"In the same way, count yourselves dead to sin, but alive in God in Christ Jesus"

Worship Wars 

Faith Family,

Greetings in the name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. I continue to give thanks to our gracious God for putting you all in our lives. Your faithfulness and your enthusiasm fill my heart with joy and help complete my hope in Christ. Every day I look forward to serving our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ alongside each of you and growing in our discipleship journey together. I pray as God has continued blessings us, may we continue to be a blessing to others.

I have been a local pastor for 31 years. I have served 6 churches (including KGMC). There have always been similar opportunities. Every church I was a part of wanted younger families. I would say that the churches I serve aren’t the only ones. However, I can’t speak for other congregations. The one problem is we place a stipulation. We want younger families, but…. There is always a but. But they must worship our way. Then you have the younger families, who start attending but then reject the church because they are not singing the songs we want. Everyone has preferences.

The tension between Hymns and Praise is loving called Worship Wars. This has been going on for centuries. However, the phrase was coined in the 1980’s to address the tensity of the conflict. Music is vital to those attend worship. I believe you can agree with me. The question is what type of music? Different types of music speak to different types of people. And some music may not speak to you. 

I would be safe to say that most everyone in our congregation would not appreciate rap, not even Christian Rap. But, I tend to like it. Is it something I want an entire worship filled with? Nope, but I can relate. I am going to let you all in on a little secret: There is no such things as Christian Music. What? Nope!  The Christian part of Christian music are the lyrics. Did you know you can sing the Hymn Amazing Grace to three or four different tunes? Would you consider Amazing Grace sung to the theme of Gilligan’s Island a Christian song? The lyrics are the same, just the music is different. The style of music is the ultimate source of the tension.

I hope you hear what I am about to say next. “We are not changing our service! And we are not moving towards a Contemporary Service.” Hymns have a special place in my heart, and hymns have a special place in the history of worship in the church. We may replace a hymn with a song or a chorus but there will always be hymns. There will always be liturgy, and we will always celebrate Holy Communion. All generations are important and valued! No generation needs to be left out or neglected. And if one song will help a generation feel connected then why wouldn’t we want to demonstrate that type of hospitality and compassion.

That last thing I want to mention is an invitation for you. Regardless of what generation you associate with, let’s think about the others. Church family is a community. We have our similarities and we have our differences. But the differences should never be something that brings conflict. If one contemporary song is going to help some folks enter into the worship of God, then let’s allow it to happen. If the old hymns will help folks enter into worship of God, then let’s allow it to happen. Christ wants all generations to come together and worship the Living God. So should we.  Let’s not be so rigid and say we need one type of music over the other. There is room for both in the House of God.

The Acts 2 church worshipped together, prayed together, fellowshipped together, and learned and lived Scripture together. Let us be the contemporary example of the Acts 2 Church. 

Have a blessed Week!

Pastor Frank