Concerning worship, books and seminars have come and gone. With these, movements of individuals and churches have bought into one strategy, then another in order to stay ‘relevant’ to their target group. For many years the boomer generation was the group the church had to reach. They were studied and methods were crafted and Scripture proof texts were marshaled to add validity so that boomers could be brought back to the church and the church would continue. Then, for a very brief time focus turned to the Gen-Xers. These were researched and studied in minute details so that church ministries could speak their language and reach them with the love of Jesus. In keeping with the pattern, when it comes to Xers, the attention soon changed to the critical need to win the approval of Millennials. This is the current frenzy. No one argues that these people should be given the gospel. What may be open to criticism is the philosophy of generationalism that lies behind it. 

While this was going on, there arose another strategy. This approach sought to group people according to interests. As one would expect these efforts were characterized by being highly stylized. From this philosophy of worship and evangelism arose churches known by their styles such as Biker Churches, Cowboy Churches, Bar Churches, Goth Churches, Rock Churches and many others. 

This issue has become much more complicated than simply categorizing churches as Contemporary or Traditional. In reality, these two terms never really worked because neither of them designated a static definition that could be discussed or compared. There were almost as many definitions for Traditional as there were people discussing it. The same is true of the term Contemporary. In reality, a church worshiping in a Traditional manner is Contemporary since it is doing it now. The terms never really served the church well. Traditional often carried the added baggage of insinuating that the worship service was old and dry. It also presented the problem of to which time period is the loyalty being given. To some, the term Traditional meant a worship style that came into being during the 1950s. To others, it meant “Reformed” or “Historic.” The term Contemporary conjured up nothing definitive. It seemed to mean anything that was outside of the confusing realm of Traditional. 

What is the answer? How does the church decide? Who gets to define these terms? Is defining these terms really what is needed? How is the church to decide what is acceptable and what is not? Is there such thing as unacceptable worship?  

When it comes to worship, what is really happening here is that a much deeper problem is being exposed by the church’s confusion. The deeper issue is not which style is better? The more serious issue is that the church has lost its trust in Holy Scripture. The question of style only reveals that we are more concerned with personal preferences. The fuss over the generations serves only to expose our obsession with ourselves. It seems that the church should probably repent of making idols of the unchurched and of ourselves. If our worship is for the honor and glory of our God then shouldn’t the church make a fuss over finding out what God has said concerning the worship of Him? Doesn’t every deity have specific ways that he or she is to be invoked, appealed to, and honored? Yes, they do. Why is it that Christians are the only ones, it seems, that think that they can worship their God without regard to His will and commandments? There needs to be much soul-searching in the church and a plea for grace to be drawn back to our God in acceptable worship. Who gets to decide how we worship God? The answer should be obvious. God does. Let’s take the remainder of this time to consider just a few of the main Scripture passages where God gives specific instructs about how He is to be worshiped. It will not be long before we are compelled to agree that how to worship God is not up to anyone but God Himself. Then let us conclude with some discussion and question and answer time.