What Worship Style Attracts the Millennials?

Really asking what music style attracts millennials, not what worship style, since preaching, prayer, giving, singing, etc. are all part of the worship practice.

• Authenticity
• Integrity
• Transparency
• Proportionality
• Participative
• Multigenerational
• Multicultural

Worship.

Explained:

• Authenticity: is it real? Is it real to the vast majority of the worshippers? Is it non-hypocritical? Is this a place where I don’t need to wear a mask and where others don’t as well. I would give fundamentalism (as a whole) a C minus here. Test: (whether you see the Noah movie or not (and I have not and do not intend to!… It’s just a test). In SS this week share that you saw the Noah movie and see how people react. It’s telling in our circles. Test # 2: (just a test folk). Tell someone in your church that you enjoy an occasional beer. Test # 3: Really open up about a struggle in life. Ok masks back on … it’s safe again!
• Integrity: Is this a place where the leaders have integrated truth into all of there lives (home life, financial life, spiritual life). I would give my church an A+ here … fundamentalism as a whole a D
• Transparency: D for most of fundamentalism. Obfuscation in accounting. ECFA anyone? The “E” stands for Evangelical and fundy’s aren’t.
• Proportionality: By this I mean two things:
  • Is there a balance between: home & family?; time at church?; time at work? Look at your church / school calendars. Ask yourself … is there time for anyone to really breath and decompress?
  • Is doctrinal emphasis appropriate for the emphasis in the church? I mean if the Trinity is mentioned occasionally and tithing frequently … something is amiss. I would give fundamentalism a D here. Often time the minor things are the major things
  • Also .. can I think for myself? Can I disagree with the Pastor while agreeing with the church’s doctrinal position and still be OK in the church. If the Pastor says the “sons of God” in Genesis 6 are angels and I disagree and our church is silent … am I a heretic? (I could think of scores of examples here!)
• Participative. By this I mean, is this a place where I can serve and use my gifts. Or is it just a select minority. Is there a glass door to elders-ship where a 20-something can be hired and on the Pastoral staff, but lay guys who are qualified are on the sidelines. I would give fundamentalism a D here
• Multigenerational: I can’t speak for all, but for me I want to be in a multigenerational church: babies, kids, teens, college, young adult, all the way up to the aged. I would give my own church an A+ here as we have babies to a woman who is 104
• Multicultural: Fundamentalism struggles with this. It’s tough because if your church is in the suburbs and the suburbs are white … Perhaps all evangelical / fundamentalist churches struggle with this. I would give my church a B+ here. We have Indians, blacks, asians (the other Asians) and Hispanic.

Now about music. (from a non-musician who is basically tone-deaf):

• Is it singable?
• Is it flexible? (I mean can we try some new things? and use virtually any instrument invented by man except a kazoo)
• Does it convey rich doctrinal truth?
• Is is all about performance? In my view there is little difference between the front bands of seeker churches and the choirs. I want to participate (as poorly as my signing is) and not listen all the time. If it’s all about the choir or the band … I’m less interested

Judging by the average grade of D you gave you think the average fundamentalist church is full of liars, leaders hungry for money, everyone faking it, lazy and un-involved, closed off, old, and white only?

[Mark_Smith]

Judging by the average grade of D you gave you think the average fundamentalist church is full of liars, leaders hungry for money, everyone faking it, lazy and un-involved, closed off, old, and white only?

Based upon your attempt to implicate me, I likely would prefer not to worship with you.

A friend of mine linked to this article on Facebook. I reacted with this comment:

The analysis may be correct, but if you follow the philosophy of catering to wants, you end up with a pretty anemic church.

My impression of Thom Rainer is that he is big on “find out what they want and give it to them.” That’s really not a biblical philosophy of ministry, no matter how successful it might be or how much you couch it in language like “authentic, transparent, blah, blah, blah”. A biblical philosophy of ministry calls people to repent of their selfish ways and submit to the Lord. A ministry catering to wants indulges selfishness, even if the selfishness is expressed in terms like “deep theology” and “theologically rich”, etc. Every one of those terms are invested with the meaning of “what appeals to me” rather than with “I simply want to follow the Bible and live for God.”

So it is selfish to long to worship in a church where people are authentic? Where leaders have integrity? Where I can participate (use the gifts God the Holy Spirit has given to me)? Et Cetera?

Well I guess I am selfish then!

Nice dodge. Seriously, you gave your church great scores, but then said the average fundamental church was bad. I just wanted you to think about that rather than lash out at me.

Also, with one post questioning you, you have concluded you don’t want to worship with me?

Wow. That kinda hurts, brother.

[Mark_Smith]

Nice dodge. Seriously, you gave your church great scores, but then said the average fundamental church was bad. I just wanted you to think about that rather than lash out at me.

I appreciate your commendation (“nice dodge”). I really didn’t have to work that hard at it either.

Fundamentalists (even me) can learn from loving critics.

You did a nice dodge too … for ignoring the salient points of my post. Roger Dodger! (And it’s not just one post … rather a series of them)

Wow. And you are a moderator? And a former pastor?

Men in my church busy one day moving (somebody). (I wasn’t there so I don’t know those details). The following details are true and known to me.

After the heavy lifting and after everyone but two single men were left. Man A (as I recollect the man people were helping) offers Man B a cold beer.

Man B informs his B-I-L that Man A has beer in the fridge. B-I-L = chairman of the deacons.

Chairman of Deacons has on agenda at next deacons mtg.

Big stink.

Man A leaves church

Oh …by the way … Man B is divorced. (But at least he doesn’t drink beer!)

Real story

[beer story relates to my authentic comment in an earlier post in this thread]

Jim, let me encourage you to ignore Mark.

As for worship - I think that many in fundamentalism look at the music style as what people see as necessary for worship, but I’m not sure that’s actually the case. We use some modern music in our services, but it seems like the people that are coming to our church are coming because they’re hungry for relationships with other believers and for God. The music makes it more palatable to some (and drives away others), but the qualities that Jim outlined - especially integrity and transparency - are what seems to keep people coming back to worship with us.

Just my view. Hope it’s helpful.

Why ignore me? What have I posted in the last year that is so wrong as to make me a pariah?

Obviously there is something here since Jim says my posting history would cause him to not worship with me…now Jay says to ignore me.

[Mark_Smith]

Judging by the average grade of D you gave you think the average fundamentalist church is full of liars, leaders hungry for money, everyone faking it, lazy and un-involved, closed off, old, and white only?

Ask yourself this:

• Did I give the average fundamental church a D?
• Did I say the average fundamental church is “full of liars, leaders hungry for money, everyone faking it, lazy and un-involved, closed off, old, and white only?”

I understand you have a PhD in Physics (as an aside … my favorite and hardest class in H.S.). This tells me you must be very smart. But the way you projected falsehood on me tells me either you aren’t that smart or you have an agenda.

Don,

I know that believer’s can be selfish; but wanting to be part of a fellowship of believers that places a high priority on teaching and preaching (being feed), being real, and living godly lives is the thirst of every believer’s heart.

You graded fundamentalism (ie the average fundamentalist church) this way:

Authenticity: C-, Integrity: D, Transparency: D, Proportionality: D, Participative: D, you didn’t grade mulitcultural and multigenerational for fundamentalism.

In defining authenticity you cite beer drinking being taboo and hiding real life problems…that goes to my saying that you think fundys are faking it. In defining integrity you say the home lives of people in fundamentalist churches don’t match with what they claim. That is called lying and faking it in my book. In defining transparency you mention open accounting and the ECFA, then give fundamentalism a D. So you basically think fundy churches are covering something up…at BEST they are hiding. So, you suspect a certain level of theft of some type going on. This continues with proportionality. You mention preaching more on tithing than the Trinity…then indict fundamentalism with a D. Finally, you hit on participation. That is a D as well, so fundamentalists are lazy.

Those are low scores my friend. So, you obviously have a low opinion of the average fundamental church. How is that a stretch to arrive at? I mean, you claim that me concluding that makes me either “not smart” or having an “agenda”.