This Singer Is Done with Christianity Performance Culture

Published: January 22, 2026

worship, singing — Photo by Cordell Kingsley on Unsplash

By Michaela Gordoni

Christian worship singer Pat Barrett believes worship should never be about performance.

There’s always the pressure to make the stage visually interesting and to make the music more entertaining or catchy.

“I feel that tension all the time,” Barrett said. “Especially because this is my job.”

He realized people lean into curated performances.

“You start to learn what works,” Barrett said. “And when you’re leading people every week, that shapes what you bring with you.”

But there’s a problem with that. Predictable worship limits spiritual experiences.

“I’ve felt that personally,” Barrett explained. “Like there were parts of my life that didn’t really belong in that space.”

“When Jesus talks about prayer or fasting, He’s very clear about not performing it,” he said. “That’s challenging when your vocation puts you in front of people.”

He never wants a vulnerable moment to become content. Impactful moments of worship lose their impact when they’re mainstreamed.

“You have to ask yourself what you’re reinforcing,” he said. “And whether you’re actually helping people grow, or just giving them something to watch.”

And “If the main place you experience God is on a stage, that’s a problem,” he said. “That can’t be the center of your faith.”

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He encouraged worship leaders to let the stage subtly enhance what’s already there.

“You’re not trying to manufacture a moment,” he said. “You’re sharing something that’s already happening.”

Barrett knows the performance factor doesn’t just apply to a stage or worship as a whole, but to himself too.

“There’s a version of me that I’ve brought into church rooms before,” he said last year. “The one that feels safe. The one that’s acceptable. But I’ve also had these moments thinking, ‘Why does it feel inappropriate to bring my actual thoughts and emotions into worship?’”

In 2022, he said, “When I think back to when I was 15 and if I would’ve known that and that there would always be a camera of lights on me and it would be live streamed to the internet, I don’t think I would have ever become a worship leader. The value system is presentability instead of discipleship, which has meant. And you fail and you try and you get back up and discipleship.”

Now he knows one of the best things believers can do is to be authentic and make space for God to work — and listen to it all, not just the parts that catch their attention or sound pleasing to the ear.

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