Contemporary vs. Traditional

Growing up in a Methodist church, I am no stranger to the traditional way of things when it comes to worship. Stand still in the pew, keep your hands at your sides, don't get too loud; there is a specific way of doing things at my church, and the vast majority wanted to keep it that way. As a child, these unwritten rules were frustrating to me simply because no child wants to be told to be quiet. As I grew up and saw my relationship with God changing, the silly childhood annoyance turned into something that held a lot more weight; I did not want to be told that there was a "right" way of worshipping. 

I was not alone in my resentment in the way we worshipped - my mom was right there with me. We were both sick of hearing the organ and piano play from the thirty year old hymnals. As bad as this sounds, we were bored. We were tired of church feeling like more of a chore than something to look forward to. Right when we were considering church hunting, we were met with the biggest blessing; a new contemporary service, and two spots on the worship team.

We went into the new service full of hope. We had good music and a great family to lead with; we didn't see how others wouldn't see the appeal. However, once we started having services, we were met with the harsh reality that this was something that most of the Methodist church was not prepared for. Most of the older members of our congregation had no interest in "newer" music, and the younger families that we had been counting on were worried about leaving the safety net of traditional worship. 

As the weeks went on, we began to lose hope. We would be lucky to get 30 people at our service, whereas there would be 150+ in the traditional service. It wasn't until we sang "I Heard the Bells on Christmas Day" by Casting Crowns at our Christmas Eve service that people began to take interest in our service. Suddenly, the 525 Worship Team won over the hearts of many traditionalists. 

As the months progressed, we still unfortunately struggled with attendance to the point of discontinuing the contemporary service. However, what I took away from the experience was that there is no "wrong" way of worship. Everyone connects to God in different ways, whether they fall under traditional or contemporary. No one should feel as though they are not experiencing Christianity in the "correct" way; it is a spiritual, individual connection, and everyone has to figure out for themselves how best to find the Lord.