Gospel Music and Worship

Gospel music has been making waves for the past few decades, with recently released statistics showing that more Namibian people listen to gospel music than any other genre. By far.

Have you ever heard a song that touched you so much you just had to share how you felt about it? This is exactly what you feel when you listen to a good worship or gospel song. By its definition, gospel music is supposed to make you feel good since gospel means the good news. Gospel music is one of the tools used by Christians to spread the Word.

Gospel music finds its roots in traditions of the African-American churches founded in the southern part of the United States of America. The churches took traditional hymns, sacred songs and African-American spirituals and fused them with church hymns, adding hand clapping and food stomping to create what is now known as gospel music.

The late 1930s saw the traditional structure of gospel music change when jazz and blues was infused into gospel music.

Gospel music has since incorporated all other genres including hip-hop and rap. It has moved from church to also entering the secular music industry.

Another form, and most common in churches, of spreading the gospel while giving praise and honour to God is worship.

While traditional churches have church choirs, most non-denominational churches have adopted the culture of having a praise and worship team for their services.

In modern day churches, giving praise to God through song has become much more than just singing along to the lyrics of a hymn. Churches have adopted a culture of praise and worship teams that usually open and end off the church service. That too has evolved from singing along to a backtracked song to praising with an entire band. Some praise and worship teams even go as far as writing their own songs.

Some take it even further and record their songs for the commercial market. Hillsong United, Jesus Culture and Bethel Music are some of the big names that have taken worship to the studio and have started global movements.

The Hillsong United band can definitely be considered one of, if not the biggest, worship crews that took worship to the studio and made a success thereof. Sometimes just referred to as Hillsong or Hillsong United, this is a band that originated as part of the Hillsong church in Australia. The band tours the world performing at various Hillsong churches.

According to Clive Willemse of Clive And The NOW Generation, the idea and purpose of worship is to give praise and give glory to God. Although some people would say worship and gospel music are one and the same, Clive says that as a worship minister, he has learned that there is a difference between the two.

“As a worshipper, you are in service. You are serving the people of God by allowing a visitation by the holy spirit in order to minister to the people,” he explained.

Some people have alleged that some worship teams have turned worship into what they term ‘worshiptainment’, which they believe is taking away from the what worship is actually meant for.

Clive, who leads a regular worship cafe in Windhoek, said that he has observed that there is a risk of worship defeating its purpose.

“There is a risk, yes. People may become so lost in doing the things according to a plan, having the right light and all and move away from actually giving worship to Him who is worthy.”

He added any worshipper, when on stage, should ask themselves whether they are worshipping as a service and allowing ministry to the people.

“As a worshipper, you have to be heavenly conscious. You have to ask yourself how is this that I am doing, the dancing, singing, playing, pleasing to God. You have to be intentionally aware of heaven and sometimes you might do things out of plan,” he said.

When asked whether worship teams can go commercial like the Hillsong United band, Bethel Music and Jesus Culture, Clive said that although there are risks, it can be done as long as the purpose of worship is maintained.

“I have had the opportunity to serve with Hillsong and I have learned a lot from them regarding worship ministry. As long as the praise is given to Him, you allow visitation of the holy spirit through your worship and you are intentionally heavenly conscious, it can be done,” Clive said.GLORY … Clive Willemse of Clive And The NOW Generation

In an age of information overload, Sunrise is The Namibian’s morning briefing, delivered at 6h00 from Monday to Friday. It offers a curated rundown of the most important stories from the past 24 hours – occasionally with a light, witty touch. It’s an essential way to stay informed. Subscribe and join our newsletter community.