Getting to the heart of the Hillsong worship ‘revolution’

You may not recognize her name (or have a clue how to pronounce it) and you may not know her face (or her distinctive retro chic outfits). But, like presidents and popes, you will have almost certainly sung one of her songs. She is Darlene Zschech, the woman who wrote the song 'Shout to the Lord'. And chances are, it is not simply her melodies and poetry that have influenced you, for not only is she an accomplished songwriter, Zschech has been the head of the Worship and Creative Arts Department at Hillsong Church in Australia since 1996.

With some 12,000 members, Hillsong is Australia's largest church. But through its music and conferences, its influence spreads much further afield than just the rolling Hills district around Sydney. What Willow Creek did for 'seeker services' and what Rick Warren did for 'Purpose-Driven Churches', Hillsong has done for 'Praise and Worship'. Bill Hybels is surely right when he predicted that "When church historians reflect on the worship revolution that happened around the turn of the 21st century, Darlene Zschech will be credited for playing a major role" (quoted in the 'Endorsements' section of the book). Indeed, the Parachute07 promotional newspaper for 2007 describes Zschech as the "leader of one of the world's most influential worship movements of our time".

Recently, Zschech wrote a book called Extravagant Worship. In it, she seeks to "share the vision that has been given to me for praise and worship" ('Introduction', p. 18). The book therefore provides an opportunity to not simply 'experience' Hillsong Praise and Worship, but to hear the explanation and interpretation of that experience provided by Hillsong itself. It also spells out the goals and intentions behind the "worship revolution" Zschech is leading. In short, it provides an excellent way to get to the heart of what Hillsong worship is all about, and to understand something of its appeal and its dangers.

It is insufficient and naive to believe that the influence and appeal of Hillsong Praise and Worship lies simply in having great music. While superficially this explains the immediate attraction of it, the influence and appeal of Hillsong worship runs far deeper than that. Behind their glamorous, high-selling 'Christian Stadium Rock' albums lies an ethos which is attractive to many Christians, but which also has some inherent dangers. Some of these dangers are obvious, whereas other more serious dangers are much more subtle.

What is attractive about this ethos can be seen right at the beginning of Extravagant Worship. Zschech begins her book with the account of the Pharisee and the woman from Luke 7. Noting that the women washed Jesus' feet with her tears and poured perfume on them that was worth a year's wages, and noting that she did this because she understood fully that Jesus had forgiven her of her sins, Zschech writes, "I long to worship Jesus as did the women with the alabaster jar of perfume! Excessive, abundant, expensive, superfluous, lavish, costly, precious, rich, priceless, valuable ..." (p. 25). Such a sentiment is a wonderful longing for any Christian to have, and (from her book, at least) it seems like Darlene Zschech truly does long to worship Jesus extravagantly in every area of her life, for she is thoroughly amazed at what he has done for her in forgiving her sins. In addition, when she says she is eager to see "extravagant worshippers", she is at pains to show that she does not mean she wants to see really good music teams; she means she wants to see hoards of people worshipping Jesus extravagantly like the woman with the alabaster jar, completely aware of the forgiveness that Jesus brings.

For anyone who understands anything of what Jesus has done on the cross, this is attractive. It is also a wonderful thing with which to encourage in other believers. The last thing we want to do is be like Simon the Pharisee, who loved Christ little (if at all) and who sneered at the woman's devotion to him. If we are to understand the attraction of the 'Hillsong Worship Revolution' properly, we must understand that fundamentally undergirding it is this desire to worship God as extravagantly as the woman with the alabaster jar did, and for the same reasons.

This leads us, then, to the second attractive aspect of the 'Hillsong Worship Revolution': it may be summed up as 'godly professionalism'. The 'godly' side of this aspect is neatly summarized in a statement Zschech makes part-way into her book: "I want to train up worshippers to serve the Lord with gladness and to break the mould on what is traditionally accepted behaviour of a creative person" (p. 220; emphasis mine). Throughout her book, Zschech is eager to encourage godliness before giftedness, faithfulness before talent. She appears to lead from the front in this area: two of the endorsements at the start of her book commend her for being as "gracious" and "humble" privately as she is publicly, and "the same person when she is not in front of thousands".

Having been a secular performer before becoming a believer, Zschech is passionate about this. Her book is remarkably thorough in pointing out all the sinful traps that "performers" can fall into—traps like being a prima donna, wanting the praise of others, drawing attention to yourself by extreme behaviour, undermining rather than supporting the preacher, creating disunity, and being ruled by emotions rather than by Christ. Zschech is also relentless in insisting that "extravagant worshippers" must avoid these traps: "[D]on't give them a musical example. People don't need to follow your talent. Give them a life to follow" (p. 58). She also encourages faithfulness in all things—even the little things and the things no-one sees. Again, this is highly commendable and very attractive to any Christian eager to serve Jesus faithfully and sincerely (not just "performers"). I personally was surprised and delighted to see such godliness encouraged in her book, and was challenged and encouraged at many points.

However, Zschech sees no reason why godliness can't also be accompanied by professionalism (in music particularly). This reasoning is, no doubt, equally as attractive to many. Having emphasized the importance of Christ as the priority, and of the need to avoid traps of ungodliness, Zschech also encourages attention to details—the importance of disciplined rehearsals, the need for excellence in sound and lighting, and so on. In short, near enough isn't good enough when it comes to using your gifts to serve God because it doesn't line up with worshipping God extravagantly.

It is here that we begin to see the tip of the iceberg of the dangers the 'Hillsong Worship Revolution'. These dangers can be broken up into those Zschech is aware of; those she does not appear to be aware of (which are, in fact, more dangerous); those she has fallen into; and those she has not fallen into but leaves others vulnerable to.

One of the dangers which Zschech is all too aware of in what she is advocating is the danger of focusing on the worshipper or the worship instead of the one who is to be worshipped. Zschech's awareness of this danger is obvious at many points throughout the book: she consistently repudiates various errors and occasionally her comments are emphasized in the large print sections—for example, "Church is not the vehicle for us to present our talents and catapult us to Christian stardom! "; "Fulfilment comes from worshipping Him, not having others worship you!"; "Extremes draw more attention to the worshipper than the one being worshipped", and so on (pp. 157, 100, 171). It may be a little too easy for conservative evangelicals to sneer at this danger but it is no less a danger for us (except, perhaps, that the danger is in venerating the teachers rather than the "worshippers"!)

Another danger which Zschech appears to be aware of (but perhaps is not as successful at countering) is the danger of 'worship' being defined as "what we do in the church building when we sing together". To be fair, Zschech is at pains to stress that worship is "a way of life" and that music is "not the essence of it". She is also at pains to emphasize that worship is not an emotion—that it must be accompanied by obedience. However, Zschech's definition of worship is "when one's spirit adores and connects with the Spirit of God, when the very core of one's being is found loving Him, lost in Him" (p. 27). Unfortunately this sounds somewhat like a romantic trying to explain what it feels like to be 'in love': it's unhelpfully vague. By not directly tying worship to obedience, Zschech makes it possible for us to feel that our inhibitions, not our rebellion, are what prevents us from worshipping God.

Furthermore, this clouded definition leaves Zschech and her followers vulnerable to thinking that worship is particularly 'intimate' (and therefore, one would assume, better) when music is played. This impression is further fuelled by Zschech's use of Old Testament temple language for gathering in church, and is not helped by her paralleling going to church with going to the temple (there are constant references to meeting in the "house of God"). At one point, she does state that the "house of God" is not the building, but the people, but this seems to be going against most of her other references to the "house of God" where she uses language like "the sanctuary" to describe it. These things reinforce the impression that 'worship' is special when we go to the "house of God"—that is, church.

However, the greatest dangers that spring from what Zschech is advocating lie in areas which she does not appear to be aware of. The greatest danger of the "worship revolution" embodied by Zschech is that it runs the risk of saying that our praise and worship takes us into the presence of God, not the death of Jesus. It is important to state that Zschech acknowledges that the reason we can come into God's presence is because of the death of Jesus, however she does not appear to be aware of the problems surrounding many of her statements which make it seem like our worship brings us into the presence of God. These statements include: "Praise takes you into the presence of God" (p. 53), "Every time the praise and worship teams ... begin to praise God, His presence comes like a flood. Even though we live in His presence, His love is lavished on us when we praise him in a miraculous way!" (p. 56).

In one very telling anecdote in which one time, her worship team was given only 12 minutes' notice before they had to perform, one of the music pastors in a pep talk to the musos said, "[I]n twelve minutes we are going to take people to the throne room of God!" Describing the ensuing experience, Zschech writes, "Worship was glorious straight away—you could taste it, you could see it, it was the presence of God, and it camped" (p. 155). Zschech seems to be saying that when the praise and worship teams fire up, the presence of God comes in a special way.

Zschech's perspective can also be seen in how she describes what is happening in the worldwide "worship revolution": '[W]e are seeing an increase of God's presence like we have never experienced before" and "[T]he intimacy and powerful presence of God in corporate worship is becoming stronger and stronger" (pp. 154, 203).

The attraction of this is obvious: here is how we can connect with the presence of God in a special way. Here is how we can sense the presence of God with an intimacy that's closer than ever before. However, the errors of this understanding are great, and the dangers are greater. At the heart of it, the errors are the same as those which have followed various 'charismatic' experiences like speaking in tongues and the Toronto Blessing. It is thought that in these things, God is doing something 'new' and 'special'. Furthermore, it is thought that these experiences provide a way for 'greater intimacy with God' or a means of receiving 'greater power from God'. In its current guise, charismatic theology seems to be saying that when believers come together for 'corporate worship' and when the 'Praise and Worship' music teams start up, God's presence comes in a new and special way.

The great error with this understanding is that it either replaces the work of Jesus on the cross with the work of the praise and worship teams, or it elevates the activity of corporate singing above other more 'mundane' activities like corporate prayer and Bible reading. Have we been any less intimate in the presence of God as we have drawn near to him confessing our sins together? Of course not! We might not have been as excited, but it completely lacks biblical warrant to say that God's presence is now with us in a new and special way. If it is being said that God's presence is now evident during these times in a new and more intimate way, the question has to be asked: "What has changed?" Hasn't Jesus died for us? What has changed, of course, is our performance. What is being said is that God's presence is now more manifest because of our effort. Apparently Jesus' death was insufficient to bring us the greatest intimacy with God. Apparently we need some special formula to tap into this intimacy with God-something more than faith alone.

This leads us to the greatest danger of all in the new "worship revolution". The danger is that people are misled into thinking that Jesus is unnecessary for coming into the presence of God. But Scripture makes it clear that it's only through the death of Jesus that anyone can come (Heb 10:19-22). His death opened the way to all who believe in him.

Thankfully, Darlene Zschech acknowledges this in her book. However, at the same time, it is very dangerous and unhelpful of her to say that our praise and worship (music) brings us into the presence of God. It is particularly dangerous of her to interpret the exhilaration you feel from a wonderful music concert as being "the presence of God". The danger is that a thoroughly disobedient person can have this experience without believing in Jesus at all. Such a person can easily be misled into thinking that the way into God's presence is not through Jesus but through exhilarating music. And if anyone thinks they can come into God's presence without Jesus, they won't be able to worship God at all, let alone extravagantly.