I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the difference between conservative praise & worship church’s that are stiff and emotionless, and charismatic churches that are celebratory and emotional. I’m coming to realize that they are both on the opposite ends of the spectrum and both are really missing the mark. Here’s a great quote from John Piper on the subject of what worship needs to be:

Worship must have heart and head. Worship must engage emotions and thought. Truth without emotion produces dead orthodoxy and a church full (or half-full) of artificial admirers (like people who write generic anniversary cards for a living). On the other hand, emotion without truth produces empty frenzy and cultivates shallow people who refuse the discipline of rigorous thought. But true worship comes from people who are deeply emotional and who love deep and sound doctrine. Strong affections for God rooted in truth are the bone and marrow of biblical worship

I’ve been in the first category of church for most of my life. Truth without emotion and the results that it produces. I think that is a very accurate description, “artificial admirers”, of the type of adult congregations I’ve grown up around. For the record, youth show much more emotion, and many of them possess truth also. Not counting my current church since I haven’t been around long enough to make a valid assessment, I would say that large conservative youth groups are able to mix both emotion and truth most effectively, even more than any adult congregation I’ve experienced.

Or if you want to take it a step farther, try to going to a Youth Worker Convention, and participate in Praise & Worship with those guys. Most of those guys are passionate and full of emotion, while also grounded in truth. OK, I said “most”. I know there are a lot of looney tune youth workers out there that don’t know a hermeneutic from a hemorrhoid. But more of them than you would think do crave sound doctrines, especially if we filter it to the ones over 25 years old :-) This will be some of the most passionate worship experiences you will ever participate in.