I have been a member of my Southern Baptist Church for 18 years since moving away from my hometown. Over the years, we have grown from 700 to now averaging around 3500. We have two worship services , one traditional with some mix of traditional and praise hymns. The second service is contemporary complete with band which includes electric guitars, drums, bass etc. I grew up loving Clapton, Alman Bros, etc. So its not that I do not like rock music. My question is concerning Contemporary Worship.
Yesterday I went to the contemporary service because my daughter is a Senior in highschool and was being recognized during the service. When the service started, I felt repulsed. It was so loud and the words seemed repetitive and grew louder. The music vibrated thru my bones. I felt like I was at a rock concert only I was in church. I know that some large churches are moving toward a more contemporary style to invite more people to come. I get it, but I am not sure it’s hitting the mark I have set as a standard most of my life. Can you offer any study for me, or help me know what God says. I have read much about worship, but this loud rock music style in church concerns me.
All worship music was contemporary when it was first written. I like some of the older music better than some of the new stuff, probably because that’s what I grew up with, but acoustic worship is my favorite.
Psalm 100 says we’re to shout for joy to the Lord and come before Him with joyful songs. I sometimes wonder what we’d think of King David’s music if we could hear it. My guess is that we’d still like the music we’re familiar with better. If you don’t like contemporary music, leave it to those who do.