Exploring the Worship Spectrum Quotes

“The ancient church teaches us that the church sustains three relationships to culture all at once: It is part of it; it is an antithesis to it; it is called to transform it. These relationships are always held in tension with culture.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“Honestly, to my contemporary worship mind-set, the emphasis on structure usually leaves me a bit perplexed. It always feels a bit like creating a format on how I should tell my wife I love her. Do this, then tell her this, then the flowers, then the kiss. Now do it like that every time. Laying out a specific order of communication might help me express my love to her more effectively for a time or two, but after that the structure seems to get in the way of what I am trying to do. It seems to me that the heart can fairly quickly be overwhelmed by a strict adherence to form, and in worship the heart remains deeply important.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“was it Martin Luther who told of a time when he was focused intently on the person and work of Christ? The Holy Spirit was there as if in the form of a dove, gently alight on his shoulder, and when Luther turned his attention to the Spirit and away from Christ, the dove flew away. This story may go too far in the other direction, but I believe it contains at least a modest lesson”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“Contemporary worship uses “the language of this generation to lead people into . . . a genuine experience of the presence of God.” Up until now, the generation that has been associated with the adjective “contemporary” has been almost exclusively the baby-boomer generation—roughly, those of us born between 1945 and 1963. But if we take a look at the dictionary definition of “contemporary,” it means, literally, “of the now.” Two subsequent generations have emerged since the boomers: those born from 1964 to 1979 (now mid-twenty-something to about forty) and those born since 1980. When I hear many of these young people talk about the contemporary worship they grew up with in church (make note: they use that word not with its dictionary meaning, but quite accurately as a descriptor of the praise-and-worship styles of the past two decades), it is clear that the worship of their baby-boomer parents is as irrelevant to many of them as classical, European worship was to the baby boomers themselves. Those”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“whatever we do, let us not default to one form of music as the apex of quality and religious acceptability. God is far too creative and God’s world far too diverse to be limited to a single cultural expression.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“Rather than allowing the safety and familiarity of forms to permit our hearts to disengage, or allowing a hip beat or guitar rift to generate superficial emotion, it is imperative that our walk with God remain real, that our dialogue with his Spirit be moment to moment, that our communication of his truth be accurate, engaging, and authentic.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“Those who opt for contemporary worship at its best are absolutely committed to offering heartfelt, fully engaged, jubilant expressions of love and thanks to the One who so wildly loves us.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“worship is multiform, not uniform. God is not threatened by this reality—he ordained it; he expects it; he glories in it.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“Agood hymnbook is also clever—or maybe I should say a good hymnbook in the hands of a clever worship leader is a remarkably flexible tool. Through the use of metrical and tune indices, new matchings of tunes and texts can be found that allow for variety and freshness. For instance, in a church with a limited music budget, a modest but eager choir, and minimum arranging skills on the part of the leader, new combinations of tune and text can be turned into fresh, singable, and accessible anthems, and not a penny has been spent on music.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views

“What I think God cares about is the disengaged heart. I do not think that he is particularly interested in our theories or techniques of worship except as they are effective in genuinely drawing hearts to him. Worship that is not heartfelt and authentic simply does not interest him.”
― Paul Basden, Exploring the Worship Spectrum: 6 Views