In our church this Lent we are going to be intentionally ‘stripping down’ our worship to simple elements – simple songs, voices, perhaps just a guitar or piano, or no instruments at all. This is to put to one side some of the good things which may, nevertheless, become distractions. It is partly inspired by the Soul Survior story of when Mike Pilavachi ‘banned the band’, partly by the ancient practice of simplicity during Lent, and partly by our own experiences of the value of ‘simplified’ worship.
We are also going to be encouraging the congregation to worship in other ways, which do not require any band or singing at all! We have 2000 years of Christian heritage to draw from here, where very often people have worshipped without music. The ideas below (made into a nice downloadable, printable handout on the link above) are suggestions for how individuals, small groups or churches could worship without a worship band. Feel free to share, use, adapt and feedback how you get on!
1. Psalm Remix
Choose a Psalm, read it through. Then rewrite it in your own language. You can put in situations from your own life, use your own phrases, and relate it to modern day faith. Read your own version back to God as part of worship.