Elias Dummer: Is It Worship or Performance?

So many Worship Leaders are so concerned about being accused of “performing” and not actually leading worship. Questions like “are we doing it well?” and “how did we sound?'' come before the important question of “did we see lives changed?'' and “did people meet Jesus?” There’s a tension that exists between the space of worship and the space of performance. Accusations of “that church just puts on a show” are prevalent within the western Church and our megachurches have spent lots of tithe money on creating a highly produced Sunday service. One might even say that the light show on Sunday helps keep the lights on the rest of the week.

Elias Dummer knows a thing or two about this topic of worship versus performance. As a former successful CCM artist and lead singer of the band The City Harmonic and as a songwriter and Worship Leader for his local church, he has a unique perspective based on his years of experience. In this episode he addresses this issue by bringing us back to the basics of how we were created.

Hopefully, through this episode, our tribe will be able to remove the fear of creating a performance culture and just focus on doing worship well and connecting the congregation with God.

This podcast is brought to you by Authentic Media and Worship Leader Magazine. Our host is Joshua Swanson and the show’s co-producer and editor is Matt McCartie.

Additional Links
https://eliasdummer.com/
https://www.instagram.com/worshipleader/
https://worshipleader.com/all-podcasts/
https://authenticmedia.company/
https://worshipleader.com/all-podcasts/our-host/

Who is Elias Dummer?

Elias Dummer co-founded and fronted one of Canada’s most acclaimed worship bands, The City Harmonic. As the group's principal songwriter, he helped pen such hits as “Holy (Wedding Day)” and “Mountaintop,” as well as “Manifesto,” which served as the theme song for 2011’s National Day of Prayer. The City Harmonic earned 12 GMA Canada Covenant Awards and a Juno Award (Canada’s GRAMMY® equivalent), before disbanding in 2017. Dummer released his solo debut, The Work Vol. I, in 2019 and was named Breakthrough Artist of the Year at the 2020 Covenant Awards. Both as a solo artist and with The City Harmonic, Dummer’s music has garnered more than 100 million streams to date. His latest album, The Work Vol. II, released July 29 and features collaborations with such artists as Sandra McCracken; Citizens’ Zach Bolen; JJ Heller; and Land of Color.

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