There is a church in my community that a relative of mine goes to, and they recently did a poll of it’s attendees to get an idea of what people want out of worship. They were given two lists and to pick a preference on each point. Although the lists were not labeled it was obvious that it was divided between traditional and contemporary. However, I noticed another dynamic in them; that being the introvert-extrovert spectrum. A concept I have been reading a lot about lately. While some of the points may be neutral or had easy crossovers, for the most part, the only true anomaly that seemed as if it should be inverted that I found, was how we treat guests. In a way this patten made sense, since in the past worship centered around liturgy; a quiet meditative and introvert friendly style of worship. While some denominations have held firmly to the past. Others have let liturgy fall out of favor over the decades, and those churches have taken on a more extroverted style of worship in its place. Such cultural shifts are rarely of a one to one ratio, meaning many variables have lead us to where we are at. The real question is, is there reason to favor one of these bias’ or not. Or is this just another example of how we have let the sinful nature of the flesh faction off the church further in defiance of the intended diversity of the body of Christ. I think it’s a question we should take a long hard look at in detail here.
Traditional service (introvert skewed) - Contemporary worship (extrovert skewed)
quiet & reverence upon entering church - visiting upon entering church
hymn and gospel songs - praise songs and melodies
expository sermons (lecture) - how to sermons (conversational)
ministers leading the prayers - various people praying
guests recognized in some fashion - guests allowed to remain anonymous
organ and piano - guitars and drums
dressing up - casual dress
Tradition with a capital T - tradition with a lower case t
focus on doctrine and theology - focus on experience with God
focus on God’s remote majesty - focus on God’s intimate nearness
low energy singing - high energy singing
emphasis on predictability - emphasis on variety
responsive readings - no responsive readings
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| Decisions, decisions |
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