{"id":6308,"date":"2011-08-17T07:35:32","date_gmt":"2011-08-17T07:35:32","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/?p=6308"},"modified":"2019-07-31T11:05:55","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T11:05:55","slug":"worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition\/","title":{"rendered":"Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Worship is not all about style. \u00a0The style of music is merely a\u00a0<em>tool <\/em>that we use to craft a worship experience that is conducive to true worship, much like a painter uses a palette of different colors to create a masterpiece. I have attended traditional and contemporary churches that really worship.\u00a0 I have also attended both styles of worship services where the people seem cold and unaffected.\u00a0 (see post,\u00a0A Tale of Two Churches)<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Too often our churches only judge their worship by the number of people attending.\u00a0 That is a valid assessment, but it should never stop there.\u00a0 The follow up question should always be, \u201cHow many people encountered the transforming power of God through worship?\u201d That question totally transcends the style conversation and helps us focus on what really matters in worship. Other questions to ask (as outlined in\u00a0Transformational Church, by Ed Stetzer and Thom Rainer):<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Are we creating consumers of religious goods and services or making disciples?<\/li>\n<li>When people attend worship, are they simply observing a show or being transformed by God?<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">These are the kinds of questions and concerns we need to be raising regardless of the worship style that a given church employs. However, I do believe that churches need to dialogue and seek God\u2019s heart on their worship styles.\u00a0 We too often focus on the wrong things-thinking only of our\u00a0<strong>personal preferences<\/strong>.\u00a0 If we truly want our churches to be\u00a0<strong>missional<\/strong>, what does our worship need to look like to reach our community?\u00a0 For some, the answer to that is a country style of music.\u00a0 For others, it would be a very Latin-American feel.\u00a0 For some, it might be hip hop. Next post, we will look closer at the missionary mentality factor of determining your church\u2019s worship style.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">As new people come into a church and hear the kind of music they have already been listening to, just with different lyrics, they are more likely to be drawn in to the worship.\u00a0 In some ways you might say it is the same kind of battle the Protestant Reformers fought to get worship in the language of the people.<!--more--><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">I think churches should examine their worship to seek\u00a0<strong>God\u2019s desire<\/strong> for what corporate worship should look like in their church.\u00a0 Lots of times, worship that used to be meaningful has lost its cultural relevance, and if we are going to engage the hearts, minds, soul, and strength of the worshipers, we must find a language that they can speak in. Too many of our churches are resting comfortably in the safety of tradition, not wanting to rock the boat. Change is generally not easy, but is so often necessary.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Some things to consider: statistical data shows that growing churches today more often have a contemporary or blended style of worship.\u00a0 There are some churches with very traditional worship that are also reaching people.\u00a0\u00a0<strong>The vast majority of churches in America have traditional worship, yet the majority of churches experiencing tremendous growth are of a contemporary or blended style.<\/strong> Ed Stetzer, in his book\u00a0Comeback Churches says that there are some churches that have found traditional to be an effective approach in their community, but this is an exception, and most comeback churches (declining\/plateaued churches that have made an incredible turnaround), he states, are moving in a more contemporary direction.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Think about this:\u00a0 (excerpt from\u00a0Experiential Worship, Bob Rognlien)<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 25px;\">A hundred years ago, the primary means of communication was the spoken word.\u00a0 The principle form of entertainment was being read to.\u00a0 The familiar form of music was choral singing.\u00a0 It makes sense that these would make up the primary forms of worship in the churches of those times.\u00a0 People loved to sing hymns led by and organ and a piano.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 25px;\">TODAY, we live in a vastly changed world.\u00a0 Ours is a media saturated, technologically driven, visual culture.\u00a0 Many people don\u2019t read books anymore, they surf the web and watch movies.\u00a0 Most people are not used to listening to long speeches\u2013they catch sound bites and look at graphics that portray information visually.\u00a0 Few people today listen to music like you would hear in a traditional church today.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 25px;\">It would not surprise you then, that when you use the mediums of communication of 100 years ago, or even 40 years ago, our people are unmoved.\u00a0 We are speaking a cultural language that our people do not understand.\u00a0 We must seek more effective ways to engage the mind in worship.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Lots of thoughts to challenge many churches to move away from a strictly traditional approach\u2026<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">Should a church change to a contemporary style of worship just because of these things? Not necessarily. If the people of your church are connecting to God in worship, if your church is reaching its community, and if you feel your church is making disciples, then you are probably where you need to be. However, if you look around and the numbers are declining, worship has become mundane and passive, and you are not reaching new people, it might be time to ask the head of the church what His desire for your church\u2019s worship is.\u00a0<strong>I would venture to say that too many of our churches are resting comfortably in what they have always done without really being missional and intentional.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">I pray that we will all keep our minds open to what God may be saying to us.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">What are your thoughts?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">As we study the worship wars, I will present a number of ideas to stretch our thinking at each post. At the end of the series, I will pull together my thoughts in summary.<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: 1em; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\">In the next few posts, we are going to dive head on into a discussion of styles of worship. Won\u2019t you join me?<\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: x-small; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\"><em>Kenny Lamm<\/em><em>,\u00a0senior consultant for worship and music for the <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.ncbaptist.org\/\"><em>Baptist State Convention of North Carolina<\/em><\/a><em>, is a frequent worship conference leader with a strong focus on equipping leaders in North Carolina (USA) and Southeast Asia. His blog, <\/em><a href=\"http:\/\/www.RenewingWorshipNC.org\/\"><em>Renewing Worship<\/em><\/a><em>,\u00a0features posts that\u00a0explore ways to renew&#8211;impart new life and vigor to&#8211;the worship in the local church.<\/em><\/p>\n<p style=\"font-size: x-small; padding: 0px; margin: 0px 0px 10px 0px;\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<p><strong>Other posts you might like:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Worship Wars &#8211; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars\/\">Part 1<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-2-the-inner-struggle\/\">Part 2<\/a> and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-3-ending-the-worship-war-without-a-truce\/\">Part 3<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/has-modern-worship-become-corrupt-guest-post-by-kim-gentes\/\">Has modern worship become corrupt?<\/a> &#8211; Kim Gentes<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/a-theology-of-worship-stumbling-toward-mystery\/\">A theology of worship \u2013 stumbling toward mystery<\/a> &#8211; Dan Wilt<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/the-gathering-of-believers-vs-open-mic-night\/\">The gathering of believers vs open mic night<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/bored-with-contemporary-worship\/\">Bored with contemporary worship?<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/how-to-move-a-church-from-traditional-to-contemporary-worship-styles\/\">How to move a church from traditional to contemporary worship styles<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Worship is not all about style. \u00a0The style of music is merely a\u00a0tool that we use to craft a worship experience that is conducive to true worship, much like a painter uses a palette of different colors to create a masterpiece. I have attended traditional and contemporary churches that really worship.\u00a0 I have also attended [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":10197,"featured_media":22195,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6,98],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition | Musicademy<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"noindex, follow\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition | Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Worship is not all about style. \u00a0The style of music is merely a\u00a0tool that we use to craft a worship experience that is conducive to true worship, much like a painter uses a palette of different colors to create a masterpiece. I have attended traditional and contemporary churches that really worship.\u00a0 I have also attended [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Musicademy\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2011-08-17T07:35:32+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2019-07-31T11:05:55+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/drc0fhsrp02et.cloudfront.net\/wp-content\/uploads\/2011\/08\/31110533\/Worship-wars.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"900\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Kenny Lamm\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@musicademy\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Kenny Lamm\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition\/\",\"name\":\"Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition | Musicademy\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2011-08-17T07:35:32+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2019-07-31T11:05:55+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61d82eba8d5b950f2254429916c16eaf\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/worship-wars-4-it-might-be-time-to-move-away-from-tradition\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Musicademy\",\"description\":\"Award-winning training resources for church based musicians\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.musicademy.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/61d82eba8d5b950f2254429916c16eaf\",\"name\":\"Kenny Lamm\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition | Musicademy","robots":{"index":"noindex","follow":"follow"},"og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Worship Wars 4: It might be time to move away from tradition | Musicademy","og_description":"Worship is not all about style. \u00a0The style of music is merely a\u00a0tool that we use to craft a worship experience that is conducive to true worship, much like a painter uses a palette of different colors to create a masterpiece. 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