Multisensory Worship
I think that it is safe to say that one of the bigger debates between traditional evangelical churches and emerging churches is the concept of multisensory worship; that is, worship that involves all of our senses not just hearing. I’ve not read much on the topic and what I have read in favor of multisensory worship has not been very persuasive to me. What I find interesting about the topic though is the way in which its advocates present the position. For example, Dan Kimball in The Emerging Church entitled one of the chapters “Overcoming the Fear of Multisensory Worship and Teaching”. It’s a sort of brief apologetic of multisensory worship presented before other chapters that suggest practical ways to implement this worship style into a church’s gatherings. Let me summarize his thoughts as found in the chapter and then offer some of my own questions and concerns.
It seems to me that his overall perspective on the topic is that God created us with five senses therefore our worship gatherings should involve more than the sense of hearing.
Smell: Incense was commonly used in OT worship. The church is metaphorically spoken of as the fragrance of Christ and incense in used in worship in Revelation 8:4.
Touch: In the NT worshipers laid hands on each other, clapped, felt the waters of baptism, and touched the bread in the Lord’s Supper.
Taste: The Word of God is spoken of as sweet honey and worshipers taste the bread and wine (for many grape juice) in the Lord’s Supper.
Hearing: Singing and musical instruments were used in worship in the OT and NT. The preaching of the Word of God was prominent in the early church’s worship.
Sight: The tabernacle and temple were visually stunning. God gave specific instructions about the visual elements of these places of worship showing that He values the visual in worship.
Kimball goes on in subsequent chapters to give examples of how this plays out in his church. Candles and incense are used during prayer times. Prayer stations decorated with Christian symbols are setup that contain material for people to write down prayer requests or draw pictures related to the worship service’s theme. Wooden crosses are strategically placed in the room used for worship to direct the worshipers to the fact that Christ died, but is now risen. Slides with pictures of biblical scenes, portraits of Christ, or other images relevant to the sermon are displayed during the preaching. The Lord’s Supper is observed reverently and lastly the ancient Roman Catholic practice of the labyrinth is used to facilitate prayer and meditation on biblical truth or personal experience.
I’m glad that Dan included the chapter where he summarizes the way in which the senses were used in worship throughout biblical history. I think that it is clear that the idea of multisensory worship Dan advocates is rooted in his understanding of the use of the senses in the worship we read of in the Bible. It would be wrong to think that these practices are only faddish. I believe that for the most part those who engage in multisensory worship in emerging churches do so out of a sense that this is how worship is expressed within their culture and that they believe there is, to some degree, biblical precedent for such worship.
There is no doubt that biblical worship involves more than just the sense of hearing. The Lord has graciously given to us two ordinances to observe (the Lord’s Supper and baptism) that involve hearing, seeing, tasting, smelling, and touching. Yet, it seems to me that the push for multisensory worship, as I’ve read it, does not adequately deal with Scripture on this issue. For example, does the fact that under the Old Covenant God’s people worshiped Him with elaborate ceremony and ritual mean that the New Covenant Church is free to develop such ceremony and ritual? Did not God give specific commands to His people under the Old Covenant concerning proper worship? The visual elements of Old Covenant worship were not developed merely by the collective desire of the covenant community. God Himself prescribed this worship. His commands provided the basis for and limitations of Old Covenant worship. Furthermore, the temple and its ceremonies and rituals, the sacrifices, priesthood and so on were types and shadows of the reality that is found in Christ and His work. Now that He has come as a greater high priest with a better sacrifice Old Covenant worship has been done away with. There is a discontinuity between the Old and New Covenants. This discontinuity affects the way in which God’s people worship him. All I am saying by this is that simply referencing the forms of worship employed under the Old Covenant is not a basis for advocating practices such as the labyrinth. Neither can we simply decide incense would be great in our prayer service because we read about it in the book of Revelation. Maybe we should use incense and maybe we shouldn’t, but the issue cannot be settled on the simple observation that incense is connected to the prayers of God’s people in a portion of Scripture such as Revelation.
I cannot think of a local church whose worship services only appeal to the worshipers’ hearing. Any church that faithfully preaches the Word of God and observes the Lord’s Supper and baptism is engaged in worship that appeals to all the senses. I think that the push for multisensory worship is really about engaging in worship practices that traditionally have not been considered Protestant (note that I’m not attributing bad motives to those who push for multisensory worship whether I agree with them or not). If this is the case then the question is not whether our worship should be “multisensory” (appealing to all five senses), but rather who defines what practices should be used in worship. We should be asking questions like “does God regulate our worship through Scripture as He regulated worship under the Old Covenant?” or “is there greater freedom under the New Covenant to introduce elements (if you’re aware at all of the distinction between “elements” and “circumstances” notice which word I just used) of worship that are not commanded in Scripture?”. So it seems to me that the real issue is the validity or invalidity of the Regulative Principle of worship.
