break your heart. Have you ever noticed that the best songwriters can slow down the pronunciation of a word or emphasize the wrong syllable of a word and make it rhyme with another word that in any other context wouldn’t rhyme at all? Ever noticed how the genius writers work hard at taking everything out of a song that isn’t absolutely necessary? How many great songs are composed of only a few words? These artists have talent I simply don’t have.

So, I love to listen. I go to as many live shows as I can and when I’m there, I stay as long as I can. I love to watch my friends play. I love to hear them sing. That’s what makes me a good audience. I’m there to watch my friends play. I’m not out there in the audience thinking I should be on stage. I don’t ever watch one of my friends play and think “I can do that better.” Nashville is notorious for being a place of tough audiences. In fact, a lot of artists don’t like playing Nashville at all. The audiences are too critical and hard to impress.

Which is why my friends love me being in the audience. I find it impressive when the strum a C chord.

In my new role as a coach of pastors and a congregational consultant, I visit a lot of different churches. Most of the time, I enjoy my time experiencing worship and listening to the sermons. I have, however, noticed a subtle, but very real, change in emphasis and focus.

Whenever you’re talking to a congregational leader, you’ll hear the same complaints. Men don’t sing in worship. Too many people are staying home and watching the worship service on live stream. People are too busy with social media to be committed to serious Bible study. All of this and more is true, but I’m wondering if there’s more to it than the shallowness of our congregations.

I’m beginning to believe a lot of worship leaders and pastors don’t want a congregation. They want an audience. While worship leaders will say they want the congregation to sing, they pitch the songs way too high for most men. Since we don’t use hymnals anymore and most people can’t read music anyway, we only put the words up on the screen. How do I know the melody? How do I know when to come in and when to cut off? If the worship leader never opens their eyes or looks at the congregation, are they really leading worship? On more than one occasion, I’ve sat silently in a sanctuary and watched a musician perform. I could tell they didn’t want a congregation to lead. They wanted an audience to listen. They had worked all week on their vamp during the second verse and they didn’t want people like me messing it up by singing along.

Sermons have changed as well. I’ve noticed a pattern of sermons going from a well thought out journey from problem to solution to becoming a chain of two minute sound bites. I got the feeling that when the pastor was crafting the sermon, they wanted to be sure they gave their social media team plenty of content that could be chopped up into two minute YouTube clips. These days, a lot of pastors work hard at crafting sound bites rather than sermons. On more than one occasion I have walked out of service wondering if the pastor’s message was for their congregation at all. Was the pastor trying to attract followers or grow a congregation in grace? A lot of times I’ve concluded the preacher would prefer for me to be part of the audience, not the congregation.

Ego problems in church leadership aren’t anything new. Preaching to the crowd isn’t a recent discovery. When Covid hit, I told my friends Covid didn’t break anything, but it showed where the broken things were. In the same way, social media hasn’t broken anything, but it has spotlighted where the broken things are. A lot of preachers have had serious ego problems, but add a few thousand followers on Instagram and before you know it, pastors are preaching for the “likes.”

Leading worship in any capacity is a humbling privilege. To stand before the people of God and prayerfully lead them into His presence is a moment that can’t be described. Our congregations count on us as leaders to spend time in our own worship and stand before them with the authority and authenticity of a fresh encounter.

In our digital age, we can hear great music and inspiring speakers anytime. That’s not why we come to church. We come to church because we want to hear a testimony. We want to hear the witness of someone who has been where we want to go.

This essay was first posted in Scot McKnight’s newsletter.