What is Taizé worship, and is it biblical?

Taizé worship

Question: "What is Taizé worship, and is it biblical?"

Answer: Taizé is a monastic community located in Taizé, France, founded in the 1940s by a Swiss named
Roger Louis Schütz-Marsauche, familiarly called Brother Roger. The “brothers” of Taizé have taken a vow
of celibacy and are committed to a lifetime of simplicity, service, and community. There is an ecumenical
emphasis at Taizé, as expressed in their official website, which says the community “wants its life to be a
sign of reconciliation between divided Christians and between separated peoples.” Brother Roger was
especially eager to bring Catholics and Protestants together.

The contemplative worship practices of the Taizé community are promoted at an annual international
conference. Taizé worship is being incorporated in a wide variety of churches, Protestant and Catholic,
and its pattern of devotion is emulated in other monastic communities around the world.

A Taizé worship service involves sung and chanted prayers, meditation, a period of silence, liturgical
readings, and icons. There is no preaching. The style of prayer practiced at Taizé has attracted many
worshipers from around the globe and from many different denominations. The prayers consist of
“short chants, repeated again and again,” according to an introduction in a Taizé songbook. “The words
are sung over many times.”

There are several problems with the Taizé style of worship. Contemplative worship, in general, seeks a
subjective spiritual experience apart from the objective truth of God's Word. Also, Jesus specifically
forbade repetitive prayer (Matthew 6:7), and the prayers of Taizé are purposefully repetitive. The use of
icons and the ecumenical nature of the movement are also problematic.

In short, a Taizé worship service is an unbiblical attempt to connect with God. Scripture says that faith
comes by hearing, and hearing comes by the Word of God (Romans 10:17), yet the Taizé model
dispenses with preaching. Rather, it relies on idolatrous images, repetitive chants, and mystical
experience to manufacture a sense of unity and peace.