Thoughts from Class

So you have to know that I'm really missing my Dr. Pepper if I'm about to write stuff about one of my classes. Just for a quick update, I'm on day 7 of my water only kick. I'm really hoping to make it a whole month and see if I can tell any difference. It's going OK but I really miss it. The hardest times are late at night when I'm just sitting around the apartment. (Kind of like now!)

But back to my class today. I'm in a worship class focusing on current trends in worship, mainly the emerging church (at least I think that's where we are headed). The first few days, we've spent the majority of the time focusing on the millennial generation (those born roughly from the early 80's until 2000), and the ways in which they have broken from the previous generations. One of the ways that we looked at this is through the acronym EPIC.

E xperiential
P articipatory
I mage-driven
C onnected

I wanted to find something that really encompassed all of these aspects of Millennials. The first thing that came to my mind was some of the concerts that I have attended. One of my favorite bands, and by far the best concerts that I've been to, is Mute Math. Check out this video and look for some of these aspects in their show.



I hope you enjoyed that as much as I did. But it's obvious that through using lights and sounds and wierd Atari instruments hooked up to computers and synthesizers, they engage their audience. It's truly an Experience, the audience is participating. I didn't see it in this video, but I've seen them use projectors in their shows, simply rotating different black and white photographs in the background. They connect with their audience, the lead singer goes out into the audience and lets them play the Atari.

So all of this got me thinking. How should we incorporate these aspects into our worship services? Is there any carry over between a Mute Math concert and our time of worship on Sunday mornings in "big church?" I know that our worship services are not for entertainment purposes. They are not meant to be a show. Worship services aren't about us, about us receiving any praise or glorification; we don't do it for a big applause at the end of the service. But I'm thinking in terms of engaging the audience, specifically this millennial generation. It may be hard to discern simply from watching the video, but when you attend one of Mute Math's concerts, you are instantly drawn in, instantly engaged, instantly focused on the matter at hand. All other distractions are postponed, put aside, or forgotten. So should we start lining the backs of our stages with fluorescent lights? Should I start practicing my handstands on top of my keyboard? How about pouring water on the drum set and putting a back light on them, so you get a cool splashing water effect when the drummer pounds the drums?

What do you think? Obviously I'm being semi-facetious in some of my examples, but what lessons can we learn from these concerts, if any, about engaging the people we lead in worship?