Livin' On A Prayer: How Bon Jovi Shaped Contemporary Worship

 

Atmospheric Intro
Lightly Instrumented First Verse
BIG Sing Along Chorus
Second (and 3rd) verses get more anthmatic each time.
Key Change to Make Final Chorus Even Bigger

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You could call this a template for the modern worship song. Pull out a live version of "How Great Is Our God" or "Mighty To Save" and you will easily find it. But the worship writers in Brentwood, Tennessee didn't figure this out first. It wasn't planned out at a design meeting for the Passion conferences. Louie Giglio and Chris Tomlin didn't dream it up during the early stages of One Day.

My friends....this template comes from New Jersey and was perfected (and somewhat invented) by Jon Bon Jovi. That's right, 1980's hair metal drives modern worship. I first thought about this a few years ago and brought it up to a few people. We couldn't find an earlier of example to describe what now is considered normal in worship songwriting.

If you couple this template with another HUGE 1980's influence, you can easily describe most worship that you find at big conferences and many churches. Here is my equation.

Bon Jovi (Livin On A Prayer) + U2 (Where the streets have no name)= Your Grace is Enough.

 

Culture drives how worship is delivered. Our bodies are tuned to accept and acknowledge certain types of music as appropriate to draw a response. "Pop" worship works just like pop music. It provides a vehicle that is accessible to a large amount of people. While I don't prefer this type of worship, I can worship through it. As much as I claimed to despise Bon Jovi in the early 90's (I was more of a Soundgarden guy), you will catch me rolling down the window to a few songs. It appeals to the senses.

The context of pop worship allows for it to be consumed by a cumulative mass of people. We can get into a discussion of if this is actually good, but we have to acknowledge the cultural appeal. You can theoretically enjoy Worship Music as a genre if you are not a Christian. Aesthetics matters in worship design, because the musical vehicle needs to make sense for who the worship is designed for. Consumption strategy is both a blessing and a curse.

These songs provide a place for human involvement. U2 nailed the songs that peoples spirits want to sing. It isn't an overindulgent rock star singing about women or substances, but a body of people acting out hope together. These songs were meant to get people singing.

When worship is designed for small specific groups of people or is used as an identifier by a specific culture of Christians we might see different forms of expression. The next few posts in this series will look at some more outsider perspectives.

Comments

[julie]

Hey Chad. Great discussion topic. Thanks for putting this out there.

///When worship is designed for small specific groups of people or is used as an identifier by a specific culture of Christians we might see different forms of expression///

Do you feel that different forms of expression can start to be seen when we design worship for small specific groups within the larger corporate body in the context of a Sunday service or other gathering with large groups?

I guess I wonder if attempting to engage larger groups by engaging smaller groups within the larger group is a way to begin seeing some of these different forms of expression.

Do you think this happens in a way now? Some people choose certain churches because they engage in the spoken word in worship with certain pastors. Some people go to a church where they don't engage as much with the spoken word in worship because they engage with the musical worship.

I would love to know your thoughts.

[julie]

This blog is great. I have a lot to learn and I always get great insight from your blog. Thanks so much.

[Chad]

Julie-Thanks for the comments and thoughts. Sorry it took awhile to get back, I am moving a few states away.

I think worship designed for specific groups of people is really ideal, especially if the group is already engaged in deep practices of shared (congregational) worship. If they aren't, it could encourage it...or it could backfire.

I do think that when folks worship in smaller groups they might encourage more interaction in larger groups. I think many congregations struggle with engagement simply because folks have shifted from a place where they didn't engage (traditional worship) to one where they think it is appropriate to still consume. Does that make sense?

Anyway, I have a few more posts in this series coming up. Some questions might get answered there.

[julie]

Hey Chad! Thanks for getting back, and Happy Birthday! I knew you were moving so I appreciate your taking time to answer the question.

I'm really looking forward to more posts on this subject as I am struggling with the question of how to engage the current culture in worship without losing the focus of WHO and WHY we worship in the first place.

I was just thinking that maybe if there is an element in our worship that engages a smaller group in one moment, then another element that engages another worshipper at another moment, then it will be more engaging all around.

I would love to see us become more comfortable with silence. I mean, intentional silence that is not awkward.

Thanks for starting this series. I am very excited about engaging in the discussion.

God bless you in your move, and congratulations on your graduation!