Innovation Vs. Accessibility - Some Initial Reflections for The Church

At the recent Worship God 09 conference, this question was posed to C.J. Mahaney:

What role should creativity or excellence play? Should it be a goal? A priority? Proportionally, what kind of role should creativity play?

His response:

I like the word you used, “proportion”. Creativity should play a proportional role. The priority must be congregational singing. That must be the priority. The priority must be congregations singing gospel centered sound doctrine and being transformed by what they sing. Congregational singing must be the priority. Creativity, if employed, must serve that purpose and must not distract from the purpose and if it does not enhance that purpose...

Creativity should not be assumed. It is not primarily what we are about. We are not primarily about creativity. We are about content and we are about congregational singing.

Creativity must be handled very carefully or else creativity can easily distract from content and congregational singing. “What we win people with, is what we win them to”. We are not trying to win people to creativity. We are trying to win people with the content of the gospel. We are trying to win people to congregations passionately singing and freshly affected by the gospel.

So it doesn’t mean creativity doesn’t have a place or role, I am not arguing for predictability, but creativity must be handled carefully because it has been assigned, from my limited observation, exaggerated significance in the average modern American evangelical church.

I think this should bring great peace to the soul of the worship leader. Your role during the week is not... (I mean this should release all from the pressure...) to be more creative than you were last week. You role is to find your way, again and again and again to the content of the gospel. Your role is to promote and provoke congregational singing. That is your primary role and purpose, not the introduction of creativity that exceeds last week’s creativity.

I greatly appreciate C.J.’s comments here. I know for a fact (in spite of what you might think from the quote above) that C.J. loves creativity. He leads a ministry that is one of the most prolific I know of in producing new and fresh songs for congregational use. This is a huge creative endeavor. But again, the focal point of their creativity is to draw attention to the content of the gospel.

I have been reflecting recently on the tension that most church musicians live in between creative innovation and congregational accessibility. I think we are called to both and should reflect on how we are doing in each area. Most church leaders err on one side or another. Too much innovation can lead to a focus on the art itself and potentially (not always) away from the cross. Too much accessible singing that is rote or exactly the same week after week can (but not always) lead to sterile and unreflective participation.

The question is not IF you are creative, but HOW? For what purpose?

I would submit that we need to promote creativity and gospel-centeredness in all that we do as it pertains to the church gathering. Our gatherings certainly should not be a showcase of our creative abilities, but also not divorced from them. The aim and goal of our creativity should be to draw people’s attention to the gospel. Can we do both well? I think we can, but it will take much intentionality and hard work. If we can, I think God will be glorified and our people will be well served.