God's not up there...

If you have done any reading at all on church worship trends in the last decade, you have likely noticed that criticism of “contemporary” services are everywhere.   Coverage of this topic by mainstream Christian media seems to range from a lukewarm “at least they come to church” position to some insinuating outright heresy.   Often, “support” for contemporary worship is couched in terms that indicates that contemporary worship is great for the spiritual novice…who, with maturity, will eventually move on to a “deeper” worship.  IMHO,  a large percentage of the lukewarm “for” crowd, is merely hedging their bets…they see the numbers, and they aren’t about to kill the golden goose (not yet, and not while it’s still laying).   Those with strong negative feelings about contemporary worship now have good reason to ratchet up the angst….if there is a schism in the UMC, where will these non-traditional congregations (and their tithes) go?

Most who know me would be surprised to hear that I agree with many of the concerns and criticisms heaped upon what is collectively known as “contemporary” worship.

Sadly, it seems that many congregations have used contemporary worship not as a means of creating a more authentic worship, in synch with the realities of the world we inhabit Sunday evening through Saturday night, but as a means of increasing attendance (or slowing the decline). What was, for many, a way of finding space to cover new topics, new concerns, new focus has became little more than a way to get more people in the door.

It is little wonder that some of these services seem to be destined for failure.   “Contemporary” worship that has top-notch music, concert lighting and web-based bulletins may get some curious souls in the door one Sunday, but not 100 or 1000 Sundays.   If a restaurant has bland food, the best customer service and atmosphere in the world won’t have me excited about coming back.  The expectation that the “problem” of declining membership can be fixed by simply copying the “traditional” church template (with the exception of replacing pipe organs, responsive readings and neck ties with praise bands, projectors and flip-flops) seems to be as popular as it is flawed.

What does a congregation do when attendance at the “alternative” service becomes stagnate?  Many in the theological media have for years pointed out that contemporary worship is flawed, not Biblical, and is will inevitably fail as a result.  The easy answer to a failing contemporary service would be to retreat to that which we know is pleasing to God…”traditional” worship.  But what happens when it becomes necessary to dust the sanctuary pews and hymnals?  The fact that those predicting the demise of contemporary worship avoid the equally and arguably deeper problem of collapsing traditional worship attendance is, to me, quite telling.  In the end, the debate over traditional vs contemporary will be good for Christians, and possibly be good for those in the business of supporting Christians.  However, attendance as a metric for the success or failure of a worship service is flawed and misguided at best, subtle idolatry at worst.

Maybe it’s time we remove “declining membership” altogether as a problem for Christian congregations.  Maybe it’s time to stop wondering how to get more people in the door, or why people don’t seem to understand how awesome we are.  Maybe it’s time to stop worrying about having the right signage, or if our songs are new (or old) enough,  or that our welcome gift comes off as friendly but not desperate.   Maybe declining attendance is not a problem at all…  Maybe declining attendance is a merely a symptom…