Worship as Art, or Design?
Fusing form and function for worship resources
Worship songwriters (and others who create resources for worship - video editors, visuals-creators, prayer-writers etc) are often referred to as 'artists'. They tend to be 'creative types', and often model themselves on the popular artists of our day - the singer/songwriter alone in her room, searching her soul in the small hours of the night for that perfect song that expresses the depths of her emotional state. Recently, not one but two books have been published under the title 'Curating Worship', both developing the metaphor of the worship-leader-as-art-curator; selecting and juxtaposing different artistic media for congregations to engage with more like a crowd at a gallery.
I'm not denying that we need Christians who are engaging wholeheartedly in the artistic process, or that worship songwriters or resource-makers shouldn't be exposing themselves to an increasing range of inspiring and challenging art. Bring it on! But I would question whether the dominant model or metaphor for the worship songwriter, planner or resource-creator should be that of 'artist'. It seems like a useful, and yet incomplete, picture.
Great artists, I think most would agree, excel in self-expression. Their work should be honest and personal, coming from their emotions and experience. It doesn't matter particularly whether or not people understand their work, or can even relate to it, what matters is that it is authentically their 'voice'. Art also thrives on being new, being controversial, being about form rather than function, and often in showing off skill, talent or raw 'attitude'.
Designers, on the other hand, have a related but significantly different role. They are crazy not to be inspired by great art, but they know their work goes beyond self-expression and outward form. Great design, as well as being beautiful, authentic and original, must also work. The 'function' is as important as the 'form'. In fact, the more effectively and efficiently the design fulfills the brief, the more beautiful it is considered (eg Apple's iPad). 
It would seem to me that creating resources for worship is more like design than art, because worship needs to 'work', not just for the writer but for the congregations who use the resource. For example, a congregational worship song needs to be singable by the majority of the congregation, not just the musician who wrote it. A set of words needs to be true for a whole crowd of people to express, not just the inner workings of the writers soul. A piece of visual art for worship needs to be accessible to a wide range of people, not just the 'arty types' who 'get it'.
That doesn't mean there isn't room for ambiguity, personal interpretation or transcendence in worship. Those are some of God's great gifts to us through art! But they need to be used thoughtfully, and I can't help feeling that the majority of an act of worship ought to be, at least on a surface level, clearly understandable for everyone. Part of the designer's skill is to give that act of worship hidden depths and resonances, so that people can approach it again and again, finding more truth as they go deeper.
One way of thinking about this is that designers will always work to a brief - a set of goals they need to achieve for the design to be successful. The same questions could be asked of a song or other worship resource -
- who is going to use it: what type of congregation/service/band/pastor? How will this effect the way I write this piece?
- what is it trying to express: what is the central theme, the scriptural basis, the main message?
- what response do I want to get from the users: praise, confession, intercession, commitment...?
- how are others going to be able to re-use this: is it easily repeatable?
- and finally - does this resource achieve these goals in an engaging, beautiful and original way?
As I have begun to think this way, I've found it releasing. Although I continue to put myself into my resources, I'm not seeing the things I make for church worship as primarily about 'expressing myself' but about meeting the needs of others. I can continue to be influenced by art, music and films, but at the same time submit those influences to the service of congregations, and consider their needs more important than my preferences. When form and function combine, then I know I'm on to something.
As a fairly unscientific but interesting experiment to test my theory that worship resource-makers might consider themselves 'designers' more than 'artists', I googled 'design quotes' and then tried to apply them to worship. The results were quite revealing...
"Design should never say, "Look at me." It should always say, "Look at this." — David Craib.
Wouldn't it be great if all worship songs, prayers, services, visuals etc were completely pointing to God and his heart for the world, rather than the singer, the particular church, the 'artist'?
"People ignore design that ignores people."— Frank Chimero
How about "people ignore worship that ignores people" - eg has the song been written with the concerns, the experiences, the vocal ranges of the congregation it in mind? Have we considered the minorities, the fringe-y people, the newcomers, those with particular needs in our worship?
"Good design is obvious. Great design is transparent."— Joe Sparano
There are objects that are so well designed we barely notice them - the stacking chair, the biro, the lightbulb. Aren't truly great worship songs/resources transparent - you hardly notice them because they are doing their job so well of pointing you towards God; helping you to praise him, or confess your sin, or intercede for the world...etc?
"Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design, it's decoration." — Jeffrey Zeldman
When our worship is lacking biblical, truthful and authentic content, is it any more than decoration?
"Design is an opportunity to continue telling the story, not just to sum everything up." — Tate Linden
Isn't worship an opportunity to continue telling the story of God, what he is doing in our lives today, how his Kingdom is being worked out in our 24/7 experiences? Isn't the creation of new worship resources today a chance to praise God for his recent acts as well as his ancient ones, in new styles as well as old?
And finally, just in case you think I'm saying its all about planning and thought with no inspiration, how about this great quote -
"A designer can mull over complicated designs for months. Then suddenly the simple, elegant, beautiful solution occurs to him. When it happens to you, it feels as if God is talking! And maybe He is." — Leo Frankowski
I long for the songs I write, the resources I make and the services I help lead to be simple, elegant and beautiful solutions to the issues of how to help diverse congregations express themselves to God, and to allow God to reveal himself to his people today. May you mull over your services, think through your songs and craft your resources in such a way that God is talking through them.
Comments
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I wonder if Art and Design as you've expressed should inspire and feed off each other. There in we can have the surprise and the discomfort that moves us out of complacency and yet have the order that is part of the promise of God.
I've read both books and fail to see how the comments he makes have any relevance to the basis of either book, which he seems to be dissing.
Before you assume content and context of a book, one should actually read it. If he has read them, then sadly he's missed the Message.
His comment--
"But I would question whether the dominant model or metaphor for the worship songwriter, planner or resource-creator should be that of 'artist'. It seems like a useful, and yet incomplete, picture"
--has two fallacies: #1: He has misinterpreted the definition of curator, which is not interchangeable with the definition of artist. Some artists are curators, but not all curators are artists. and #2, and most dangerous misunderstanding is his implication that a curator is self-absorbed. That is the direct opposite of what the role of a curator is.
A worship curator "sets the stage", so to speak, not necessarily literally, with elements that guide the conversations. As Mark Pierson puts it, the worship curator arranges a "frame for the existing elements . . . a frame that conveys a particular message; a message beyond that of the individual elements." And the most critical aspect and most significant aspect of this role definition is that a curator intentionally allows room/time/space for the Holy Spirit to move within the worship.
A "Worship curator" is not a buzz phrase, or a fad, or a gimmick. An authentic worship curator is a humble servant of God and humble servant of the congregation. A worship curator chooses to provide context rather than just a be "presenter of content".
The bottom line is that we live to worship our God, be it as a designer, artist, curator, pastor, faciltator, leader, muscian, teacher or student, and I appreciate the encouragement and direction that the author provided in the rest of this article.
I think that every good idea, concept or movement has the possibility of becoming a fad or a gimmick - I'm not suggesting 'worship curator' is there, but I'm sure that some healthy critique, graciously received, can only strengthen its authenticity. Thanks for your honest response, and for your kind words about the rest of the article.
My apologies for being "anonymous", I signed in but for whatever reason my name was not posted, which is fine, but not intentional.
Obviously we are both passionate about our God! God is very intimate with us! A natural consequence of that relationship is our passion for stimulating, encouraging and challenging worship to engage and be personally significant in the whole life of the participants so they can discover that God is eager for intimacy with them!
So often leaders of worship over-plan and hold on tight to each detail so that the "program" is air tight and God can't breathe life into the worship.
What I learned from Jonny Baker in 2000, was to allow God to inspire creative worship and leave room for God to infuse our worship. Don't be addicted to formulas, worship recipes and worship "tricks". Explore with your own two feet, two hands, two eyes and one heart for God. But it is easy to see how natural (lazy!) it is to take someone else's worship outline and duplicate it, not for the sake of a "dangerous" worship experience with God but for the sake of producing a "cool" worship to fill the time "slot" that you are responsible and obligated to provide. Some people just use Jonny's worship "tricks" and this engageworship site to harvest a script and forget to allow space for our living God to be redolent within their worship culture.
I think when Mark Pierson coined the word "worship curator" many years ago, he provided a valid redefinition of a worship leader's role. I agree "that every good idea, concept or movement has the possibility of becoming a fad or a gimmick" if it is not Christocentric. The natural function of a curator position reminds them that worship is a thin space that is condusive for a pause in momentum, a sacred crack in time, when the punter is still and can know I AM.
The scribbling in the sand.
cREDo!
There is a book out called something like 'The worship Architect' - haven't read it yet, but I wonder if that is something close to what I'm getting at? Probably need a fusion of 'curator', 'architect', plus some other metaphors! (MC, priest, servant, chef, host, player/manager...?) :)
I'll look in to sorting out that name thing...
Now that I've been working as a web designer for 6 months I've had to think about this artdesign stuff a lot. One thing I struggled with at the start (and still do a bit) is when I'm not happy with a design visually, or would want to make a number of changes (so it's the way I like it), but the client likes it a different way, and they're paying, so we do it their way! You're right about design being for a purpose and it does seem a very helpful tension to hold in worship - art and design in balance should lead us to produce good stuff that lookssounds good but is also on target.
Maybe the place for "art for art's sake" is in the secret place?
I like the way you take the design quotes and interpret them also. I love the one about "content precedes design" - I hate trying to be creative out of an empty heart. I've come to realise that the seasons of creative dryness are more to do with distance from God, or a heart that is not flowing freely in some area of life. The most creative times are those of struggle or joy. The grey, bland days when life seems routine are the very worst for being creative. It's like being in the doldrums - there is no wind in the sails, either behind you to bear you forward, or ahead of you, to cause you to reach inside for those deep resources (which often produce great creative energy).
Another aspect of art, perhaps just as important as self expression, is response. My very favourite quote on this comes from Sinead O'Connor's song "I want to make something beautiful for you and from you, to show you I adore you." Wow.
Really good article - sparked off lots of thoughts for me (which I'll obviously have to nail down into some sort of form... ;-) ) about worship and the shape of worship and so forth. Particularly pertinent for those of us in the Anglican tradition, where we have the tension between free-flowing expressive worship and the liturgical structure, a tension which for me makes planning worship a joy and a challenge.
Is there something, perhaps, in the thought that a well designed piece of worship, be it service, song, image, whatever, leaves room for others to be creative in it? Just as a well designed piece of tech like the iPad lets people use it in the way that works for their life - it doesn't just 'work', but it 'works in the way that is right for the human being that is me'.
My favourite quote from those you give is the one from Joe Sparano about great design being transparent. If one can design a Service of the Word in a way that just flows and leads people to some kind of transformation in worship - the liturgy not getting in the way but contributing on different levels, the songs flowing from readings and so on, then I think that would be a design achievement.
I'm not sure that the curator metaphor completely works for me, but then I haven't read the book(s) - is there space for the curator to contribute their own art to the 'exhibition'?
Thanks for the great input. Yes, that is a really helpful thought, that designing something well will mean the 'users' can then be creative and find space through it.
Glad you found this sparked thoughts for your context. Sam
I will try to find and read these books .
I wonder about the role of the congregation though. My own personal view, for what its worth and without the benefit of reading the books, is based on the metaphor used by Kierkergaard. I believe that the congregation must be considered as the worshipers, the performers if you like. The leader's role is to facilitate this as a conductor or director. If this is a worthwhile concept then the artist or designer labouring away in the early hours in the garret can only ever produce a framework in which the worship can take place. Too much artist or designer input then there is the danger of the worshippers becoming an audience. During the service the worship leader has to sense the congregational involvement and work with this to assist the people in their worship. I do not believe that surrogate worship can ever be more than a poor substitute for the real thing.
Sorry to go on but I will be at Spring Harvest and perhaps you can open this matter up further for me?
Richard
I agree that "designer" is a good almost synonym for what "curator" is shaping up to be in the worship world, in many respects.
I do wish your definition of artists were a little broader. I recently shared this broader perspective on the role of the artist in church.
I am the author of "The Art of Curating Worship: reshaping the role of worship leader" - one of the books you alluded to. I look forward to your reflections when you have read it Sam. (Big thanks to my anonymous defender!)
I appreciate your perspective, and your comments. They are all valid. I agree with them all.
I use both "curator' and "designer" when I talk about worship. I also encourage people (those putting worship together ie designing it) to think about worship as an artform, and the elements within a worship event as "mini art installations". So I do also describe corporate public worship as "art".
What I am trying to do with this reframing of vocabulary and language is move people to take worship more seriously than we have often done in the past, and to understand it more broadly than as the administrative "fill the slots" exercise it often is. I want to see leaders taking the whole worship event as seriously as we have previously taken the sung part of it.
In my thinking and practice, designing and curating are complementary but somewhat distinct tasks. Of course these are fairly arbitrary distinctions and are open to argument.
I generally use "designing" to refer to the process that takes place in my preparation before the worship event, and "curating" to describe the process that takes place during the delivery of the worship event. Having said that, I do also use curating in reference to the process of preparation! I am inconsistent! It's an artform after all!
The term "worship curator" has no specified worship content, biblical text or theology attached to it. It describes a process that is different for every church, for every worship event of those churches, and for every worship curator of those worship events. It isn't a worship style. It's a counter to the narrow understanding of "worship leader" and the low value our practice often places on worship. Curating is a process for designing worship that can be applied to Lutheran as well as Pentecostal, Baptist, and mega-church as well as house church worship.
I would be very disappointed if the Church ended up in arguments about semantics and did nothing about working on better ways to help people engage with God. I want only to see more people following Jesus in the subcultures in which they live - and finding ways of worshipping that sustain them in doing that. Call that worship process designing or curating, I don't mind, just as long as lots of people are doing it and providing a broad range of worship styles and events that engage an even wider range of people.
Thanks very much for your perceptive comments. I'm delighted to find someone thinking seriously about the process of putting a worship event together. Let me know what you think of the book when you have read it.
Warm regards...
Thanks so much for the kind and thoughtful comments. I ordered 'The Art of Curating Worship' and it arrived the day after I left on holiday, so it's lined up for when I get back!
S
I think also that curator, designer, or artist implies less emphasis on the hearers than should be the case. We must not be believers gathering to do worship, but worshippers gathering to continue our worship together.
While on books & worship, I've just started The Worship-Driven Life by A.W.Tozer, as the view of the worshipper, having recently read The Spirit-Filled Church by T.Virgo as the view of the church.
Alan Lloyd
My suspicion is we need all the descriptors we can thoughtfully engage to help us fully realize this grand service enterprise to which we are called. Each term seems to help in some way.
IN Connie Cherry's fine book "The Worship Architect" she enumerates at least three different terms for the sacrament (or ordinance, depending on your theological heritage and persuasion) of the Lord's table (communion, Lord's supper and eucharist.) Most of us are more comfy with one of these and somewhat less so the other two. But she makes the great observation that each of these terms helps complete the over-all picture of that is really going on in that act. I suspect it is the same here.
I do applaud the "servant" role of the planner/curator/designer/leader you have described here. If we're not finding a way to wash feet in whatever our endeavors may be I'm afraid we've missed the entire point~