Contemp. Worship

I've been accused of being a shill in the past for both Contemporary and Traditional Worship. But what I really prefer is traditional hymns spruced up with drums, guitars, a keyboard, and song leaders. This is to not to say I am against newer praise songs, especially if they are popular and catchy such as Beautiful One, Days of Elijah, Forever, I Can Only Imagine, etc. Any song that is quite popular in contemporary Christian music one can look at singing.

But I prefer to choose from a collection of about 50 of the most popular hymns of all-time. Singing three-five hymns a week this cycle should extend about 10-12 weeks. People like to sing hymns they know, and it makes worship more meaningful for them. Never have them learn more than one new song per week, and don't have one new song, and two songs they might vaguely know.

The problem one runs into with Contemporary Worship in some settings is finding enough people to do it well especially in small-town settings. When I see Contemporary Worship done poorly, the issue is that people sing the same six campfire songs that they have been singing for the last 10 years.

A lot of the issues as to when to do contemporary worship will depend on setting. I would not advocate stirring the pot too much when it comes to forcing these issues. A balance of worship styles would seem to work best for a diverse congreation.