Last Sunday, they tried something even newer: this service was led by a “disc jockey.” DJ Hans Solo is an active leader in Andy Stanley’s Northpoint Church and a musician and producer in the Atlanta area. He led what Clarendon called “Church Remixed,” as his technology replaced the church’s usual eight-piece band and singers. The one-time event made the Washington Post.
Reaction was mixed. According to the Post, many of the church’s members are under 30 and “seemed excited by seeing something new.” A 23-year-old who teaches preschool at the church said, “It was much more upbeat,” and called the service “awesome.” An 81-year-old member said she’s not comfortable with clapping after songs, since it felt too much like a performance. But she did tell the reporter, “I like the music more than I did last year.”
Richard Niebuhr’s classic Christ and Culture describes five ways Christians relate to society:
• “Christ against culture” (no engagement with each other)
• “Christ of culture” (the church adopts what the culture embraces)
• “Christ above culture” (following Jesus on Sunday and cultural norms on Monday)
• “Christ and culture in paradox” (using culture to advance the church)
• “Christ transforming culture” (leading culture to adopt holistic biblical values)
Reaction was mixed. According to the Post, many of the church’s members are under 30 and “seemed excited by seeing something new.” A 23-year-old who teaches preschool at the church said, “It was much more upbeat,” and called the service “awesome.” An 81-year-old member said she’s not comfortable with clapping after songs, since it felt too much like a performance. But she did tell the reporter, “I like the music more than I did last year.”
Richard Niebuhr’s classic Christ and Culture describes five ways Christians relate to society:
• “Christ against culture” (no engagement with each other)
• “Christ of culture” (the church adopts what the culture embraces)
• “Christ above culture” (following Jesus on Sunday and cultural norms on Monday)
• “Christ and culture in paradox” (using culture to advance the church)
• “Christ transforming culture” (leading culture to adopt holistic biblical values)
The last is consistent with Jesus’ assertion that Christians are the “salt of the earth” and the “light of the world” (Matthew 5:13-16) — both seek to change what they contact. So we must engage the culture to transform the culture. But how much is too much?
Did the Church at Clarendon remove distractions to worship or create them? Does contemporary music and technology enable people to encounter God, or does it draw them from Him? Can traditional worship with its choirs, solos and instrumental music elevate performance over personal worship as well?
Here at WBC, the style of the music is less important that whether or not the order of worship is centered on Jesus Christ. The style of the music is secondary. First of all, the order of worship should be centered on the gospel story of Jesus. This means that we actually go through the story of the gospel in the order in which we worship. Music styles are then funneled through this order of worship. We choose the styles of music that will be the most edifying for our current congregation. We also consider those who we may want to reach out to in our worship music but sense the primary goal of worship is edification and not evangelism (1 Corinthians 14); this is a much lower priority. In all the creative approaches to worship and the heated debates of worship styles, one very important thing to remember is to keep Christ at the center.
Did the Church at Clarendon remove distractions to worship or create them? Does contemporary music and technology enable people to encounter God, or does it draw them from Him? Can traditional worship with its choirs, solos and instrumental music elevate performance over personal worship as well?
Here at WBC, the style of the music is less important that whether or not the order of worship is centered on Jesus Christ. The style of the music is secondary. First of all, the order of worship should be centered on the gospel story of Jesus. This means that we actually go through the story of the gospel in the order in which we worship. Music styles are then funneled through this order of worship. We choose the styles of music that will be the most edifying for our current congregation. We also consider those who we may want to reach out to in our worship music but sense the primary goal of worship is edification and not evangelism (1 Corinthians 14); this is a much lower priority. In all the creative approaches to worship and the heated debates of worship styles, one very important thing to remember is to keep Christ at the center.
