Last week at Conversatio Morum I commented on an article from The Gospel Coalition. You can read it here. What I want to talk about today isn’t the article in particular, but really one part of the article. The very last paragraph made this statement
On a related note, the “worship wars” will become a thing of the past. Our society’s musical taste are too fragmented for there to be a “contemporary” and “traditional” style. Young people are less and less likely to choose a church based on the style of music.
As someone whose been in church planting for around a decade, this statement intrigued me. Partially because I believe it’s true. I was talking with my senior pastor this past week and taking note that of the fastest growing church’s, there’s not one particular model. Even down to worship style, you have everything from Mars Hill in Seattle, to Soma in Tacoma, to North Point in Georgia, to the Willow Creek in Chicago, to Redeemer Presbyterian in New York. All of those church’s have a different crowd, different ministry approaches, and a different style of music. It’s always interesting to me seeing someone talk about their new church and thinking that the differentiators are going to be style of ministry model. It’s almost entertaining how formulaic this has become. Thinking, put up a screen, add some electric guitars, throw in some small groups, and our church will grow fast. The reality is that the majority of church plants fail within the first 5 years.
The reality is that the differentiators are going to be your culture and identity as a church. Among those there are some key differences that I see in the churches that are growing, but I’m not wanting to get into all that yet. The reality I want to drive home is that style doesn’t necessarily reflect mentality and culture [Tweet That]
I’ve heard people, even in my church, state things along the lines of “If we could only do that music, then we’d get those people.” Not true. I know too many people who wear boots and wranglers that listen to hip hop and too many people who wear FUBU that listen to Alan Jackson. I’d like to think that I’m the type of person you’d want coming to your church. I’m generally not there to play games and sit in a seat. I want to sweep floors, watch kids, disciple people, share Jesus, help with tech, etc. I’m here to help. On that note, when I go to church I don’t particularly care about the style of music, I want to worship Jesus and if we’re doing that, be it hymns or hip hop, I’m in. Don’t hear me wrong. I do have a preference, just like everyone else. It may take me a bit to get used to the style of music or whatever else is going on but if I’m feeling like God’s saying go somewhere, I’m going to get over my own preferences to obey that.
OK, well I think I just figured out what my next series of blog posts is going to be. Next week I’ll go into what I think really attracts people to stay at a place and serve.