Volley #23

QUALITY AND STYLE

As we consider ways to make our worship more appealing to a wider swath of our population, we may be tempted to focus our attention on the style of our liturgy. Maybe if we adopted a certain liturgical form, or none, or maybe if we chose a particular genre of music, or several, we could attract and keep the interest of our children and their friends. If only it were so easy!


I overheard a pair of elderly Baptist ladies lamenting to a friend over changes in their congregation’s worship practices. It seems the congregation’s leadership had fired the organist and put the choir out to pasture, and had brought in a “praise band,” and sometimes canned accompaniments for contemporary Christian pop music.
“Well, do you have a lot of new members?” their friend asked.

“Not a one!” the complainers chorused. “It’s just the same group it was before, only now none of us like the service!”

Something was clearly missing in the way the change in worship practice was implemented. One element may have been the focus of attention on style rather than quality. In our own communion, research has shown that congregations can be successful using worship in just about any style. What matters is the quality of the worship. If there is to be music, it must be well-presented. If there is to be preaching, it needs to be good quality preaching. The manner of celebrating the liturgy must contribute to a depth of spiritual experience. The spirit of the congregation ought to be positive, hopeful, and unified. Carping, however, comical as above, is rarely a church growth tool.

We can experiment with and differ over matters of style. But when it comes to quality, there is no room to mess around.