If you’ve been to many worship conferences or “talked shop” with worship leaders, pastors and ministers of music, sooner or later it comes up:
What do you think when people applaud at the end of a song, during a worship service? Do you encourage it, ignore it or correct it?
I took an informal poll of my Twitter and Facebook contacts. Here are some of their thoughts:
I found this Swindoll quote pretty balanced in response to your question (read the Swindoll article. It’s a good one)
I vote sometimes. It can be an expression of praise, I think.
Sometimes. Clapping is a culturally-appropriate way to express appreciation and enthusiasm. It does NOT always mean “the people on stage did a good job so I will applaud them.” When it means “I’m so excited about what we just sang that I need to express it audibly,” shouts and clapping are appropriate.
In the manner expressed by Laura, appropriate. Anything else, don’t like it. Not in a worship service, anyway.
I’m not down, but that is just me. If I find myself clapping after a worship song, I know I am saying good playing guys, my ears really liked the way that sounded. As a former pseudo-musician, I do not believe I could hear applause after playing and not think it was for me, not the subject of the song. But I don’t think those go for everyone, so I will not vote NEVER on applause, just not from me.
Generally when I give a hoop or clap or whatever the gesture may be, it definitely will usually be a form of praise to the Lord. The scripture tells us if we do not praise Him the rocks will cry out! It means I am fired up for the Lord!!!!
Considering all we applaud elsewhere in life I think it’s ok 2 give props in worship as long as it’s not a Disney slow clap. (this cracked me up. If you’re not familiar with the “slow clap” movie technique, get a 26-second primer here:
And here is a quick audio soundbyte from a Slow Clap that 200 Sojourn men performed at our 2010 Men’s Retreat this past weekend, for our pastors (following a Q&A on Biblical Manhood by the pastors):
Probably not cool at a worship service. Probably cool at a retreat that featured an obstacle course called the “Circle Of Pain” though.
What do you think? Do you agree or disagree with some of the comments above? Can you think of another perspective?
I guess I’m a bit surprised that this discussion is even happening! If believers would only read God’s word, they would discover what pleases Him and what doesn’t. We become legalistic when we assume that we have the authority to tell others how to encounter and engage with God. We waste sooo much time discussing points like this (no disrespect meant) because there are greater, more pressing matters within the body of Christ.
Here’s what I do know, when we (believers) get a full grasp of what God has saved us from and the future He has planned for us, we couldn’t help but break out in exuberant praise, whatever it is. One word of warning, we need to be careful, our praise is to bring the focus onto God, not ourselves. Having said that, there are times I’ve witnessed personally that the joy of the Lord comes like a wave throughout a congregation that laughter, hand clapping, shouts of praise and more have burst forth. Somehow in our western thinking we’ve misplaced our Hebrew God…we need to rediscover how to worship Him, in spirit and in truth again.
I’ve heard arguments from all sorts of camps regarding clapping. I’ve heard some like Kenneth Hagin say “clapping is not worship. It is praise and fit for praise, but as it being worship – it grieves the Spirit.” He went on to say that clapping will kill a move of the Spirit in a corporate setting. Do I believe that? Heck no! Just saying I’ve heard that.
I say clap. 9 times out of 10 it should be pointed towards the Lord. But occasionally, what’s wrong with saying “give it up for the team, don’t they do an amazing job?” Most of the musicians and singers in church are volunteer. Maybe the lead guy/gal and the drummer gets paid- and that’s it. What’s wrong with encouraging them and appreciating their dedication for volunteering their time and talent for the King?
Again, not EVERY clap should be for them. 9 out of 10 should be for God. But every once in a while I see nothing wrong with showing some love for the people who sweat it out so that it is musically pleasant as we worship God.
Just my 2 cents…keep the change.
I move as the Spirit yields if I moved to stand, I stand; if moved to raise my hands, I raise them; if moved to cry out, I cry and if moved to clap or applaud I do!
@ Vickie Thomspon, no doubt there are more pressing issues in the body of Christ, but there is always time to stop and make sure we are not offending each other. Romans 14 speaks to a lot of things, one of them making sure not to offend your brothers or sisters in Christ with what you are doing in the freedom given by and through our Savior. It may be that only .01% of the church struggles with accepting a form of worship (such as clapping, hollering, or doing laps around the church as I witnessed as a child, lol), but that small percentage still needs tending to. Please accept the pure intentions this was written with, and not as a rebuke, but simply a different way to look at it.
As for me, clapping seems odd to me, but this is probably based on the type of church I was raised in, rather than something rooted in Scripture. Psalm 47:1 says “O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.” . We are gathered to worship the Lord, not to praise man. Clapping feels as a praise towards men… but when something feels different to me, but the Bible calls for it, I am wrong. Let me never hinder a fellow Christian from praising the Lord in the way the Lord lays it on their heart to praise Him.
We had a sort of debate at church and we loosened everyone up over time with it. We would joke that people could sit in the clapping section over here and the non-clapping section over here. At that point everyone pretty much realized it was a pointless debate. Sometimes the congregation claps, sometimes they don’t. It depends on the context and the content. The choir and orchestra don’t expect it per se, but often we are moved to clap or vocally praise God too as we are part of the movement of God in the place. I wouldn’t even say that applause out of appreciation for the blessing of the musicians is a bad thing altogether. We encourage other workers in the kingdom in other functions and this could be one way to encourage your worship leaders. But the conscience of a church must not be compromised and if you know that it causes someone to stumble or is inappropriate in the culture of your church serving as a distraction rather than a part of the worship and strength of the Body, then don’t do it. God judges our hearts in the matter.
I am a new to attendance at Sojourn, and I have to say I have the urge to clap at the end of nearly EVERY song I hear! To me- it doesn’t have to mean I am ignoring the message and applauding the talent- in fact I personally am clapping for several reasons. Clapping is a form of agreement- when I agree with the message I want to clap! I think it can also be a form of praise- a song might be about something God has done- so I clap for what He has done. One of the the things He has done is blessed the worship team with great musical talent- And when I see that expressed in glory for God- again- it makes me want to clap as well. I’ve been to other church’s that really discourage applause because they don’t want to seem prideful or have it be “about them.” But when you hear an awesome performance- and you feel you agree with the message and you understand that creative talent is a gift from THE CREATOR you just want to applaud! So I vote yes for applause in church.
Can’t say I’m opposed to it, per se, but I am cautious about it. Here’s my reasoning:
1) biblical worship is supposed to distinct from worldly worship (Exodus-Leviticus, etc);
2) we have to do what God thinks is appropriate not us (think Uzzah here: well-intentioned but disobedient; 2 Samuel 6);
3) most worldly worship is centered around clapping (sports, comedy, movies, awards shows, etc . . . and yes, much of it is worship).
Again, not opposed to clapping at this point, but I’m cautious. I always heard growing up ‘If you can clap and yell at a ballgame, why can;t yo get that excited for God?’ My thinking runs the opposite way: if that’s how I show crass excitement over non-eternal things, certainly there is a better (more biblical?) way to convey true, hart-felt worship in the gathering of God’s people?
Still thinking….
I have really been thinking about this the last few Sundays. I was asking myself the very same question. Growing up in church experiences that didn’t do anything like Sojourn does, I try to be open and really know the motives of my heart. I personally say to myself when I clap after the music, ” remember , your clapping for the Lord”. I think Church is for worshiping God, not ourselves. I’m always grateful to all the amazing musicians that volunteer their time to play for us as we worship, and my hope is that we are worshiping and not coming to a concert to be entertained. But hey, it’s in each man’s heart to decide and God knows our hearts~ I do love that music…and I do clap !
I attend a church that regularly play Sojourn songs in worship, which I love. I come from the background of a church that everything was very showy, lots of clapping and excitement and lots of solos during the songs (vocally more than musically). So I went from that style of worship service to one where the very idea of clapping or shouting or getting very excited is entirely scarce. Which is incredibly difficult for me, because the lyrics to the songs, the content of the worship is so Gospel saturated that I have such a deeper longing to get excited about the glorious truths of God now. But since no one ever does any of these things, it’s like there’s a secret barrier where it’s not allowed.
On Easter we had a phenomenal service that ended with a really powerful a capella hymn and at the end I heard one person go “whoo!” and then it was cut off, but the Spirit was so incredibly evident, there was so much joy in the room it felt like we had put the lid on a steaming boiling pot and kept it from breaking forth in excitement we had.
Now don’t get me wrong, I’ve been in the hyper-emotional worship services. Where people believe that the only right way to worship is one where your jumping and getting all crazy. But sometimes it seems that churches on the other end of the spectrum think the only right way to worship is to never have any emotion or any excitement. Why can’t we come without expectations? If we have a Good Friday service and sing “One Righteous Man” we probably won’t whoop and holler, but if it’s Easter and we are celebrating a Risen Lord, why aren’t we excited?
Sorry, I’ll get off my soapbox, I just don’t understand.
Maybe those who clap should think about giving some kind of shout out to Jesus as they clap so that it is clear that the clapping is for him. Though, I am with stevenpatton, I think clapping should mostly be for Jesus and only occasionally for the worship team. I think it would be better, if we want to praise the worship team, that we don’t do it during the worship service, but go to them afterwards and let the worship service be solely for Jesus.
I’m going back to what John said for a minute. Why is it so easy and acceptable to clap at a ball game or concert or graduation, but when it comes to Jesus…it’s taboo?
I posed a question to my devotion group in high school that seemed to hit a note with many of my peers: can you clap for Jesus?
He rocks way more than my Cardinals or Coldplay, and assuming the performers on stage have the right minds up there, we’re doing just that. We’re clapping for Jesus.
Rock it, I say.