My church voted in a new lead pastor two years ago, and we’ve been transitioning several areas as we work out a new vision for advancing the Kingdom and impacting our community. Part of that has been a shift (partly conscious, partly incidental) in our services that makes me them more appealing to younger people.
One of those shifts included a rearrangement of our stage and the introduction of a new sound guy, a professionally trained, twenty-something sound guy. He remixed our sound, boosted the volume, and rattled the house by using our subwoofers for the first time in years. Honestly, it sounded awesome, but we got a few complaints from older people.
This prompted an important question:
Should we go back to what we used to do and make older people happy, or should we stick to what we’re doing because it creates an environment where younger people want to worship?
The False Dichotomy: Either, Or
We kinda trapped ourselves right out of the gate. It’s not a matter of “either or.” We don’t have to go back to what we did before, nor do we have to stick with out changes. There’s this lovely idea called “compromise.” Now, I used to see compromise as “everyone loses,” but as I’ve gotten older, I’ve heard this wonderful phrase called the “middle way.” There’s almost always a path that we can take between two extremes.
And that’s the path we’re taking.
We dropped the bass guitar and kick drum, but not back to where they used to be. We also dropped the total volume, but again, it’s louder than it was. Now, what was also helpful was that we didn’t just respond to the complaints at face value. We looked for any hidden issues that might have contributed to the complaints. In our case, part of the problem was our under-the-balcony speakers. They were being overdriven and had far too much of the high range and almost no mid range. And the worst issue? The delay was off considerable. WIth these issues dealt with, the complaints disappeared.
Tailoring Your Mix
I used to be a youth pastor. When I held that position, I spoke three or four times a month to a group of junior high kids with an attention span shorter than this sentence. Occasionally, I was given the opportunity to speak to the adult congregation on Sunday evenings. (Never give the youth pastor a Sunday morning, unless it’s a holiday weekend when no one’s likely to show anyway.) When I spoke for the adults, I would often take one of the messages I’d already written and reshape it, tailor it, for the shift in age and maturity of my audience.
This is the same thing we must do with mixing sound in worship.
Sure, I might love screeching guitars and bass so thick you can pour on it your pancakes if you run out of syrup, but that doesn’t mean that everyone does. If I could go back and speak to myself when I was running sound at the ripe old age of 18, I’d say this:
“It’s your job, your act of worship, to help the congregation worship God in corporate unison. This is requires a balanced mixture of sound. It may not sound like the music you’d play in your car, but that doesn’t make it bad. Figure out what someone in your generation would like, what someone in your grandparents’ generation might like, and then find a good middle ground. You don’t own the mix; you’re stewarding the mix for God so that His people can worship.”
I wouldn’t step up to the mic in a youth group and begin forty-five minute exposition on the book of Numbers, nor would I open a sermon in front of my adult congregation with a fart joke. I tailor my approach—without sacrificing the truth of the message—to my audience. A good and godly sound tech will do the same.
Running sound is an act of worship designed to help others worship; is your attitude regarding your mix a worshipful one?
How loud should your church worship service be?
[Sound board image via Keoki Seu via Compfight cc and the 2nd image via B Rosen via Compfight cc]
Josh Ferris says
Hey Phil – you raise a good point about balance. Depending on individual context, I would also consider:
1 – The vision of each individual church. Balance makes sense if age is evenly represented. Although sometimes, one age group clearly outweighs the others. We probably wouldn’t even crack the subs in a church of 90% seniors. On the flip side, why compromise with a congregation of primarliy young people. Target audience and vision win the day.
2 – The Church is missional. People often need reminding that “style” is about reaching a demographic currently leaving the church in droves. You make an excellent point about frequency, but that’s not just for older folks. I don’t like a harsh mix either! But there’s a differnce between “it hurts my ears” and “I don’t like that”.
Thanks for letting my chime in. Good post, thanks for writing!
Phil Schneider says
Great points, Josh! I should have given more context to my ideas here, but with blog posts, brevity is key!
Our church is a congregation built out of many generations, but young adults—our growing target—is one of the smaller generations. To that end, we’re trying to restructure things to make the atmosphere more inviting for younger folks, without driving away the people who built the church in the first place.
One of the best pieces of advice my dad, also a paster, ever gave me was this: a pastor has to steward his congregation. What he was saying is that you have to respect and treasure the people God gave you, even as you seek out more. I would add that a pastor has to cultivate his congregation, shaping them and guiding them to where they need to go.
That’s what we’re trying to do. Slower than I’d like, but probably faster than our older people would like. That’s the Church: loving each other despite our differences.
Hyun Oak Kim says
Thanks for this article. I found this site while doing a search for “we need more fans”.
I find that in most “progressive” churches I visit, the sound is overamplified. When the music team is drowning out people’s singing, it can hinder worship.
Phil Schneider says
It certainly can, Hyun! That was actually one of the best aspects of some of our changes. Our worship leader was hard to pick out from the cacophony of sound, but now, he’s crisp and easy to understand. It really makes a difference!
Greg says
Well said…definitely well said.
Along the same lines, you’re never going to make everyone happy all the time. It just won’t happen.
Phil Schneider says
Greg, you are certainly right! What’s that great saying, “I can only make one person happy a day. Today isn’t your day, and tomorrow isn’t looking good either.”
Thanks for the comment!
Owen says
I think another important point is helping people to realise the vision and get on board. Explain why it’s loud and help people to embrace it. If we’re not careful we make youth nights fun and church ‘boring’ then wonder why kids don’t stick at church post 16. At our church we unashamedly aim our services at u25s and the older people we have love it because it’s full of young people.
We also have a saying that has proved profound over the years:
“What you compromise to keep you will eventually lose.”
It’s a skill of leadership to transition people to new ways of thinking and courage to stick to the non-negotiables is also a great attribute.
That said, I think there is a limit to how loud feels right but it varies with room and audience size. More intuitive this scientific though perhaps.
Eric Dye says
I’ve always love this concept, as you said: “Running sound is an act of worship designed to help others worship…”
I think if you are really living this out, you are going to be on the winning side of things. As for pushback and complaints, as long as we let people come to church, it’s going to happen. 😉
Phil Schneider says
Yeah, boss, you’re totally right. Church would run so much more smoothly without all the people! JK
Eric Dye says
But seriously. LOL!