Part 2: Contemporary worship at its best (and worst) ~ B.J. Price

Christian worship practices have evolved over the last two millennia extensively. Today Christians worship in many different styles across the globe. Many churches (especially in the West) generally define their style of worship as either a traditional, blended, or contemporary style. These titles are somewhat helpful but often leave much to be desired in terms of clarity. This post is simply to help define what contemporary worship is and what are the best and worst aspects of it.

Defining contemporary worship is like trying to hit a moving target. At its most elementary definition, contemporary refers to that which is current, relevant, or in style. Worship refers to giving honor or worth to and object, person or being. For the sake of having a working definition, contemporary Christian worship is offering praise to God in Biblically appropriate and culturally relevant ways.

At Its Best

• Contemporary worship at its best enables worshipers to experience God in authentic and fresh ways.

Worship is a personal and corporate experience that affects the hearts and the minds of the worshipers. Contemporary worship taps into man's desire for novelty—that searching for newness—in order to experience more of God. In every expression of worship, Contemporary worship calls for  a fresh perspective. A new angle. Scripture reading in the contemporary worship context may take on a modern translation or a memorized and quoted passage over a contemporary music bed.

• Contemporary worship at its best calls all living generations to experience God in the here and now. 

God is alive and at work in every generation, and contemporary worship comes from a desire to praise and worship the King of kings and Lord of lords, Jesus Christ, with new and fresh songs and artistic offerings that are relevant to the current culture. In order to fulfill the great commission he church must engage in reaching the culture. At its best, contemporary worship opens the door to cultural engagement as it utilizes (redeems) many current art forms and expressions.

• Contemporary worship leaders lead their teams to sing songs that are biblically sound and culturally relevant. 

Worship is far more than singing yet singing is often the first thing we think of when considering the subject of worship. And rightly so, singing praise to God is a Biblical imperative. It is the right response of the creature to his Creator. But what should our songs say and how should we sing them? First of all, every person has a unique voice. Therefore, every worship gathering should be a bit unique. The sound of the singing should reflect the people in the gathering. At its best, contemporary worship utilizes the people in the gathering to lead the singing. The key should fit the voices you have in the congregation as much as possible. (This can be a challenge for some since modern worship music is often written for mutant tenors! But, with a little effort and skill most musicians can find a good key for the core of the congregation.)

At Its Worst

Unfortunately, Contemporary Christian worship is not always expressed in its best possible light. In fact, because of many negative personal experiences and heated debates, contemporary worship may have a bad reputation in some Christian circles (and, for good reasons).

• At its worst, contemporary worship draws attention away from God and more on the music or those leading worship.

It is a sad reality, but, in many contemporary worship services the music or the performance of the music is the focus of the service. Many elements contribute to this perception such as enhanced stage lighting, cameras, solos, etc. In these types of environments, worship leaders must go out of their way to intentionally explain, teach, and remind the congregation who it it they are worshiping, King Jesus!

• At its worst, contemporary worship falls into the ditch of emotionalism.

We are emotional creatures. God made us with great capacity for a broad range of emotions and our emotions are highly volatile. Music affects our emotions on a subconscious level. Since we know that music can play a large part in our overall emotional state, it is not hard to see the danger of placing too much emphasis on the music. There is a point in which worship leaders must we careful to follow the Spirit and Word in worship so as to avoid crossing the line and just working everyone up into an emotional frenzy.

• At its worst, contemporary worship isolates older generations and hinders robust corporate multigenerational singing.

Contemporary worship is always changing. New music is being uploaded and downloaded every day around the world. Contemporary worship is thriving in the day of social media and global technology. However, worship leaders would do well to recognize the unnecessary gap that persists between those on the cutting edge of modern worship music and everyone else. Many leaders fail to recognize that when they turned the band up and introduced all the new music the congregation all but stopped singing! Sure, they stand and mouth most of the words. But, sadly, many are not singing at all. Worship leaders need to make an intentional effort to educate their congregations on the new music and strategically teach the songs one at a time.