they’re not dead yet
we have a large contingency of elderly people at our church.
we also have a large contingency of college students at our church.
in planning worship, we do a mix of hymns and contemporary songs. our church is not quite yet ready to give up the hymns. these historic songs have a place in the souls of half of our members.
to be quite honest, i’m not ready to give up the hymns yet. not at this church.
as a worship leader, my job is to serve the people before me. help them worship God, help them pour out their hearts to Him in song, give them the words to sing when they can’t find them.
in doing so, i set my preferences, my musical tastes, and my “favorite” songs aside and lead THEM. serve THEM. help THEM. while some of the songs may not best suit my style, i consciously put my heart in the songs, in the words, in the message.
this older generation can better express their heart to God by singing “How Great Thou Art” rather than “How Great is Our God”… and, i don’t want to take that opportunity away from them.
although i’d be the first to admit that a more contemporized worship service would do wonders for church growth, i’m not willing to stretch the music so far that we leave half of the congregation behind. these old hymns mean so much to them, they are mile-markers of their faith.
they’re not dead yet. they are still around, and they are more than welcome to stay.
A elderly friend of mine recently reminded me that “old people like the slower songs.”
A younger friend of mine said, “yeah, but old people die.”
If changing something would help reach lost people for Jesus I’d be remiss not to do it. If “the elect” argue that they want something different that what will reach lost people for Jesus, then I’d question how “elect” they are. (Those who are closer to Christ have a heart that is closer to what his is like – one that is broken for the lost and longs to see them saved.)
With that said, I personally believe that doing songs rich in heritage (like hymns out of a hymnbook) is effective for reaching lost people and helping them draw closer to Jesus.
Usher: What has “blended worship” got to do with the Great Commission? It’s not the Gospel, it’s geriatric accommodation for sentiment purposes.
Deacon: Be nice, you had your say on the last post
Usher: Let me push the point – what has this got do with evangelism? Isn’t the church supposed to be about bringing people into the kingdom? Or is is a nursing home for those who want to simply sing hymns?
Deacon: Well, you have a point. It is a known fact that the majority of all people come to Christ before they’re college aged:
http://www.barna.org/FlexPage.aspx?Page=BarnaUpdate&BarnaUpdateID=172
Usher: If churches simply dissected their “liturgies”, they would find them wanting. For the meat of the subject, their focus would be on taking the Gospel to the streets instead of appeasing little old ladies who want to sing “How Great Thou Art” and “Onward Christian Soldier” every week.
Hi, Mandy
I think that singing hymns as well as contemporary songs, and doing both at a reasonable volume (by that I mean probably a little too loud for the old folks, but not loud enough to require the exclusion of children) is a great way to hold a worship service. The old hymns, well done, are beautiful and full of rich meaning. Any song seems strange until you get used to it, and hymns are no exception.
What is the church for? I agree–reaching the lost. But what is the church? That would be you and I. The church meeting is for preparing the saints (us again) for the work of service (reaching the lost). If you get people to come for the great contemporary music, how committed is that?
The fact is that our lives are supposed to bring glory to God. The Greek word glory means to show something as it really is. We’re supposed to show the world what God is really like. We don’t need a particular style of music for that. We need to worship in spirit and in truth. Our true worship is our lives, lived in Him.
I strongly believe that the music portion of the church meeting should be as professionally done as the people who are called to do it can manage. God can work through unimpressive musicians, and spectacular musicians might just be up there putting on a show with no true worship. That said, we do need to do as good a job as we can. The important thing, though, is to worship, and that can be done whether you’re singing How Great Thou Art or How Great is Our God.
Don’t let anyone tell you you’re wrong to try to bring the older folks into the worship, Mandy. The church meeting is where we get together as a family to grow in the Lord and glorify Him. If the grandkids can’t let Gramdma and Grandpa have a song or two that they can relate to, then shame on them. It’s time to grow up. I don’t mean this harshly, but I do mean it. We all need to hear those words from time to time.
God bless,
Cindy
“although i’d be the first to admit that a more contemporized worship service would do wonders for church growth, i’m not willing to stretch the music so far that we leave half of the congregation behind. these old hymns mean so much to them, they are mile-markers of their faith.”
So you’re not willing to stop playing certain songs because they mean so much to someone who is already saved, but you are willing to keep playing songs that will keep others from being saved? I’m not so sure I’d want to stand before Jesus and tell him that.
This is a hard place to be. I feel it too.
Our church has both a traditional & contemporary service, in hopes of reaching both. There are still things that are difficult despite this, but both services average about the same number of people each week…
Just an idea… You could do a monthly Saturday evening (or something) service for the “youth” & contemporary music people in the congregation (but not for them in lieu of Sunday morning really). You could also ‘advertise’ such a service to the community as well, along the lines of a Prayer & worship night, & encourage any college-aged or youth to invite friends who don’t know Christ.
Mandy, I think your definately on the right track. The older people are members of your congregation and should be ministered to as well. Hymns are so rich in theology and in church history, I think it would be horrendous to abandon them completely.
But churches have to be able to appeal to younger congregants as well if they are to survive and be relevant to our culture.
There are plenty of hymns that are being redone with a little more modern feel to them. Also, I try and look for common themes between a hymn and a contemporary praise song and put those songs together. I’ve gone from the hymn How Great Thou Art to the chorus of How Great is Our God, and it worked quite well.
Keep struggling with this Mandy. I think it’s an important discussion to have.
Today’s sermon was on worship. There was a time when the Gentile Christians ate what they wanted, and the Jewish Christians looked down on their unclean eating habits. If the kosher foods helped the Jewish believers, then go for it, but don’t hold it against the Gentiles. It might be time for two services, with alot of non-music fellowship at least once a month to keep people in contact with each other. BTW, we rock up some hymns.
I personally believe the PRIMARY purpose of a church service is the training and encouragement of believers, empowering them to go out and BE Jesus to the world around them. If that is it’s purpose, we should indeed minister to those of all ages, and all stages of spiritual growth. Good post, Mandy!
The worship service should reflect the heart of God and his people. If there are people in the congregation who worship better with hymns. Awesome. If there are people in the congregation who worship better with contemporary music. Awesome. Our preferences don’t matter as much as our hearts. I know we try to remind ourselves of that quite often.
You are right on track, Mandy. As a worship leader, your job is to inspire your worshipers to turn their hearts toward God. How could you possibly do that without speaking their language? And why in the world would you try to force them to worship using a language they don’t understand?
Inspire them in whatever language they speak. And teach them to come to the throne of grace TOGETHER.
Thanks for your heart.
Here is a related post: http://churchwhisperer.com/2008/07/09/languages-of-worship/
Hi. I’m totally new to this blog. Found you by Google’s Blog Search. I’m a worship leader at a medium-sized SBC in Florida and I can totally relate to what you’re facing with Hymns and more contemporary songs. All you have to do is incorporate them together as a worship package. We do it all the time. What I enjoy doing even more, is rearranging older hymns to a contemporary rythm or doing something totally unexpected. For example, I’ve used the song, “blessed be the name” and combined it with a very slow version of the refrain to “Take the Name of Jesus With You.” It’s quite easy. All you have to do is find songs that work together, play with thier tempos and rythms, and you’ve made yourself a completely different worship experience.
“although i’d be the first to admit that a more contemporized worship service would do wonders for church growth”
Church growth isn’t all it’s cracked up to be. The point is not the number of bums on seats, it’s the number of lives which are ‘being transformed into his likeness with ever increasing glory’. I.e. we care about making disciples who are worshippers.
Ultimately no musical style produces that. All we can do as worship leaders is serve the people by providing opportunities to respond to God that we can all join in with. Ideally this is in the way that most closely fits how we’d personally naturally respond but we should also never lose sight of the fact that worship is God-focussed and God-centred. It’s about pleasing Him, not us.
Your passion to serve the whole congregation is commendable. Too often the younger generations forget those who’ve gone before and already given years of worship and service to God. Corporate worship should always be a rich expression that reflects the diversity of the worshippers present.
Final thought: If we’re just people who only worship when we get together on Sundays then style is really important. If we’re worshippers who live a daily life of worship in Spirit and truth then style isn’t quite so important.
Biggest problem is when people who feel they’ve been robbed because the style hasn’t fit them, the songs didn’t work for them, and the right buttons haven’t been pressed. As if our worship was ever about pleasing them! Worshippers know that worship is always for God and is about pleasing Him.
great stuff i just wrote a blog about this not to long ago….http://thejonmorris.wordpress.com/2008/06/29/worship-and-connection/ I believe successful worship is people connecting to God…it’s that simple. what does it take for your congregation to do that? that’s the question we should all ask ourselves about worship leading at our church home.
oh yeah, i added you to my blogroll. i like your thoughts.
great post!
I’m getting married in a couple of weeks – we’re starting the service by singing How Great Thou Art, and finishing it with How Great Is Our God
NO! NO! NO!
There. I feel better.
1. Worship is for God, it is not for evangelism. His worship and His glory alone are what should govern our music.
2. If we pick songs to make people happy, we just screwed up #1.
3. “Speaking to one another with Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs…” (Col 3:16)
- Psalms: Scriptures set to music
- Hymns – formulations of Christian doctrine
- Spiritual Songs – expressions of personal experience
Take any of the above three away and you impoverish worship. If all the old ladies were gone, you must not abandon hymns. And if there are no “youngsters”, contemporary Psalms and spiritual songs still have a place.
Some other post, I’ll reflect on the congregational inaccessibility of most contemporary Christian music (look around during worship – how many aren’t singing because of asymetrical lyric and music?). How I yearn for a new generation of Biblically sound songs that the whole congregation can sing! I say htis as a Christian leader in a college community.
Interesting post. And one that has sparked some good discussion. While the music definitely matters, it is not what SOLELY constitutes “good” worship. The heart of the leader and the spirit in the congregation are also important. I think we can all give and take a little more than we do.