Planning Non-Traditional Worship That Explodes the "Non-Traditional-Culture" Box

It was brought to my attention that in the last four years of writing and speaking on worship, I have not contributed more than one or two articles or blogs about worship music, song selection, song writing, song sets, etc. The friend that brought this up has been following a number of different threads I contribute to and also gigs with me on a fairly regular basis. Given the very central role music plays in my life, he was curious about my silence on an issue that is so important to me and to my dreams for community worship.

So for the record, I have to say here that I am convinced intellectually, soulfully, experientially that music is a profound and important part of our community worship. I think it's biblical, it's historical, it's other-worldly, it's healing, it's connective - it's a powerful tool of osmosis where things make their way from the outside of our beings into the cracks and crevices of our minds and deep inner parts, sometimes without our even knowing it. With that said, I have to add that my reticence on this issue is to due to a still scarred and bloody forehead from banging my head against so many brick walls where musical dialogues are concerned.

Perhaps I so rarely think about the music conversation because I had hoped (do hope?) that we have moved beyond the idea that non-traditional means "new traditional"...song sets that are placed near the top of the worship hour and put together in an almost medley-style approach with interruptions only for offering, announcements, and possibly a presentation or performance piece before moving into the sermon. In the "new traditional," music is the primary means of worship and words like antiphon, meditation, penitential rite, alleluias, and benediction postures can feel out of touch and irrelevant (or in the extreme reactions, rote, empty, and heartless). On the best days, the "new traditional" is about joy and future hope; on the not-so-good days it can quickly slip into cultural rip-offs, sensationalism, and narcissism.

So where does that leave us?

When we begin our thinking and brain-mapping around worship, the first thing that will help us is to realize that non-traditional is not the same as no-traditional. We can't make the mistake of confusing content with style. So here are a few ideas to help launch your non-traditional musings for worship. Be cautioned: there is no formula, no plug-and-play idea that will work here. True non-traditional worship is about honest cultural immersion and ancient spiritual disciplines coming together in beautiful and disturbing ways to give a collective voice to the people. This is a process, but a rewarding and powerful one.

Become a diligent interviewer. If you can spend some time this week in conversation with three or four people with differing views of God, worship, church, spirituality and discover where they encountered God, where they experienced richness or soulfulness this week, you will be a better non-traditional worship leader. Part of our worship planning is to uncover or re-discover the things "out there" that are serving as windows into heaven - songs, orchestral works, poetry, movie clips, dancers, great artists, new artists, etc. - and bring them into our worship as interpretive tools. We need more sets of eyes, ears, and souls than we possess and we need them from the mysterious mosaic of God's people.

Become a lover of adjectives. When you are planning non-traditional worship, nothing speaks better than word pictures and adjectives to an imaginative mind and organizational creativity. We need new language as part of our non-traditional worship time and that starts in our planning. Our worship adjectives have become a little predictable and probably a little stale. Keep a notebook in your coat pocket or bag and capture words throughout your day that speak to these God-encounters. Remember, they won't all be pretty or comforting. Incorporate these words into your worship set through your media presentations, your liturgy, your songs, the headings of your movements.

Become a master recycle artist. Once you uncover these moments of revelation and encounter, it is up to us to find ways to incorporate this into our worship. The ditch we often drive into is just to force these to fit - use the movie clip, bring the song in for offering or as a response to the teaching, read the poetry, etc. We subconsciously think that we must keep the form completely in tact for it to retain it's soulfulness. On the contrary, it becomes worship when we affirm these things as revelation - and that will mean reshaping it, bending it, layering it, etc. One small and easily attained example of this was a worship band that started the worship service with a beautiful and powerful call to worship. It involved the infamous organ and guitar intro to "Where the Streets Have No Name" by U2 as the intro to "Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble?" by Delirious. This didn't feel like a forced musical decision (or a "look how cool and culturally relevant" move) because a) it was executed extraordinarily well and b) the two songs have complimentary themes. The combination was powerful and thought provoking. Easy. Possible. Beautiful.

Become a student of intent. We recently composed a jazz mass for a Sunday evening gathering. One of the most poignant moments of the evening was the psalmody. The liturgist, a beautiful Goth girl with a rather dark presence, read Psalm 51 as a po-jazz piece with the band...it was dissonant, tense, and transcendent. This was a very traditional ritual with a very non-traditional take and the result was that people were gripped and convicted throughout the reading. The power of this girl and the jazz quartet? Remembering the intent of the psalms - poetry, lament, and song. If tradition is stale, it's because we've lost sight of the intent and have lost our own power to interpret it in meaningful ways to our own culture. There are a number of great resources out now that give us easy access to what used to be limited to scholastic and academic quarters. Read a book a month on the rituals and practices of the Church, of spiritual formation, on scriptural interpretation.

Embrace the tapestry.Part of the beauty of a non-traditional approach is the possibility to create an almost tide-like flow to the service; something based on response, participation, and thoughtfulness. Really meaningful and transformational worship has always ebbed and flowed. This means a little more thought must go into the order of service - it can no longer be dictated by the usual "high energy at the top, thoughtful before the message, keep them in relative keys" formula. This must be intention based. It is the hope that entire service will feel connected from beginning to end and not separated into musical and non-musical categories. Spoken pieces and scripture reading can be poignant poetic elements and the band must begin to think like soundtrack composers and underscore pieces according to intention. (This is where jazz musicians are AMAZING if you have access!!) This is important because people want to feel led and they are hoping for a framework - something that is hard to do with a song medley.

Make use of your media ministry. This is a powerful place to bust out of the box. We have so many expected ways of seeing God in the world, we could use the guidance to see God in the beauty and darkness around us. Avoiding cliches and looking for more abstract symbolism and imagery is important. The early Church artists were masters of symbol and color. We should embrace that legacy.

No formula. No immediate fix. But hopefully this mental framework can be incorporated into your planning in a way that will prompt some new musings. These are conversation starters, not destinations.

Music is an interpretive tool as is the prayers of the people, the words of institution, art, image, dance, space...we are artists called to give people windows into our collective experience and mirror reflections of God-Among-Us. We will all do that with our own unique and original flavor and must embrace that if we are to bust out of the expectations of Christian culture - even "non-traditional" Christian culture. Blessings on you and your work this week. May you have eyes and ears attuned to soul and life.


Jodi Adams is a teacher, author, and visionary for community worship. She serves as a teaching pastor and worship pastor at an urban church.

Passionate about empowering artists and leaders to take their congregations beyond the culture box, Jodi is a contributor to CTI's FaithVisuals.com and GiftedforLeadership.com and speaks regularly on the convergence of cultural issues and worship.

Jodi is currently completing her M.Div. at Denver Seminary and finishing her first book, which is due out next year. She and her jazzy husband, Justin, live in Denver with their three children: Sara, Anna-Michelle, and Leo, along with Karma the Wonder Dog.