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hymns and contemporary worship > home
from Sally Morgenthaler's book Worship Evangelism
Certain church traditions may not be as offensive
in the 90s as we think. In a recent study,
two-thirds of the unchurched said they would
prefer to come back to an "informal"
church experience. What exactly an "informal
experience" entails was not clear. Yet
47 percent of those surveyed also indicated
that they would like to sing some traditional
hymns. (Note: This does not necessarily mean
they want to sing them in a "traditional
way.")
Another study found that
while only 21 percent
of all Americans would
choose churches that
offer an exclusive diet
of traditional hymns,
65 percent prefer churches
that provide a
mix of traditional and
contemporary music
(music that has been composed
in the last
ten to twenty years). Evidently
the American
public -- including its
vast unchurched sector
-- does not support a wholesale
abandonment
of religious trappings.
In A Generation of Seekers,
a boomer pastor
speaks of the powerful
emotions that are
often triggered when boomers
return to church
and intersect with certain
traditional elements
in worship:
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Many of my age group talk about coming to
church, and they cry through the service...
[especially when they listen to] the hymns,
they are just unraveled. And these are people
who haven't come to church in years... It's
empowering... a real deep sense of coming
home again... of something that was missing
and then reaching some real deep places that
people weren't even aware of. |
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Urban pastor Raphael Green tells of an interesting
phenomenon he and his worship band, Urban
Song, notice each summer as they present
outdoor praise and worship in the parks of
urban south St. Louis. For three months Green
and Urban Song proclaim Christ and call upon
the power of God to break spiritual strongholds
within an incredibly tense, multiethnic environment.
They play mostly original material and are
totally at ease in the cutting-edge, urban
musical styles of rhythm and blues, jazz
and rap. As I heard about the extraordinary
appeal of their worship events, I automatically
assumed that it was the new music that was
drawing crowds.
But Green surprised me. The 90s songs are
not what initially attracts most of the unchurched
listeners; instead, the traditional gospel
tunes are the magnet. People who used to
go to church suddenly hear music they have
not heard for years, melodies and words reminiscent
of a more secure and wholesome time -- gospel
hymns and choruses that recall a closeness
with God long since forgotten. Green says
that it is typical for individuals in the
crowd to request old favorites such as "Amazing
Grace" and "The Old Rugged Cross."
Granted, Urban Song does not play them quite
like Aunt Bessie used to on the old church
upright! But these people like what they
hear.
What are we to make of this? There is widespread
ignorance about the Christian faith. Yet,
ironically, there seems to be an abiding
memory of select worship elements. And many
of the unchurched expect to reencounter at
least some of them when they return to church.
Every year around the first week of November
(although it does seem to be getting earlier
and earlier), thoroughly Christian hits such
as "Hark, the Herald Angels Sing!"
and "Joy to the World" waft through
malls and grocery stores. Recording artists
who spend at least fifty-one weeks out of
the year distancing themselves from anything
remotely ancient, moral, or "church"
suddenly release the most amazing renditions
of several-hundred-year-old hymns. Not only
does the public enjoy it, it expects it.
You see, Christmas carols, just like "God
Bless America" on the Fourth of July,
"Amazing Grace" at funerals, and
"The Wedding Song" at weddings,
are part of a larger American religious lexicon,
and no one, not even Santa Claus himself,
dares take them away.
Copyright 1995, 1999 by Sally Morgenthaler.
Used with permission.
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