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At the church I attend we have various generations. Very loosely, Greatest Generation to Generation Z, with everyone in between. Recently many have left.
Before the plandemic, the worship was veering towards a Sunday morning rock concert. For example, back in 2017 or 2018 I can recall watching a staff member offer a set of ear plugs to an older congregant who had been putting their fingers in their ears during worship music because it was too loud. I can also recall seeing another long-time member-- a former elder-- looking at a decibel-measuring app on his smart phone, because the music was uncomfortably loud. It has almost certainly become louder since then.
Now that we are back meeting face-to-face, the worship is even more of a Sunday morning rock concert. Every Sunday they invite people to come down to the front (curiously, right where some of the large bass speakers are located) in order to be prayed for by staff/leadership, and inevitably the worship band uses this time to play some loud ballads. If you want to go down to share a prayer request you need to yell it in the ear of the person whom you are asking to pray for you, like one was in a nightclub with super-loud music or at a rock concert.
The question many have been asking themselves is whether the leadership is pastoring the congregation they have, or the congregation they prefer to have. I think this is a perfectly valid question. The elders don't want to micromanage, particularly the staffing/hiring, but the reply from the staff, many of whom arrived within the last five years, is more or less "unify, unify, unify... with us." In other words, our way or the highway. I don't think there are easy answers here.
No one has a corner on the "let me sinfully elevate my personal preferences to the level of scripture" marketplace. Everyone does this to varying degrees.
It can be difficult to be a pastor, or an elder, as well, but among many commands, we are all called to speak the truth in love, which means sometimes it is appropriate to have a conversation about things in the church, provided everyone carefully watches their heart posture. Scripture is clear that it can be sinful to speak against leaders whom God has appointed, and it is equally clear that leaders are not to mail it in. Unfortunately, it's not hard to find examples of both extremes: people sinfully speaking against church leadership, and leaders who poorly execute their responsibilities.
To be direct, many affluent first-world-dwellers naturally look at church as a consumer product like a restaurant or a store: "I didn't like the way I was served, I'm outta here." This is not good, even if it is common. A lot of people quit a congregation way too easily.
At the same time, there is a reason Bethel/Hillsong/Elevation have vigorously pursued pop-like "worship music" publishing: it is a very effective recruiting tool, not to mention lucrative. Their motives are far from pure, and while they may produce some catchy tunes, and we know there are no perfect people writing worship music, I don't think it is wrong to look at a "worship" song and ask, is this the best we can do? Where are the lyrics focused? On glorifying God, or do they promote navel-gazing and narcissistic thoughts? Are they lazy and repetitive, or trite and bordering on being meaningless?
The one thing that classic hymns have to offer is they've been mostly filtered by time, which is a really good filter. The reason they are memorable and stirring is because people have discarded most of the less well-crafted hymns over the years.
Again, no easy answers here. But plenty of things for every believer to think about. We're all called to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling.
Before the plandemic, the worship was veering towards a Sunday morning rock concert. For example, back in 2017 or 2018 I can recall watching a staff member offer a set of ear plugs to an older congregant who had been putting their fingers in their ears during worship music because it was too loud. I can also recall seeing another long-time member-- a former elder-- looking at a decibel-measuring app on his smart phone, because the music was uncomfortably loud. It has almost certainly become louder since then.
Now that we are back meeting face-to-face, the worship is even more of a Sunday morning rock concert. Every Sunday they invite people to come down to the front (curiously, right where some of the large bass speakers are located) in order to be prayed for by staff/leadership, and inevitably the worship band uses this time to play some loud ballads. If you want to go down to share a prayer request you need to yell it in the ear of the person whom you are asking to pray for you, like one was in a nightclub with super-loud music or at a rock concert.
The question many have been asking themselves is whether the leadership is pastoring the congregation they have, or the congregation they prefer to have. I think this is a perfectly valid question. The elders don't want to micromanage, particularly the staffing/hiring, but the reply from the staff, many of whom arrived within the last five years, is more or less "unify, unify, unify... with us." In other words, our way or the highway. I don't think there are easy answers here.
No one has a corner on the "let me sinfully elevate my personal preferences to the level of scripture" marketplace. Everyone does this to varying degrees.
It can be difficult to be a pastor, or an elder, as well, but among many commands, we are all called to speak the truth in love, which means sometimes it is appropriate to have a conversation about things in the church, provided everyone carefully watches their heart posture. Scripture is clear that it can be sinful to speak against leaders whom God has appointed, and it is equally clear that leaders are not to mail it in. Unfortunately, it's not hard to find examples of both extremes: people sinfully speaking against church leadership, and leaders who poorly execute their responsibilities.
To be direct, many affluent first-world-dwellers naturally look at church as a consumer product like a restaurant or a store: "I didn't like the way I was served, I'm outta here." This is not good, even if it is common. A lot of people quit a congregation way too easily.
At the same time, there is a reason Bethel/Hillsong/Elevation have vigorously pursued pop-like "worship music" publishing: it is a very effective recruiting tool, not to mention lucrative. Their motives are far from pure, and while they may produce some catchy tunes, and we know there are no perfect people writing worship music, I don't think it is wrong to look at a "worship" song and ask, is this the best we can do? Where are the lyrics focused? On glorifying God, or do they promote navel-gazing and narcissistic thoughts? Are they lazy and repetitive, or trite and bordering on being meaningless?
The one thing that classic hymns have to offer is they've been mostly filtered by time, which is a really good filter. The reason they are memorable and stirring is because people have discarded most of the less well-crafted hymns over the years.
Again, no easy answers here. But plenty of things for every believer to think about. We're all called to work out our own salvation in fear and trembling.
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