Baptist News Global
Sections
  • News
  • Analysis
  • Opinion
  • Curated
  • Storytelling
    • Faith & Justice >
      • Charleston: Metanoia with Bill Stanfield
      • Charlotte: QC Family Tree with Greg and Helms Jarrell
      • Little Rock: Judge Wendell Griffen
      • North Carolina: Conetoe
    • Welcoming the Stranger >
      • Lost Boys of Sudan: St. John’s Baptist Charlotte
      • Awakening to Immigrant Justice: Myers Park Baptist Church
      • Hospitality on the corner: Gaston Christian Center
    • Signature Ministries >
      • Jake Hall: Gospel Gothic, Music and Radio
    • Singing Our Faith >
      • Hymns for a Lifetime: Ken Wilson and Knollwood Baptist Church
      • Norfolk Street Choir
    • Resilient Rural America >
      • Alabama: Perry County
      • Texas: Hidalgo County
      • Arkansas Delta
      • Southeast Kentucky
  • More
    • Contact
    • About
    • Donate
    • Planned Giving
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Advertising
    • Ministry Jobs and More
    • Transitions
    • Subscribe
    • Submissions and Permissions
Support independent, faith-based journalism. Donate
Search Search this site

Is CBF allergic to “contemporary” worship?

OpinionChris Robertson  |  July 10, 2015

Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF), young adults, “contemporary” worship, progressive theology, and “nice” Christians—let’s talk about it. To begin, I guess you, as the reader, should know I’m a 27-year-old, white male in full time ministry, and some of my closest friends work in CBF churches, so I’m not out to bash CBF. However, I can’t help but notice that there are very few churches within the CBF denomi-network that are effectively reaching young adults, and there are even fewer with “contemporary” worship services. And yes, that’s right, I just connected young adults to “contemporary” worship. Don’t worry, connecting the two is only a starting place, so breathe deeply and hang in there with me.

A couple of weeks ago I was visiting some family and went to a non-denominational (pseudo-SBC) church in NC. It was your typical mega-church—things kicked off with three or four songs led by a hip worship band, followed by a 45-minute sermon, prayer, one slow song, one fast song, and then a closing prayer. Personally, I’m more of a “smells and bells” kind of guy. But I was blown away by the number of young adults in attendance—there were hundreds of people my age, and it got me thinking. Because you see, I affiliate with CBF, but I’ve never been to a CBF church with hundreds of young adults. To be completely honest, I’ve never been to a CBF church with more than 25 young adults. And I can’t help but wonder if it’s because the majority of CBF churches have bought hook, line, and sinker into a singular style of worship called “traditional” worship. Now before you start pushing back, take a moment and entertain the following question: are CBF churches, by and large, scared of “contemporary” worship?

You might be thinking to yourself, CBF churches aren’t scared of “contemporary” worship. But let’s be honest, those churches that have started “contemporary” services and still have one are an anomaly. More often than not, the story goes like this. The pastor, or another staff member, starts a new service, one that is not “traditional;” people start coming; it grows; young adults actually show up; and then the church at large freaks out, and they either kill the service or push out the pastor who suggested such a heinous idea. And anytime this happens, it is terribly sad for people like me to watch. Because why would you kill something that has life?

So I went to Facebook, and sent out a few text messages, and made a few calls—I wanted to figure out if there is in fact an aversion to “contemporary” worship within CBF, and if so, why? Here’s what I discovered.

There appear to be three types of churches effectively reaching and retaining young adults (beware of sweeping generalizations—this is meant to start a conversation and could definitely be more nuanced).

  • Young adults go to churches with a “contemporary” worship style that espouse a conservative theology. The life of the church is built around the propagation of certainty, and the primary message is that of sin and salvation, evidenced by their concern for reaching those who are not “saved” with the message of Jesus Christ.
  • Young adults go to churches with a “high church/liturgical” worship style that espouse a progressive theology. The life of the church is built around exploration/questions/doubt, as well as social action (advocating for the poor, outcast, marginalized, etc).
  • Young adults go to First Baptist-type churches with large budgets that have a dedicated space for young adults, well-funded programming, sometimes an additional service, and more often than not, a full-time minister of young adults and/or associate pastor.

Church one and two are by far the most successful, and interestingly, I think their success is a result of their message, more than anything else. To put it bluntly, they actually give young adults something to do. Church three is somewhat successful, but its focus is less on the message, and more on the medium. In other words, church three invests a lot of time and money into entertaining young adults and giving them something to consume, namely a religious experience.

Pardon me for dismissing church three at this point, but I’m more interested in church one and two, because they are doing something moderate churches struggle to do—they are communicating a clear message that both implicates and demands something of us and from us.

When it comes to church one, the message is this: go out into the world and share the gospel, reach the unreached, and get as many people saved as possible. As it is understood and communicated by most, I think this is a diminished vision, simply because it so often divulges into a form of escapism rather than inviting people into a deeper engagement with the world we live in. But it’s a vision nonetheless, and it’s something people can give their time, energy, and gifts to.

When it comes to church two, the message is this: go share the gospel, follow Jesus to the margins, embrace the “other,” seek Christ out in the face of your neighbor, and invite them into Christian community in order that they might experience the love and acceptance of Jesus Christ. Undoubtedly, becoming church two requires a major paradigm shift in the life of most congregations, especially those in Baptist life. Though churches in category two are very different from those churches in the first category, they do, however, share something in common—both church one and two expect something of those who show up.

So what does all of this have to do with “contemporary” worship? Well, when it comes to young adults participation in congregational life, not much at all. Worship style doesn’t really appear to be the primary factor when it comes to reaching and retaining young adults, but instead, I think it’s that which exists behind the worship style—a clear message. And yet I don’t want to move on too quickly, because the worship style is a medium meant to serve the message, and I can’t help but wonder if CBF’s apparent aversion to “contemporary” worship is hampering CBF’s ability to engage young adults, and even median adults. And here’s why I say that.

First off, let me clarify the difference between the message and the medium. There is the message, that which is said, and then there is the method, the vehicle by which that message is delivered. And that’s the medium. And the medium includes everything from the sermon style to the worship space, to the people, to the practices (liturgy), to the graphics, to the use of technology—really, the medium is just about everything that sits in the worship space or takes place during the worship hour. And whether we consciously recognize it or not, the medium is at all times communicating a message. So the question is this: is the medium communicating the message we want it to or think it is?

In too many cases the medium does little more than muddle the message, and sometimes it even misappropriates it. For example, Passion City Church (a youthful, mega-church in Atlanta, GA) will have a harder time convincing people to care for the poor than Park Avenue Baptist Church (an interracial, urban congregation in Atlanta, GA) will simply because their medium betrays their message. So, though I’m as convinced as ever that the primary driver of church growth, particularly as it relates to young adults, is the message, we must also consider the medium.

Truth be told, it’s hard to be progressive in a “traditional” worship service, simply because the medium does not easily lend itself to the message. A message of inclusion and diversity is best heard when supported by a medium that matches it, one that actually includes diversity—a diversity of people (both in the crowd and behind the pulpit), a diversity of ideas, a diversity of music and music styles, a diversity of readings, responses, prayers, and graphics.

So is it possible? Is it possible to create a service that is progressive through and through, but includes hymns, as well as secular music, “contemporary” music, and who knows, maybe even a Gregorian chant? Could we do prayer stations? Why not? How about a moment of silence, the reading of a poem, litany of confession, etc.? What if we wrote our own music? Do we have to plug and chug songs every week? Is it possible to play one song with the organ, and the next with a guitar? Is this a sin against God, or a real possibility for your congregation? And with that last question in mind, how many young adults do you have participating in the life of your church?

So let’s return to an earlier point and bring this thing home. As much as we’d like to make it about the worship style, I think we simply need to look a little deeper. What’s the message? Or to say it another way, what sits behind the medium? What is the narrative being told? What is the why? Young people want to know. What is your congregation doing? Where are you going? Who are you becoming?

The medium matters, but if you’re like church three, and all you’re doing is managing a bunch of small changes and throwing money at young people in the form of snazzy programming, well then, you’re taking a huge gamble, and you risk running in place.

So the haunting question for all of us is this: Is it possible we’ve botched the message of Jesus Christ and made Christianity too easy?

According to Kendra Creasy Dean in Almost Christian, the answer is a resounding…Yes! In pursuit of “personal happiness and inter-personal niceness,” following Jesus is no longer dangerous; it doesn’t require anything of us, except some semblance of morality; and we have somehow justified excessive monetary blessing (privilege) as a symbol of God’s reward to us for our obedience. In the end, what this means is there are a bunch of us who are “almost Christian.”

It follows then that churches struggling to effectively reaching young people are, at the same time, the churches that have fallen into traditional church-culture patterns, which are primarily concerned with creating “good” people that show up for worship on a semi-regular basis and believe all the right things. This way of holding or practicing faith is what Kendra Creasy Dean calls “Moralistic Therapeutic Deism.”

According to Dean,

“Moralistic Therapeutic Deism has little to do with God or a sense of a divine mission in the world. It offers comfort, bolsters self-esteem, helps solve a few problems, and lubricates interpersonal relationships by encouraging people to do good, feel good, and keep God at arm’s length.” As a result, “Churches have lost track of Christianity’s missional imagination…Jesus doesn’t tinker; he tears down walls, draws up new plans, (and) makes demands.”

I don’t mean to state it so harshly, but between conservative and liberal seems to sit “nice.” And “nice” looks a lot like apathy to those hard at work. Being that change is written into every moment, you’re either regressing or progressing. And no one can really know for sure which direction “nice” is going. Is “nice” going up or down, becoming or unbecoming? Which direction is your congregation moving? If you’re trying to be “nice,” it’s likely you have no real idea.

When it comes to faith development, there is in fact a starting place, but there are also subsequent stages. As Christian ministers, it’s our responsibility to meet people where they’re at and invite them to take the next step. As long as our church is happy with where things are at, as long as they are fine with just being a bunch of “nice” Christians, things will remain as they are. And until pastors encourage them to move, every church’s center of gravity will remain where it is.

It’s sounds a bit crazy when you first hear it, but perhaps what young adults are really looking for is a church where people are less interested in being “nice,” and more interested in being faithful to Jesus Christ’s call on us in this time and place, both individually and collectively.

It’s not enough for church leaders to plug and chug songs into the worship order every week. And it’s not enough to waste all of one’s creative energy massaging and managing church members’ emotions all day, every day. The church is in need desperate need of courageous and creative leaders prepared to say what is needed, to invite people into complexity and paradox, and ultimately, to help them figure out what it looks like to participate with God in God’s work, here and now.

With your congregation in mind, I invite you to carefully reflect on the following questions: Do we practice the kind of faith we want our young adults to have? What does faith look like for the average person in our congregation? Where are we going? What are we doing (outside the worship hour)? Being that we live in a sea of choices, what is about who we are and what we do that is worth committing to?

In the end, if we don’t make room for young adults it’s probably because we don’t want to change, which is the same as saying we don’t want to grow. It appears there are a number of churches scared to death of being anything other than what they are or doing anything other than what they do. What if our fear, however, is keeping us from becoming what God created us to be? Are we forgetting (neglecting) to take Jesus seriously? I think young adults, merely by their presence and sometimes with their insistence, remind us of these things, so in a thousand small ways churches push them out, laugh at them for their idealism, and tell them to come back when they’ve grown up a bit, i.e. when they have kids. And when we do this, we lose something vitally important—passionate young adults.

So, what about “contemporary” worship? Ah, take it or leave it—it’s merely a preference. But don’t neglect the more that is going on behind your worship, because the more, which is the message, always shines through. Are people hearing what you want them to hear? Are they following Jesus more closely as a result of their time worshipping with and among those who have gathered?

According to Scripture, God is at work reconciling and renewing all of creation, which means there’s a lot of work to do. That’s the real message. Sure, the medium matters, but even young adults will show up and sing hymns every week if they’re captivated by the message.

 

 


OPINION: Views expressed in Baptist News Global columns and commentaries are solely those of the authors.
Tags:Cooperative Baptist FellowshipCBFworshipcontemporary worshipyoung adultsBlog Postsmega churchtraditional worshipKendra Creasy DeanAlmost ChristianChristopher Robertsonprogressive theology
Avatar
More by
Chris Robertson
  • Get BNG headlines in your inbox

  • Featured

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      Opinion

    • Coronavirus challenging denominational summer conventions yet again

      News

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      Opinion

    • What I learned by listening to women pastors during the pandemic

      Analysis


    Curated

    • Lawmaker pushes for 3rd time to make Bible the state book of Tennessee

      Lawmaker pushes for 3rd time to make Bible the state book of Tennessee

      March 5, 2021
    • A Third Of Gen Z Doesn’t Trust People Of Other Religions, But They’re Willing To Try

      A Third Of Gen Z Doesn’t Trust People Of Other Religions, But They’re Willing To Try

      March 5, 2021
    • Faith Leaders Urge Missouri Not to Create “Rush Limbaugh Day”

      Faith Leaders Urge Missouri Not to Create “Rush Limbaugh Day”

      March 5, 2021
    • Brian Houston apologizes for Hillsong NYC’s ‘failings,’ promises whistleblower policy

      Brian Houston apologizes for Hillsong NYC’s ‘failings,’ promises whistleblower policy

      March 5, 2021
    Read Next:

    Free Lenten daily devotionals offered

    NewsBNG staff

    More Articles

    • All
    • News
    • Opinion
    • Curated
    • Students and alumni express concern about restructuring of OBU’s storied music program

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Pandemic plans: Keep on coping

      OpinionDavid Jordan

    • Learning to breathe in the Spirit by confessing, ‘I can’t breathe’

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • Does landmark religious freedom legislation need a fix or is it fine as is?

      AnalysisMark Wingfield

    • How to follow a leader

      OpinionPaula Mangum Sheridan

    • Black Baptist women in ministry and the principality of patriarchy

      OpinionAidsand Wright-Riggins

    • Author of Eugene Peterson biography was one of many shaped by America’s pastor

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Transitions for the week of 3-5-21

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Evangelicals are in trouble: Reclaiming ‘Oberlinism” could bring some redemption

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • U.S. agency calls for more religious freedom in Nigeria

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Repressing my sexual orientation cost me my health — permanently

      OpinionAmber Cantorna

    • World religious leaders remember Shahbaz Bhatti as martyr 10 years later

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • The charismatic story is part of the Baptist story, historian contends

      NewsPat Cole

    • Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic

      OpinionCurtis Ramsey-Lucas

    • Son’s legacy lives on through Kansas City ministry for children with special needs

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • Rural churches need to understand the cultural capital of their communities

      AnalysisBrian Foreman and Justin Nelson

    • How slavery still shapes the world of white evangelical Christians

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • New study finds affirmation of Black church experience even as attendance declines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature

      OpinionIvan Douglas Hicks

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Christian nationalism deeply embedded into American life, Tyler warns

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Faith community nurses ‘carry the hope’ during COVID-19 pandemic

      NewsLiam Adams

    • Students and alumni express concern about restructuring of OBU’s storied music program

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Author of Eugene Peterson biography was one of many shaped by America’s pastor

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Transitions for the week of 3-5-21

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • U.S. agency calls for more religious freedom in Nigeria

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • World religious leaders remember Shahbaz Bhatti as martyr 10 years later

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The charismatic story is part of the Baptist story, historian contends

      NewsPat Cole

    • Son’s legacy lives on through Kansas City ministry for children with special needs

      NewsHelen Jerman

    • New study finds affirmation of Black church experience even as attendance declines

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Christian nationalism deeply embedded into American life, Tyler warns

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Faith community nurses ‘carry the hope’ during COVID-19 pandemic

      NewsLiam Adams

    • Coronavirus challenging denominational summer conventions yet again

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Some Methodist churches finding greater mission results with simplified governance

      NewsCynthia Astle

    • Diverse religious coalition urges Congress to finalize the Equal Rights Amendment

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • She’s Gen-Z, became leery of the church but practices faith with fitness

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • LGBTQ inclusion and clergy sexual abuse treated equally in SBC expulsions

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • As people walk away from the church in droves, Russ Dean hopes to tell the old story in a new way

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • The strange saga of the Riley Foundation lawsuit now forces SBC to figure out who has the right to remove a seminary trustee

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • In-person worship dropped in January as more churches were directly affected by COVID

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Caldwell succeeds Anderson as chair of BNG board

      NewsBNG staff

    • Ministry jobs and more

      NewsBarbara Francis

    • Final vote sounds the death knell for capital punishment in Virginia

      NewsJeff Brumley

    • Reeves to lead Fellowship Southwest

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Three years later, Leah Sharibu is still held captive, reportedly for refusing to renounce her faith

      NewsAnthony Akaeze

    • Wake Forest Divinity gets $5 million grant to help combat HIV/AIDS

      NewsMark Wingfield

    • Pandemic plans: Keep on coping

      OpinionDavid Jordan

    • Learning to breathe in the Spirit by confessing, ‘I can’t breathe’

      OpinionPatrick Wilson

    • How to follow a leader

      OpinionPaula Mangum Sheridan

    • Black Baptist women in ministry and the principality of patriarchy

      OpinionAidsand Wright-Riggins

    • Evangelicals are in trouble: Reclaiming ‘Oberlinism” could bring some redemption

      OpinionBill Leonard, Senior Columnist

    • Repressing my sexual orientation cost me my health — permanently

      OpinionAmber Cantorna

    • How I learned to care about social justice growing up Southern Baptist in Oklahoma

      OpinionMark Wingfield

    • Finding charity amidst the chaos one year into the coronavirus pandemic

      OpinionCurtis Ramsey-Lucas

    • Maybe your church needs a minister of loneliness

      OpinionErich Bridges

    • How slavery still shapes the world of white evangelical Christians

      OpinionRichard T. Hughes

    • Faith leaders call for an end to racial bullying in the Indiana legislature

      OpinionIvan Douglas Hicks

    • One year later: Some musings on post-COVID culture and social ethics

      OpinionDavid Gushee, Senior Columnist

    • Why vote to fund something you won’t ever use?

      OpinionGreg Garrett, Senior Columnist

    • Matter-of-fact statements about Scripture aren’t always the gospel truth

      OpinionJordan Conley

    • Black History Month: Remembering, waiting, watching

      OpinionWendell Griffen

    • Canada labels Uyghur repression ‘genocide,’ but that’s not as exemplary as you might think

      OpinionRay Mwareya

    • About disfellowshipping churches based on the ‘clear’ teaching of Scripture

      OpinionDalen Jackson

    • What the SBC should learn from the Ravi Zacharias tragedy

      OpinionChrista Brown

    • The Black church and the salvation of the world

      OpinionPaul Robeson Ford

    • St. Benedict and a two-fold path for the church In America

      OpinionH. Stephen Shoemaker

    • What if we cared about Black History Month as much as Lent?

      OpinionRick Pidcock

    • Prophecy is obedient imagination

      OpinionAlan Bean

    • How much wealth does America need before we’ll address homelessness?

      OpinionMichael Chancellor

    • Why we need to talk about abortion

      OpinionRuss Dean

    • How travel and food break through barriers that divide us

      OpinionPhawnda Moore

    • Lawmaker pushes for 3rd time to make Bible the state book of Tennessee

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • A Third Of Gen Z Doesn’t Trust People Of Other Religions, But They’re Willing To Try

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Faith Leaders Urge Missouri Not to Create “Rush Limbaugh Day”

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Brian Houston apologizes for Hillsong NYC’s ‘failings,’ promises whistleblower policy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Myanmar’s Christian refugees hold anti-coup protest in India

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Tanzania’s President Focused on Prayer as Coronavirus Cases Climbed

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • After Ravi Zacharias report, Christians examine how to avoid ‘betrayal blindness’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Why a Catholic journalist is urging the church to engage Black Lives Matter

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Texas church helps mosque damaged after snowstorm

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Vaccinated for virus, Jimmy Carter and wife back in church

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Black Church Group Offers Its Best Shot at Closing Vaccine Gap

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Man who played Duke Chapel bells for 50 years dies

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Ravi Zacharias’s Denomination Revokes Ordination

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Disinformation Fuels A White Evangelical Movement. It Led 1 Virginia Pastor To Quit

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Southern Baptists divided over politics, race, LGBTQ policy

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Rush Limbaugh, who shaped conservative Christian politics on the radio, has died

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Dallas faith groups help shelter homeless Texans during deep freeze

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • SBU Trustees Reverse Some Tenure/Promotion Denials

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • U.S. Supreme Court sides with Alabama death row inmate, declines to lift stay of execution over state’s refusal to allow clergy in chamber

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Survey: Black Americans attend church and pray more often

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • How Christian Bookstores Survived 2020

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • Celebrating Ash Wednesday in a pandemic? There’s an app for that

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • From ‘Lent-in-a-box’ to ‘ash n dash’

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • No execution: Courts side with inmate wanting pastor present

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    • New Arkansas Law Exempts Churches from Pandemic Restrictions

      Curated

      Exclude from home pageBNG staff

    Conversations that Matter.

    © 2021 Baptist News Global. All rights reserved.

    Want to share a story? We hope you will! Read our republishing, terms of use and privacy policies here.

    • Facebook
    • Twitter
    • Instagram
    • LinkedIn
    • RSS