This or That?
Part 1
Change was in the air.
I came to Rosedale Bible College (RBC) from Hutchinson, Kansas, in 2000. As my 18-year-old self encountered “modern” worship music, it quickly became apparent that this was the antidote to the deep boredom of old hymns and stale faith! I became convinced that hymns don’t grow churches, don’t cause us to feel intimacy with Jesus. Furthermore, many hymns use outdated, archaic words not understood by the unchurched.
Many others, it appears, felt as I did. Over the next several years, most CMC churches incorporated some form of contemporary music into their worship services, and many abandoned the traditional hymn book all together.
But a funny thing is happening. Once a month at RBC, we distribute hymn books to our students in chapel and proceed to have what the elderly among us would call “a good old-fashioned hymn sing.” Though many of our students come from churches that don’t sing hymns, we don’t offer bribes. The concept of hymns is new, and most embrace it. You should hear them sing! And when it’s time to take selections, Paul’s admonition to orderliness is disregarded, and the room descends into utter chaos as students shout out the numbers of their favorite hymns.
This article isn’t really about hymns; it’s about changes and growth and recovering lost things.
After our last hymn sing, a student stopped by my office and said, “I think we should do that twice a month…at least.” As someone who dreaded hymn-sing-chapels as a student, I’m still trying to wrap my head around what is happening.
What is happening? This article isn’t really about hymns; it’s about changes and growth and recovering lost things.
One reason the church changes is because the challenges of one generation are different from the challenges of a previous generation, and the structures built to meet the moment for one group fail to meet the moment for the next.
It’s been my observation that this reality is a particularly sticky trap for older leaders. They are tempted to keep guarding the side of the city that was at war when they were young while failing to realize that the battle has moved to another location in which their experience could be very helpful. The next generation needs the experience and energy of elders to meet new challenges.
Another reason the church changes is because leaders are unable to effectively articulate to a new generation the reasons we embrace particular beliefs and practices. Traditions left unexplained will likely pass away. But, practices, traditions, and beliefs need more than explanation; they need to address the challenges of present realities. So, why do our current students love hymns? All I have are theories. Here is one.
When I was at RBC, we wanted intimacy and closeness. Our Sunday school classes and Bible schools had been filled with Bible stories, Bible memory, learning important doctrinal concepts and the books of the Bible. But we longed to have our hearts moved, to feel close to this majestic God who often felt quite distant.
Many surveys document the fact that students today are growing up with less Bible knowledge. They spend less time in church. Vacation Bible Schools are less theologically challenging. Young people have been taught that God loves them and desires intimacy with them. They have been given every opportunity to express affection for God through worship songs.
Yet, unbeknownst to some leaders, the challenge shifted. Now what many students are craving is not “sacred romance,” but a majestic God who is worthy of their attention and capable of meeting their profound challenges. They want to know that a King really sits on the throne and has power to bring about righteousness and justice!
Hymns offer an “otherness” to the music they normally listen to, a reminder that God is holy and transcendent. They still crave intimacy with God, but live with the suspicion that there is more to God than what they have experienced.
The church changes, and it is helpful to carefully consider those changes. So, in the upcoming series of RBC articles for the Beacon, we are planning to explore old and new practices of the church. We are inviting church leaders to articulate reasons for why they wash feet or don’t, why they embrace co-vocational or full-time ministry, why they have a sharing time in their service or not.
Our hope is that we can spur helpful thinking as the church seeks to meet the discipleship needs of each new generation.
4 Responses
I am a senior citizen who was raised on traditional hymns as a youth who learned to sing harmony sitting beside my dad as a young boy and listening to him and the other men around singing bass or tenor. It developed within me a deep appreciation for harmony in music. I took that love of harmony into my middle aged years to as a part time road warrior singing in several Southern Gospel male quartets up and down the Mid-Atlantic coast. Some to Ohio and points west with the very first traveling quartet, with Dale Keffer, as a member of the Gospel Tent Quartet, an accapella quartet. Following that was an extended period of my life singing 1st tenor with more traditional Southern Gospel groups with full accompaniment with piano, guitars, steel guitar, and drums.
Later, as I have aged, contemporary music has been more widely used in our worship time. I have learned to appreciate that type of music as well, however, it has been my observation that not all contemporary music is easily adapted to 4 part harmony which makes it more difficult for me to fully appreciate the music.
Secondly, I have observed that much of contemporary music has lyrics that express thoughts “about” God (eg Good, Good Father, How Deep the Fathers Love, Who You Say I Am, Death Was Arrested, etc.) There is nothing wrong about that expression of what God is all about. The writer of the article mentioned that students are craving “a majestic God who is worthy of their attention and capable of meeting their profound challenges.” This is where, in my opinion, hymns help to fill a void. Most hymns are expressions of our relationship “to” God. Eg. Holy God, We Praise Thy Name, Holy, Holy Holy Lord God Almighty, Jesus, Thy Boundless Love to Me etc.
We have a “blended” time of worship at church where both hymns and contemporary music are sung each Sunday and I have learned to appreciate the mix because I believe it crosses generational preferences in music and permits both young and old to come together to worship that “majestic God who is worthy of (our) attention and capable of meeting ) (our) profound challenges.”
Well said Jeremy! My age places me smack-dab between you and your students, with my outlook towards Christian worship shaped more by the modern than the ancient. When I think of liturgy and hymns my mind immediately goes to decrepit institutions that are dying off left and right. And yet I’m observing some of the same shifts that you mentioned.
I’ve recently spent extensive time reading and reflecting on a book by Winfield Bevins entitled Ever Ancient Ever New: The Allure of Liturgy for a New Generation. I confess that the title caused heavy skepticism before I even began reading, but as I reflected on his research, my experience with today’s young people, and my own Christian formation I’m beginning to recognize the value in turning to ancient practices in order to form our hearts towards “a majestic God who is worthy of their attention and capable of meeting their profound challenges”.
I look forward to reading the upcoming series.
I am a senior citizen who has not always appreciated the King James language of my childhood hymns. That said, I miss the harmony of a cappella music. Because I grew up with hymns, those verses still are burnt into my memory The verses I learned as a child come back to me in the middle of the night. i appreciate modern worship if the audience is allowed to participate with the worship band.
Carolyn, it has seemed to me that your desire to participate with the worship band is a big deal to young people. But my sense is that it goes beyond simply participating, there is a desire to be an essential part of the offering of worship. Like you, I very much enjoy and appreciate modern worship, but one weakness is that it isn’t “essential” that the congregation sings for music to happen. Acapella singing demands the participation of a greater number for the music to exist and come alive. It’s a really beautiful interdependence with those around you. Thanks of your engagement!