The Big Worship Four: Bethel
This article is part of a series on worship music, in which I cover four modern churches and their influence on it: Bethel, Jesus Culture, Planetshakers, and Hillsong.
Bethel
The more reverb, the more Holy Spirit.
Bethel Church is a neocharismatic Christian movement located in Redding, Cali. They are a Church. They are also a community of dope musicians.
Bethel‘s music catalogie consists of 17 (mostly live) albums plus several records by solo artists from the Bethel collective.
Their unique sound and the charisma of their singers and worship leaders make their sessions a deeply spiritual experience, often breaking into spontaneous ‘worship jams,’ which is part of what sets Bethel apart from the rest of the Big Four in worship music.
Spontaneous
They are all doing this - after a song or a spoken word, the musicians would start to slowly build up an emotional music theme with the singers jumping in with what‘s usually a few-bars lyrics.
This is actually one of significant aspects of worship music in general. It‘s not a song per se, it‘s not an intermezzo. Some of these jams have such a big impact that musicians would repeat them on several shows, while others are created just for a single moment.
The point of these worship jams is to create an atmosphere through instruments and voices, where both the musicians and the audience can connect with God in praise - without having to think about which verse of the song is coming next (hence the use of just a few words or lines).
And Bethel’s spontaneous moments are truly something else. Even for me, they can sometimes feel almost overwhelming. When Steffany Gretzinger or Jenn Johnson step into that space, I often wonder, isn’t this too much? But then I realize the reason is that I myself would probably never allow myself to go that deep into worship in front of so many people, and I envy their honesty and faith.
Artists
Of all the major worship collectives, Bethel has the largest number of exceptional solo artists who release their own records alongside the collective’s Bethel Music projects.
I especially like: Amanda Cook Steffany Gretzinger Jenn Johnson Jeremy Riddle kalley Kristene DiMarco
The fact that so many artists have separate careers shows that the Bethel Music collective is rich in individual worship leaders, which keeps the whole project fresh and ensures a high level of musical quality. However, it’s fair to say that their careers usually don’t go beyond the Christian audience.
Music
Bethel‘s signature sound goes with down-to-earth feel with acoustic instruments, low (and I mean LOW) tuned snare drum with an amount of reverb.
I heard this saying related to Bethel:
The more reverb, the more Holy Spirit.
😁Figures.
They also often create soundscapes that an average musician would build with synths loops, but Bethel uses live instruments to shape the ambient atmosphere.
Sometimes when I play Bethel’s music to my musician friends, they pass as “it‘s boring.” Well yeah - there isn’t a new sound added every five seconds, and the chorus doesn’t kick in after just thirty. But if you’re willing to listen closely, you can appreciate the gentle, tasteful care put into the arrangements.
Another thing to mention about Bethel are their build-ups. A build-up is a term used in worship music. You play a song and usually after second chorus or so, you would let it drop to basically just a very smooth synth and maybe a gentle ride cymbal. From there you slowly build the song up by adding volume, another instruments and voice intensity until the tension of the music is great and you finally break into the chorus.
You make me brave with a worship leader Amanda Cook is a book example. Notice how different instruments escalate the intensity and how Amanda works with her voice and the melody.
Every worship band in the world is doing build-ups, but in my opinion, Bethel Music are the masters in it.
Summary
Bethel Music is the most charismatic and spontaneous collective of The Big Worship Four. They also have the largest number of solo artists that came out of the project. If you‘re in a mood of authentic, not overproduced worship music, that‘s your move.
Recommended records:
Bethel Music:
We Will Not Be Shaken (2015) Have It All (2016) Victory (2019)
Solo artists:
Amanda Cook - Brave New World (2015) Steffany Gretzinger - Blackout (2018)
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