I was raised in a fairly conservative denomination. We dressed in our Sunday best every week, (yes, that’s me in the picture) went to church, sang from the hymnal, listened to a message from the preacher (my Dad) and went back on Sunday night to do it all over again. As I grew older, I realized a disconnect between my church life and my “real” life. I sang hymns on Sunday morning in church, but I certainly didn’t listen to hymns during the week. No – I grew up in the 70’s and 80’s and I was a musician, so I didn’t listen to hymns. I listened to the Doobie Brothers, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Boston and ZZ Top. There was a definite disconnect in my musical styles. And then…
The chorus started creeping into the church. As I approached my 20’s, something changed. Short, musically contemporary songs began to show up on the radar of the church. We liked it. As we slid into the 80’s the chorus began to be more accepted. In fact, by the mid-80’s, there were churches who sang nothing but choruses! Organizations like Integrity’s Hosanna! Music, Maranatha! and Vineyard began to churn out an entire library of contemporary music to fill the void once held by the hymnal. 
During this time, we were seen by many as rebels. And there was some backlash from the “older” folks. The choruses weren’t as theologically rich as the hymns used to be. We just repeated the same chorus over and over (and over and over…) there was no musicality to it. We no longer sang a bass part – what were the men supposed to do?
Of course, if you’re younger than I am, you may not remember it the same. Now I get perturbed when I see churches advertising “Contemporary Worship Service at 9 AM!” 30 years after the fact, it is no longer contemporary. It’s just worship. All of the changes we made for a better worship experience have paid off. We now have worship that is musically relevant, theologically correct, if not shallow, and everyone loves it! Or do they?
As I look around, I see things changing once again. I see these youngsters attempting to hijack everything I worked so hard to accomplish! They’re taking my music and ruining it! The songs are more love songs – very shallow compared to my choruses. The music is almost hip hop – not musically pleasing to me. The stage is set up for a show – all of the flashing lights and fog… How could they do this? After everything we endured to pass on a theologically correct form of worship, they’re messing everything up! In fact, I find myself in the precarious position of standing in the way of progress.
Now, I find myself on the other side of the coin. If I’m not careful, I will become just like my parent’s generation. I will become the generation that hopes to hold back the progress of a younger generation that is seeking to relate to God in a way that I can’t provide or often understand. Of course, If I do what the Bible tells me to do, this transition will be much smoother than the one I had to endure.
The Bible is clear that I am to pass on my knowledge and understand of God to the next generation. Psalm 78:4 says:
We will not hide these truths from our children;
we will tell the next generation
about the glorious deeds of the LORD,
about his power and his mighty wonders.
For he issued his laws to Jacob;
he gave his instructions to Israel.
He commanded our ancestors
to teach them to their children,
so the next generation might know them—
even the children not yet born—
and they, in turn, will teach their own children
If I don’t pass on to the next generation what I have learned in my lifetime, that wisdom dies with me. I have an obligation, a responsibility, not to restrict or delay the progress of another generation. I have a responsibility to help them by passing along to them what I already know. Here’s what is already changing in churches:
- Churches are becoming more diverse.
- Security is becoming the fastest growing ministry in churches
- In a recent Barna survey, only 5% of millennials cited seeing friends as the reason they go to church
- In that same survey, 78% of millennials cited community as the number one thing that described their ideal church
- Churches are actually building smaller sanctuaries
- Multi-site churches are becoming the norm, not the exception
Those of us who were once pioneers now find ourselves in the unenviable position of becoming settlers. As the DirecTV commercial admonishes: Don’t become settlers.
I will be following this post up with some observations about changes in the modern church. Follow me on Twitter @RealTomRawlings or check back to see some of the specifics.