Many (not all) Black women consider their faith as an extremely important part of their lives. Since we the authors are both Christian, we can only speak about that experience though we invite input from Black women of other faiths as well. The Black Church, while sometimes a place of contradictions has also been a place of comfort, unity around social and political issues…(see blog #3 for more on this).
One of the staples of the Black church is the Gospel Choir. Unlike many other outdated traditions of song and worship, Gospel music has transcended time and culture and race into the mainstream. Was anyone watching “American Idol Gives Back” where the entire cast sang a worship song backed up by a choir? Many non-Blacks have been known to “LOVE” Gospel music. In fact, some may even go so far as to say that they love the way we worship in the Black Church much more than their own churches. They “feel” the worship more. Many people have said this to both of us which has brought up the question for me, “Is my church a spectical or do they really respect it as a whole?”
I have wondered what would happen if my church did not have lively, get-up-out-of-your-seat music while women flail about in emotion claiming the Holy Ghost. A lot of non-Blacks have communicated to me that they even look down on other churches that do not implement this type of worship. These types of statements tend to disturb me for several reasons. First, they assume that they are winning me over and speaking in unity about an issue “known to all Black people.” And second, they assume that I grew up in the Gospel Choir tradition, when in fact I grew up in both the Gospel Choir as well as an all white Hillsong-Hymn singing Choir where the only movement we did was clapping….sometimes. The point is, I respect all traditions of worship and can be myself in either. Hence, I have been hesitant to invite non-Black people to my church because I worry that they will enjoy it not for the message but for “The Gospel Show.” Or worse, that they would come and enjoy the message more simply because they got to see a show.
Consider this as well. Any artist who suddenly implements a Gospel Choir (or even a Black backup singer) into a performance is all of a sudden WAY more legit as an artist. What is this? Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to hate on the hustle. Any Gospel Choir that gets a gig on someone else’s dime do your thing! But what is it that people are really responding to when they see this?
My background:
I had never heard of Gospel music until my last year in college (about 4 years ago). As a little black girl, I grew up singing in many choirs but I wasn’t exposed to anything Gospel, so when I decided to join my college gospel choir one day, I asked myself, “What’s gospel? Oh well, as long as it says choir count me in!” Let’s just say that based on my experiences, I was in a completely different world and I remember being frightened by screaming singers and “holy-ghost-filled-dancing-women” when we performed at different gospel-based predominantly black churches (considering the fact that it was my first time). Heck, I didn’t even know that you could sway or move about because growing up in my old church, if you even sneezed then people looked at you as if you were going to the pits of hell.
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I know this all might sound strange to some people but this is my story. At the same time i’ll be honest, Gospel music is okay but it’s not my favorite type of music to listen to all the time, and sometimes i’ve had Gospel-music-devotees look at me differently because of it. To me, it’s just praise and worship music about the Lord and I don’t see how it’s any different from other styles of music except for its style.
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If anything, i’m truly grateful for my experience because now i’m part of a worship team at my church that sings a mixture of contemporary and gospel, but really i’m just happy that I get to be in a choir period.
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About the Article:
In response to the article, I agree with all that was written because being on both sides of the situation (speaking as a choir member and as a spectator), i’ve had mixed reviews. As a spectator, I used to approach worship music kind of like a spectator sport….if they sing your favorite song then you get excited….if it’s a slow song, you get bored etc. Then my entire perspective changed one day when my pastor (and worship leaders from my old church) explained that the choir/band isn’t a spectacle or show for people to just watch and expect their needs to be met for the week. Really what it is is that choir members are worshipping God through music and that the congregation is just getting a taste of or peak at each member’s time of praise.
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In addition, as the choir you are hoping that the congregation will engage in worship with you, leading them by example (in this case song/music). Learning this was so deep that I just had to take time to let it all sink in. However, I do understand that this is not what everyone believes or follows but after listening to a tape about “The True Heart of Worship” (since I was in a band at my old church), it all made sense. In all honesty, when singing on stage you get so caught up in worshipping God through song that it’s very easy to forget that the congregation is out there and as a result, you are in your own world. It’s a completely different experience from both sides.
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People have shared openly that they love the way my church does praise and worship, but then I remind them that church is more than just the music, whether it’s stimulating or not. I’ve been to other churches where it was 80% music, 15% offering, and 5% sermon, or the complete opposite. I know we aren’t perfect yadda yadda and there isn’t one correct way to worship but it makes me wonder sometimes what our focus is and why we approach gospel or even church music the way we do……and then add race to the mixture and form assumptions based our own personal formula? People found it funny that I didn’t grow up in a “black church” or was familiar with Gospel music, and the expression on their faces was priceless when I gave them the “what planet did you come from as to why you would think that way?” look. LOL!
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As the author mentioned earlier:
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“I have been hesitant to invite non-Black people to my church because I worry that they will enjoy it not for the message but for “The Gospel Show.”
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To the author: What I found works is that I place more emphasis on how the sermons and relationships among church members impact my spiritual walk, and because my encounters and situations are a testimony to them, they are more intrigued and want to visit. Then when they hear the praise and worship, that’s just icing on the cake for them, but it doesn’t steer their focus away from why they were interested in coming to begin with. Don’t worry about how they will respond because you never know what’s in a person’s heart and what it is that they need to take that step closer to God. For example, when I first visited my current church, the fact that they had a choir (and applicable sermons) is what kept me coming back and then everything else fell into place.
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I didn’t care what the music was like, I just wanted to be in the choir and sing, and that was my focus for being there. I feel that God was able to see that and He used that to bring me closer to Him so that in return, I would respond to everything else he brought my way because at that time, I was resistant to everything else but the worship. So trust Him that He knows what He’s doing. Invite your diverse group of friends and let Him stir their hearts. One of my friends is a regular attendee, and the other is thinking about becoming a member because she sees the love and community in our church and she longs for that, despite the fact that she really enjoys praise and worship. You never know until you let go and try.
Thanks, Daniella! We always love your well thought out responses.