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| Contemporary or traditional... does it matter? |
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Today I had an interesting talk with a older man from my father's generation. Born and raised an evangelical Christian in Cuba, he had some pretty strong opinions about church, Christianity and life in general. - About contemporary music in worship: "I don't agree with all this modern music in church. We don't need to immitate the world's music. I don't care if the youth don't like it, church is church. If you have to entertain someone for them to stay in church, they're there for the wrong reason!"
- About casual dress in church services: "I don't think women should wear pants to church. If they want to wear it on the street, fine, but church is church, and it's a matter of respect and reverence."
- About Christianese: "When I hear someone saying `Praise the Lord' and `Hallelujah' all the time, that's an immediate red flag for me. I prefer to see someone's religion in action rather than hear it in their conversation all the time."
- About the state of the Church today: "The Church today is in shambles. It seems like no one is interested in doing things out of love for God or reverence for Him. Everyone just wants to please themselves. That's why the Bible asks 'When the Son of Man comes, will he find faith on the earth?'"
Now some might read this and feel annoyed right away. You may point out, as I did, that "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God" had been a popular bar tune before Martin Luther put Christian words to it. Someone might argue that if we don't change with the times we will miss out on reaching a generation.
I suppose there are some who will applaud and say, "Amen!" to some or most of what the man said. Maybe you're bothered by the seeming lack of reverence in today's worship, and the casual approach that some people take to God which appears to border on disrespect. Perhaps you miss that "Old time religion."
Here's what I think. We should have only one goal as believers, and that is to give glory to God. No matter what the style of music, dress or language used, our goal must be God's glory. And God is glorified when we make Him known and when our lives reflect His presence in our lives. When He is lifted up, God's glory draws people to Him.
My friend finds fault in contemporary music and dress because he's seen people being superficial, but I think his real concern is that in our effort to be contemporary and relevant we might miss the point. As we try hard to be "all things to all men," let's make sure that we're still making disciples, still teaching, preaching and living the truth of the Gospel. A church that loves God and loves people will have an impact no matter what kind of church it is. And that is what truly brings glory to God. |
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| To add a comment to "Contemporary or traditional... does it matter?" |
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| August 21, 2007 |
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I would say in general he is correct. 1. We should NOT be immitating the world's music rather our music should be at the head and not the tail. We should be trailblazing in the arts, not 20 years late. 2. I would agree. Women look much better in dresses anyway, why not differentiate rather than looking like men. Women are flowers and should look like them, IMHO. 3. Red flags ought to be raised. 4. It is very wide and shallow. |
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| August 31, 2007 |
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Good post! I agree "A church that loves God and loves people will have an impact no matter what kind of church it is. And that is what truly brings glory to God." As you say it doesn't matter what kind of church it is. Especially in our western mind-set we have put the church in the proverbial 'box'. i know a church planter who meets regularly with 15 to 20 people in his home to read scripture, pray for one another, share a meal and pool together their tithes and offerings to give to various causes including those within the group who may be suffering a financial set back. Sounds like an ACTS church to me. Yet most denominations might not recognize it as a "church" while in its present state it might be the closest thing to an "organic" church i've seen in a while.
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| September 01, 2007 |
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| Thanks, Rick. That may not impress a lot of people, but I know it's a testimony to those that are being helped. The only thing that must not be overlooked is the commandment to preach the gospel and make disciples. I think it's important to make sure we're doing those things as we live as a community of faith. Despite the canned approach some people take to the Purpose Driven model, I think Rick Warren has nailed it when he lists the 5 purposes of the church: Evangelism, Worship, Fellowship, Discipleship and Ministry/Service. When any of these are missing, we cease to be as effective as the church as we should be. That said, we do have to leave room for calling and the leading of the Holy Spirit, but that's for another blog... |
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| September 01, 2007 |
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| Good discussion! It is always interesting to hear the perspective of previous generations, to see how the Church is changing over time. Some things change, and for the most part change is ok, in the superficial things at least. But God does not change -- so let's not lose sight of the things that should remain constant from one generation to the next. That includes our basic attitude toward God, and the role he should have in our lives, among other things. ~mike |
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| September 27, 2007 |
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| This was a good post Danny. I think traditional vs. contemporary is a hot point in a lot of churches. I know some of the older folks in our church don't like the newer music, and some of the younger people don't like the old music. There has to be a medium somewhere, so that everyone can be satisfied, but I don't think we have reached it yet. I love most of the new stuff, and most of the old hymns too, but then, I just plain love music. As long as we are showing Glory to God, that should be what it is all about. |
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| September 27, 2007 |
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| Thanks, Deb. Yeah, it's a hot point, unfortunately. I think it would be great if we could find a way to worship that transcends culture. You know, maybe I'll write a blog about it. God bless. |
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| September 27, 2007 |
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As a worship leader, I try to mix the musical genres - traditional and contemporary. There seem to be three kinds of reactions to a given song: 1) the people who relate mostly to the song's genre really get in to it; 2) the people who really don't related might be a little bored; 3) the people who have Christ as a focus praise God no matter what the genre. The real point of praise music is: what am I offering God as I sing (or not sing)? As a worship leader, I need to tailor the song list so I can serve the most people in the group. Traditional songs have a lot to offer, and contemporary songs have a lot to offer. My only concern is this: am I serving people the best I can by providing what they need to focus on God. I think the traditional vs. contemporary debate is immature. Don't get me wrong - people relate to one or other style of music, and that's fine (I'm not sure I could worship to rap, but I've met people who do). It's the debating that I see as childish. The debate is really only about culture. If I have an attitude that says "They aren't singing songs I'm comfortable with, so they are wrong." that's just childish. People should worship in the manner they can relate to, as long as they aren't sinning or leading other people to sin. If I'm worshiping God, then the only opinions that matter are mine and His (I should obviously be cognizant of how I'm affecting others as I do worship - my worship shouldn't keep another person from being able to worship). To me, worship is not singing, but a life style. A worshipful lifestyle is where I submit everything to God. One of the highest forms of worship is to just be myself as God made me to be. Part of that is the music I like. If I'm going to worship God with my style of music, I need to be open to letting the people around me worship God with their style of music. If their style is incompatible with mine, then I need to either wait for my style to show up, or find a different venue. After all, if there is anything in my environment that keeps me from worshiping God, I need to take responsibility and change what I can, and accept what I can't. I think the principle in this verse is what should apply to discussions about praise styles. Romans 14:1
Now accept the one who is weak in faith, but not for the purpose of passing judgment on his opinions. |
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| September 27, 2007 |
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| I agree with you, Jess. Worship in reality has nothing to do with music. If it did, how could a deaf mute person ever worship? Worship is always all about our response to God, who He is and what he has done for us. That said, people will always get heated up when the worship style doesn't suit their tastes, especially if the contrast is great (i.e. rap, hard rock, etc.). Maybe we should turn off the music and try to worship with words, posture, prayer, scripture reading and testimonies and see if we can detox! |
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| September 27, 2007 |
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Maybe we should turn off the music and try to worship with words, posture, prayer, scripture reading and testimonies and see if we can detox! Now that is an interesting notion. I'm going to a church that has an art time for their worship part of the service. They have canvases on eisels that people can write on with sharpies, chalkboards you can make pictures on. It's pretty cool. |
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