Market segmentation—it’s a business concept that appears to have made its way into the church, expressed primarily through worship services tailored for different audiences. In today’s post, Jonathan Lawson examines the effect of traditional and contemporary worship styles on the church.
Worship and Christian education are often kept separate within the church. As some argue, both serve different functions, one for instruction and the other for worship. In reality, however, they are not that different. The worship leader is a kind of catechist whose purpose is to both usher people into the presence of God and instruct them in His truth.
In today’s article, our sower in chief J. D. Walt reminds us that in a culture of stress and consumerism, we can become a different kind of people and live with a different kind of intention. Advent provides the opportunity to have a peace in the midst of chaos.
In this video, watch Matt Sigler summarize 3 key insights that the Wesleyan movement offers to contemporary worship. They include rootedness, personal, and sanctifying elements, all of which may serve to renew the contemporary worship movement.
Michael Hawn, a professor of church music at Perkins School of Theology, uses two basic categories when speaking about music in the church: cyclical and sequential. Modern worship music has morphed into a form somewhere between the two.
When charismatic worship moved into mainline churches, in many cases it left behind the theology out of which in came, creating dissonance. And for those unwilling to ask questions, this dissonance was magnified. When encountering the unfamiliar, the chaotic or vague, ridicule emerges as a primary coping tactic.
Many forget (or don’t know) that “contemporary” worship was inextricably linked to the Charismatic Movement of the 1960’s and 70’s. This connection forged a musical style that was rooted in a particular understanding of the Spirit in worship. God was uniquely encountered, by the Spirit, in congregational singing.
Many still use the term “contemporary worship” as it was used in 1995. What should be clear is that several things have changed over the past two-decades. Here are six things that are different from contemporary worship in the ’90s.
Contemporary worship music has come under fire for being flashy and theologically weak. However, always the contrarian, I have become a bit perturbed by the way that many people talk about contemporary worship. This dismissive attitude becomes ultimately unhelpful because it assigns generalities to an entire genre of music.
One of the criticisms of “contemporary worship” following 9/11 was that the style of worship provided no space for real lament. I would suggest that this is not a problem merely limited to “contemporary-styled” services.
This past Christmas our family made the pilgrimage to Disney World. It’s fascinating how Disney didn’t set out to build a theme park but to create a world.
