Christian worship is a difficult to define Christian practice. A broad definition of worship could be that worship is an encounter with God. It is God who initiates the meeting and we respond to God’s invitation. Worship is an opportunity where in response to God invitation, we affirm our belief in and our relationship with God.
We demonstrate in worshipful acts our love for God through devotion, celebration, and commitment to share the story of God’s salvation with others. These acts vary with individuals and among Christian communities worldwide. There is not now, nor do we have conclusive proof that there was ever complete uniformity in worship among Christians.
Culture and other factors have always had an impact of worship. This has resulted in the rich diversity of Christian worship today. However, alongside the diversity are some questionable practices that sometimes reduce worship to cheap Christian entertainment. They also create confusion in the mind of some worshipers.
Contemporary Versus Traditional Worship
It is not easy to answer the query as to what makes a contemporary Christian worship service. It seems easier though, to hazard a guess as to what makes a service traditional. The latter is almost always linked to the elderly in the church. The traditional worship service is sometimes called the ancient Christian worship especially by the youth. They do this to make a point that they cannot relate to what is coming from another era.
Contemporary Christian worship on the other hand appears to be the kind of worship service that is flexible enough to allow for just about anything. Of course you might disagree, because your church might not allow just about anything to happen. This is not so in all churches.
Recently, I was talking with a young lady who gushed at how their modern church service now allows for 1 Sunday per month when all they do when they come for morning service is have a prayer, and then they sing ‘praise and worship’ songs for the rest of the service.
Such are the new trends in worship. And they cause not a small amount of confusion.
Current Trends In Worship
As time goes by we will examine and clarify some of the confusing worship related issues. Not just that, we will also highlight meaningful stories as well. We hope you will share your experiences and helpful lessons with us as we cover broad areas including the following touchy ones.
Technology is an important asset to compliment not upstage or distract us from worship. Thus, the worship or communications departments need to be immersed in what worship means. Failing this worship can be reduced to a staged performance not a spontaneous response to God. We become more caught up with the latest worship software and forget about the people who are met to worship.
We hope to join other other voices in rekindling a love for the use of the Arts in worship. Art suitable for worship and Christian symbols play an important role in stimulating the senses. This enhances the worship experience. Some churches are so stark with no care for creating an atmosphere of worship.
I will never forget the little fountain in the chapel of a Seminary I attended. The sound of the water running over the rocks made that quiet chapel such an amazing place. I got the feeling every time that this was surely fulfilling what Jesus meant when he invited his disciples, to ‘come aside for a while’. Worship should engage the senses and encourage the worshiper to focus on God.
So we will be discussing all this and more as we set out on making new discoveries in Christian worship.
Marvia
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