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What do you think about applause after a praise and worship song?

WIP said:
To me applauding is a recognition for a job well done.
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Just as important as why people are applauding is how the applauding is being received by the musicians. IMHO, this is not the time and place to receive accolades for a performance. I've never led a congregation in worship, but I hope I'd deflect it vertically and not absorb it myself. This makes me wonder if sometimes applause causes some to stumble and take pride in their God-given abilities.
WIP said:
Does God need our applause?
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If applause is given as a way of giving praise, I wouldn't say He "needs" it, but I'd say He does call us to do it. Again, if...

I'm not for or against applause. Honestly, I intentionally try not to focus on what others do and don't do during worship services. Ideally, I'm in that place where it's just Him in my presence. Caring or even noticing what others do is only a distraction from my attempt to focus on the Lord.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
Call me old fashioned but I have to be honest with you that I detest when people applaud after a praise and worship song.

1. It's not about the musicians and their music.
2. It's awkward when the congregation doesn't applaud after a song.

Someone may argue that it's not for the band but for God. If that's true then why does the congregation not applaud after a song that the band did not do very well and struggled through?

What do you think about the congregation applauding after a praise and worship song? Should Trump outlaw it?
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Should Trump outlaw it !!
LOL
Who's he? Mussolini??

I think applauding is OK. It's confirming that you liked whatever went on. There's applause at a wedding, at a baptism or dedication. I think it shows that the congregation is happy that the person has joined the community, or has been dedicated to God, or agrees with the words of the song.

You never hear applause at a Gregorian chant. Why? Because it's very serious and somber. It doesn't call for applause. When we hear a song that stirs something within us, I believe THAT is when applause is called for.

Haven't read the thread - hope some agree with me.
 
Edward said:
I do not think that applause at a (so-called) wrong moment would stop the Holy Spirit from coming down. I don't see how that could happen.
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What happens is other people's distractions (applause, etc.) keep you from enjoying it. The Holy Spirit is coming down regardless. You're just not tuned in because your attention has been distracted by another person who, it seems, are themselves not tuned into the intimacy of the Spirit at that moment, as evidenced by the fact that they are applauding.

This would be like Isaiah applauding the Lord in Isaiah 6, or John applauding in Revelation 1, in the revelation of the Lord. Totally inappropriate. The person who would do that is simply not 'seeing' what's really going on and he's destroying the experience for those who are drawing into the Lord in their heart and mind in that moment.

This is for anybody. This is not a special, privileged experience (though it will make you feel very special). But the church...even the Full Gospel churches, apparently...do not solicit this experience of the falling down of the Holy Spirit anymore. And in it's place we have flamboyant and glamorous venues for entertaining the masses with loud, technically excellent vocals and instrumentation. And they think that's 'anointed' by virtue of it's technical quality and expertise.
 
wondering said:
You never hear applause at a Gregorian chant. Why? Because it's very serious and somber. It doesn't call for applause.
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Exactly!
But it seems this 'kind' of worshipful experience with God where God reveals himself in a falling down of the Spirit in power does not happen in the church anymore. How do I know? Because people applaud in the church now. If the experience I'm speaking of was really happening people would not be applauding. They'd be in genuine, personal worship, maybe even on their faces, just between them and God.
 
Mike said:
Just as important as why people are applauding is how the applauding is being received by the musicians. IMHO, this is not the time and place to receive accolades for a performance. I've never led a congregation in worship, but I hope I'd deflect it vertically and not absorb it myself. This makes me wonder if sometimes applause causes some to stumble and take pride in their God-given abilities.
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It's more than that, Mikey.
Applause signifies that the people have not been drawn into deep, deep worship and adoration of God. It doesn't mean they're not experiencing God at all. It means they have not been drawn deep into an appearing of God's presence. It is largely the responsibility of the worship team to create an atmosphere conducive to this appearing of the Lord. But the people, also, have to cut out all distractions (applause, chit chat, candy wrappers, etc.) to be able to experience God this way.
 
Mike said:
I'm not for or against applause. Honestly, I intentionally try not to focus on what others do and don't do during worship services. Ideally, I'm in that place where it's just Him in my presence. Caring or even noticing what others do is only a distraction from my attempt to focus on the Lord.
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I'm getting better at closing out people's applause, but still, it's ruining the experience the congregation could be having if they, and the worship team, would just seek it.

Right now it doesn't even matter anyway since the tradition presently is to stop completely between songs (where they then applaud). That right there will pretty much ensure God's not going to respond to your seeking with a falling down of his Spirit. Want to really ruin any potential visit of the Spirit in power in your praise and worship? Read the announcements between songs.
 
Edward said:
Praise and worship from any one person is good, but joined together as one, probably is better. Maybe it multiplies the praise or something, I'm not positive but I do feel there's a significance there nonetheless.
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It's a big part of the unity that I have spoken about in these forums over the years.

Instead of a congregation battling it out over correct doctrine and trying to be unified that way, these experiences with God's visitation by his Spirit is actually the glue that unifies the body in a common experience. When you have that common experience you can let go of the fact that your brother sitting next to you is <yikes!> OSAS. It doesn't matter because you both seek God for his presence and his power, in and out of church, and are seeking to live for Him, not just 'believe' in him through a believing in correct textbook knowledge of Him, and are unified that way.

A group of people with a shared focus and experience of manifest contact with God in daily living and worship is a group of people that will be tight knit and close and loving and supportive of each other, not arguing over what version of the Bible should be in the pews, or whether the pastor should have his own parking spot.
 
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Edward said:
Praise and worship from any one person is good, but joined together as one, probably is better.
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It's been twenty years, but I still remember singing 'Mighty Fortress' with 70,000 men at Promise Keepers. A wonderful glimpse into eternity. I'll never forget it.

And many times in the popular worship music of today, the vocalists will let the masses sing the verses. Sometimes that's the part of their songs that I listen to the closest and with the most attention. Those are powerful moments in worship. Unity has an incredible power in worship. Applause, IMO, destroys that unity.
 
Applause is what you do when something has ended. Don't stop the worship with your applause until the worship really is over. If it isn't over yet, you risk destroying the moment for someone else. But, I suppose, if a church is not seeking that kind of worship experience, skipping from song to song with announcements interspersed, then I guess it doesn't matter what you do.
 
Psalm 118:1, 6-9, 15, 19, 21, 24-26, 28-29 Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his loyal love is forever. Yahweh is for me; I do not fear. What can mere humans do to me? Yahweh is for me as my helper, and so I will look in triumph on those who hate me. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust in humans. It is better to take refuge in Yahweh than to trust princes. The sound of rejoicing and salvation is in the tents of the righteous; the right hand of Yahweh has done valiantly. Open to me the gates of righteousness, that I may enter through them and give thanks to Yah. I will give thanks to you for you have answered me, and you have become my salvation. This is the day Yahweh has worked; let us rejoice and be glad in him. O Yahweh, please save; O Yahweh, please grant success. Blessed is he who comes in the name of Yahweh. We bless you from the house of Yahweh. You are my God, and I will give thanks to you. You are my God; I will exalt you. Give thanks to Yahweh for he is good, for his loyal love is forever.

Romans 1:8 First, I give thanks to my God through Jesus Christ for all of you, because your faith is being proclaimed in the whole world.

...

Ezekiel 25:6-7 For thus says the Lord Yahweh: “Because of clapping your hand and stamping with your foot, and because you rejoiced in yourself with all of your malice over the land of Israel, therefore look! I stretched out my hand against you, and I will give you as plunder to the nations, and I will cut you off from the peoples, and I will destroy you from the countries, and I will wipe you out, and you will know that I am Yahweh.” ​
 
Jethro Bodine said:
What happens is other people's distractions (applause, etc.) keep you from enjoying it. The Holy Spirit is coming down regardless. You're just not tuned in because your attention has been distracted by another person who, it seems, are themselves not tuned into the intimacy of the Spirit at that moment, as evidenced by the fact that they are applauding.

This would be like Isaiah applauding the Lord in Isaiah 6, or John applauding in Revelation 1, in the revelation of the Lord. Totally inappropriate. The person who would do that is simply not 'seeing' what's really going on and he's destroying the experience for those who are drawing into the Lord in their heart and mind in that moment.

This is for anybody. This is not a special, privileged experience (though it will make you feel very special). But the church...even the Full Gospel churches, apparently...do not solicit this experience of the falling down of the Holy Spirit anymore. And in it's place we have flamboyant and glamorous venues for entertaining the masses with loud, technically excellent vocals and instrumentation. And they think that's 'anointed' by virtue of it's technical quality and expertise.
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Oh. I have to agree with that one. Distractions will keep a man from tuning in to the Spirit.My perspective was skewed earlier, lol. Not enough coffee yet I guess lol.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
It's a big part of the unity that I have spoken about in these forums over the years.

Instead of a congregation battling it out over correct doctrine and trying to be unified that way, these experiences with God's visitation by his Spirit is actually the glue that unifies the body in a common experience. When you have that common experience you can let go of the fact that your brother sitting next to you is <yikes!> OSAS. It doesn't matter because you seek God for his presence and his power, in and out of church, and are seeking to live for Him, not just 'believe' in him through a correct textbook knowledge of Him.

A group of people with a shared focus and experience of manifest contact with God in daily living and worship is a group of people that will be tight knit and close and loving and supportive of each other, not arguing over what version of the Bible should be in the pews, or whether the pastor should have his own parking spot.
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You got that right too, Brother. I think that sometimes when people are argying that it's possible that in fact, both are right, but can't come together on it because...we're all of the body but you got a hand talking to a foot (so to speak) so their instruction and walk is different. Can a foot understand that it's a special thing to a hand to walk upon the ground with every step? Of course not. The problem there is that Many (if not most) people are still thinking temporally instead of eternally! I think it would behoove us all to begin thinking eternally.

I'm almost there (I think, duh). At times when out and about, I feel like the outsider. Like I'm not from here and am visiting.
 
Jethro Bodine said:
Exactly!
But it seems this 'kind' of worshipful experience with God where God reveals himself in a falling down of the Spirit in power does not happen in the church anymore. How do I know? Because people applaud in the church now. If the experience I'm speaking of was really happening people would not be applauding. They'd be in genuine, personal worship, maybe even on their faces, just between them and God.
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I know what you mean.
But you know what Ecclesiastes says:
There's a time for everything.

In some type of worship, it's like you describe above.
But it's not always like that...
Sometimes it's deep and personal,
sometimes it's joyful.

If it's an uplifting song, I would tend to applaud.
I'm thinking of the song, This Blood.
At the end of it, you just want to cry.
But some will give a slow applause because they just need to express themselves because it's so powerful.

 
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Jethro Bodine said:
Exactly!
But it seems this 'kind' of worshipful experience with God where God reveals himself in a falling down of the Spirit in power does not happen in the church anymore. How do I know? Because people applaud in the church now. If the experience I'm speaking of was really happening people would not be applauding. They'd be in genuine, personal worship, maybe even on their faces, just between them and God.
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I visited a church that was 300 years old and built in a french Gothic style. The tour guide said modern churches are more like concert halls.if I could post the imagery and windows it tells the story of creation,the crucifixation and others. You could see it point to the Lord
 
wondering said:
I know what you mean.
But you know what Ecclesiastes says:
There's a time for everything.

In some type of worship, it's like you describe above.
But it's not always like that...
Sometimes it's deep and personal,
sometimes it's joyful.

If it's an uplifting song, I would tend to applaud.
I'm thinking of the song, This Blood.
At the end of it, you just want to cry.
But some will give a slow applause because they just need to express themselves because it's so powerful.

Click to expand...
Yes, there is a time for everything. But if you or anybody else starts applauding during worship, before it's over, I'll be distracted, then I'll wish I was in a church that didn't have distractions during worship time.

This whole thing about applauding became apparent to me when after not being able to find a good Full Gospel type fellowship I started attending the middle of the road Evangelical type churches (no further description will be provided so no one gets offended). Back then it was one or two people clapping after a song. Oh, good Lord! Stop ruining the moment! But now it has progressed to the point where it seems to be understood that everyone will applaud after every single song.....except if it sucked, lol, then the worship team gets left twisting in the wind in an eerie, unspiritual silence.
 
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I guess in some respects I can understand an applause as an act in approval of a message but I have a difficult time believing that is the primary reason people applaud a musical performance. One way to find out is to see if they can explain what the message was. :)
 
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