They warned me time and time again. Before returning to the United States from living overseas, colleagues shared from their own reverse culture shock experiences. Across the board, the topic they assured me would be most difficult to adjust to was the American church.
Since landing on U.S. soil I’ve sang with congregations in which music was lead by a djembe (hand drum) and an acoustic guitar–no amplifier or microphone in sight. I’ve also participated in Sunday morning services involving concert-like lighting, large screens and band members playing multiple instruments from a stage. Then I’ve experienced worship somewhere in between the two paradigms, entailing a couple plugged-in guitars and microphones.
Was one experience more spiritual than the others? Was I able to focus on being in God’s presence better with more or less electronics involved?
Growing up, the classic piano and organ plus choir combination comprised church music. Overseas, worship transitioned from a Gospel-like choir with piano style to a praise band form–piano, amplified acoustic guitar and djembe plus an occasional electric bass.
Honestly, the lights and presence of my band-on-stage experience once back in the States initially threw me off. Those leading worship seemed focused on our Creator, which in turn helped me remember to whom I was to be paying attention, not the moving bright lights or the performance of the leaders. Yet it definitely required a conscious effort of focus.
Don’t get me wrong, distractions exist everywhere–they can bombard your mind whether you’re in a sanctuary seating thousands or a classroom where 20 is a tight fit.
Caleb Crider says once a church plant reaches a growth point of wanting to add cables and amplification, you face a crucial decision in the Sound System Rule.
“As soon as you do something that requires the use of a sound system, you’re on the path toward an unsustainable attractional form of church” because “the presentation becomes a performance,” he writes.
Personal interaction within the church takes a hike in what Grady Bauer calls the sound system curse. I have to agree. In my larger-church experiences where the lights and electronics seemed of top quality, my interaction with the pastor was brief and shallow. When worshipping with the congregation that required no cables at all, I shared in deep and meaningful conversations with leadership as well as lay members, and felt like a valuable part of the meeting.
Does this mean larger churches are bad? They’re definitely a drawing point for some, and can host larger events that reach the masses in one shot. However, I think they certainly cannot stand alone. Without personal interaction in a non-cable environment, I think the believer is greatly missing out on genuine fellowship and encouragement (Hebrews 10:25).
Crider points out the return of the low/retro-tech movement, driving people to drop the desire for “shiny, new, smaller, faster (and) lighter” to pursue the more environment-friendly and materialism-reducing. Is this the direction in which our churches should be going? Should larger congregations drop their lights and sound boards for multiple one-room circles of weekly gatherings? Francis Chan is seriously considering this option with his sizable congregation.
Let me know what your experience has been with and without sound systems. Which do you prefer? Better yet–which is missional?
Written by Natalie Kaspar. Natalie is a freelance writer for The Upstream Collective and lives in Texas. She served as a missionary writer based out of Prague, Czech Republic, from 2007-2009, and plans to return to full-time international mission work in a few years.
I come from a church that can definitely be considered high-tech. With a congregation of a few thousand, we have several campuses, a few of which watch our pastor’s messages via video. I think that a large congregation is a great thing, because you have so much diversity and so many resources and outlets to be missional and reach the community. The way God has worked through our congregation to bless our city has astounded me ever since I joined the church.
But I do agree that, once a church gets to a “sound system size,” you lose a great bit of the genuine community that you find in smaller churches. I think at that point, it’s easy to get caught up in the lights and sounds and sheer size of the church, viewing it as a performance and completely miss the fellowship aspect of the church– thereby missing a key element of what God intends for the church! I think that in a large church, small groups are crucial, and we should emphasize them like crazy. I spent the first month at my church aimlessly attending Sunday services and feeling pretty overwhelmed and lonely. But upon my first week of attending a small group, I had found a niche and a community of believers who could share and spend time together and pray together, and from that point on, church was a completely different experience. I was part of both a tight-knit community and a large group of people who shared a love for Christ and for their city.
So, all that rambling to say, I think it’s not so much about the size of the church or its technology, but about making sure each individual has fellowship and an outlet to serve alongside those in the church!
Megan, thanks for sharing from your own experiences! I have to agree–within a larger church, one must take the initiative to plug into a smaller group, otherwise they can simply spectate and miss the point of being a part of the body of Christ. Unfortunately, I think many are “afraid” of taking that step of joining a small group and are simply comfortable “going to church” on a weekly basis.
I totally agree. My church definitely sees that problem, and it’s not exactly the most nurturing environment for visitors. With a congregation of 3,000, I don’t know whether the person sitting beside me is new or has been at the church for 5 years! I think large churches need to take major initiative to seek out people and help them get involved, or else it’s super easy to get sucked into that Sunday churchgoer role and never really find a place to serve/have fellowship in the church. A small church, I think, is better able to welcome people and create a single close community with accountability.