Contemporary worship and tract homes

Recently I have been asked about the difference in the contemporary worship and what might be called "ancient/future".  I will take a couple of posts to tackle this.

There are a great number of faith communities in our area (and in the U.S.A) that "do" contemporary worship and "do it well".  The flow is unique in each setting but generally it has these elements more or less in this order:

• Open with 2-4 "praise and worship" songs that are upbeat.  One song must be a "slow down" song.
• What I call the opening "Salad prayer" - this is the prayer in which the worship leader prays something like, "Father God, just 'let us' give thanks to you. Father God, 'let us' be center our lives upon you and just 'let us'..."
• Community announcements given in a casual/comical way 
• Stand and greet your neighbor time
• Scripture reading
• Sermon
• Offering (with a song sung by band at the front)
• 1-2 closing songs
• Benediction 

This is not a "bad" order of worship, it can however feel generic.  If you attend a contemporary worship Mississippi then the next week you attend contemporary worship in Washington, then they feel very similar.  This sort of "removal" of uniqueness is much like tract homes.  They are quick to build and they are great homes, but they all look the same.  There is little room for character or local charm.  Efficient yes, but not very original.  

Please hear me I have nothing against tract homes they are great in that they empower many people to have a home of their own.  Likewise, contemporary worship is great for many people to feel empowered to connect with a faith community.  The rub is that the "creative class" and the "Millennials" are people who value uniqueness, local and grassroots more than big box, conglomerate, and generic.  For instance, the Millennial lifestyle is more inclined to fuel the knitting revival than the generation before them (Gen X).  

If we are interested in creating worship opportunities for these growing demographics, then why would we look to create another 'tract worship' in our area?  Should we not instead look to create a local, homemade, authentic, unique worship expression for this context?  What would a worship revival look like if the Millennials fueled it? 

The next post will explore that question more.

Worship: Less Six Flags, More Skiing

It is interesting to me that when I hear someone is going skiing, I get excited and wonder when I will go skiing myself.  However, when people share with me when they go to Six Flags (or Disney Land/World) I almost pity the poor soul.  The thing of it though is that Six Flags and skiing have a lot in common.

1. There is a lot of standing in lines in order to have short periods of excitement.
2. Each are expensive.
3. Food on the mountain and in Six Flags is unhealthy and kinda bad.
4. Rules inform the culture of the whole experience 
5. There are whimsical maps to direct the visitor

There are many other similarities, but that is not the point of this post.  The point of this post is there are major differences in Six Flags and skiing that make me desire skiing and generally avoid Six Flags.  The thing is, I see many of the Christian worship services I have attended seem to function more like Six Flags and less like skiing.  

I wish to participate in worship that is less like Six Flags and more like skiing.

1. While monetarily expensive, there is little more demanded of the Six Flag guest.  Skiing demands the guest not only pay money, but come prepared with equipment.  What would worship look like if there was a greater demand on people other than just "showing up?"
2. There is little empowering at Six Flags.  There are maps that people can follow to learn the lay of the park, but there are no classes to better oneself and you are left to overcoming your fears on your own.  However, in skiing there are ski lessons to help overcome your fears.  There are different "levels" of skiing runs that connect to the skill of the skier.  There are different types of lifts and even different types of equipment that connect to your skill level.  What would worship look like if there were different levels of "depth" participation?  
3. Each ride in Six Flags only has one "track" you can go on.  There is no flexibility in choosing if the roller coaster will go left or right.  The track is already put down.  Ski slopes have runs that are set, but within that run there are a number of routes one can take.  What would worship look like with greater personal flexibility and choice that 'fit' within the overall "run" of worship?

The metaphor is not perfect, and any metaphor taken to the limit breaks down, but, I wonder what worship looks like if it were less like Six Flags and more like skiing?

"We need a contemporary worship!" cried the masses.

As I continue to pray for direction in the discernment of the future of worship at my local church community, I continue to be intrigued with the language that is used when talking about worship.

At my local community there is an expressed need to have an alternative worship celebration offered. All of the conversation about this alternate worship is always described as "contemporary". Then there is discussion about what "contemporary worship" means. Most contemporary worship services have many traditional things:
Prayer, Scripture, Song, Preaching, and maybe even Communion.

So it seems to me that when we talk about contemporary worship we are not really talking about worship itself but about the way these essential elements of worship are acted out.

No big surprise there, I suppose.

I suppose what is interesting to me is the limited view of what an alternative worship at my community could look like. That is any alternative worship is contemporary. I do not hear alternate worship service opportunities described as contemplative or mission driven or traditional re-imagined or ancient/future or silent or ecumenical or the like. It is as though there are only two worship styles: Traditional and Contemporary (oh and by the way Contemporary really means a more casual form of Traditional).

How do we break from the idea that there are two types of worship?

Perhaps it just takes creating an alternative worship that is not a typical "Contemporary" worship in order for us to see the multiple and vast array of worship in the Christian tradition.

I hope there is courage and imagination to help lead in these directions.