Three Myths of Contemporary Worship
by Ken Gabrielse
A recent LifeWay research project in
The research tells us that most of the young adults who are being attracted to evangelical churches are NOT coming to church because of modern elements present in worship services.
How can that be? This is obviously a misunderstanding about the importance of a limited genre of music being produced today. Here are three myths about Contemporary worship.
Myth #1: If we include contemporary music in our worship service, the young adults of our community will be attracted to our church.
The following entry was posted on Kingdom People Blog, Oct. 2, 2007. This is from Trevin Wax, who serves as an associate pastor in a large SBC church in
“The idea that a ‘contemporary’ music service is going to reach my generation just makes me laugh. No one in my class is there for the music. They are all there for the relationships and the Bible teaching. Not that the music is unimportant . . . it’s just not central.
“It’s easy to update musical style and think that this is the ‘sacrifice’ it takes to reach the younger crowd. It’s much harder to actually invest in the relationships and serious Bible teaching that are actually more effective in reaching the twenty-somethings.”
Churches that are out to build authentic relationships with lost and disenfranchised people have a cultural mindset when it comes to making decisions that assist them in reaching their community for Christ. They recognize buildings and programs do not define a New Testament church and they are willing to change both if it means being positioned for growth. When young adults come into this setting, they quickly recognize an attitude of acceptance and openness regardless of the age of the members, the architecture of the buildings or the style of music in the worship setting. A church with this mindset is continually looking for ways to involve this age group in discipleship and outreach. They listen to them; they respond to their leadership; they love them. Authentic churches look for ways to attract and build relationship with young adults.
Myth #2: Any attempt at including modern worship music in our service will be rewarded by increased numbers of young adults and young families.
This is actually happening in far too many of our churches today—the attempt is being made. The problem is that the 18-30 year olds are very unforgiving when it comes to mediocrity in the arts. They have access to every quality musical style and genre at their fingertips. They can watch and listen to the original version of every modern hymn and worship song written in the past five to 10 years. They know when the attempt is half-hearted or the musical quality is lacking.
So, in fact, the inverse of Myth #2 is true—if you are simply making the attempt, this young adult age group will stay away from your worship service. Hopefully, they will not neglect church attendance; but it will not be your church that they attend.
Myth #3: We can get together on Sunday morning (or right before our worship service) to put together our contemporary music for worship.
If the Lord blesses your church with good musical talent in its members, as a called minister of that church, you must be a good steward of this gift by utilizing these folk. Someone must disciple them in worship philosophy and leadership, and make sure that they practice hard their gifts and abilities. Do not let them lead worship simply because they showed up on Sunday morning to put together the service.
It is wonderfully acceptable to start a worship ministry with a very small number of highly committed people. But these folks must be committed to practice that includes musical as well as spiritual discipline. Worship planning and rehearsal takes time and energy. Please, don’t do modern church music without committing to the quality that only time in rehearsal can provide. Young adults will see right through your lack of preparation.
These are wonderful days to be involved in worship ministry. The call to excellence has never been greater. Much of this is being led by the young adult age group wanting to give their lives to something greater than themselves. And they want to be part of a church (or group of believers) that is willing to sacrifice in order to accomplish great things. If they don’t see that from your church, they will find it somewhere else. Build relationships with them; practice for excellence in ministry; preach and teach the Word. The Lord will build His church.
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