The Worship “Wars”

Baptists are intimately familiar with controversy over worship, especially the musical portion of a church service. Beginning in the late 20th century, many Baptist and Evangelical churches were embroiled in conflicts over musical styles popularly dubbed “the Worship Wars.” Still being felt and experienced to this day, the Worship Wars were essentially an inter-evangelical debate over the music of local churches: Should historic hymns and traditional ways of singing those hymns be replaced by contemporary Christian music (CCM) and professional worship bands? This question was asked in different ways and at different times across the evangelical world, and the results often proved devastating: Churches would split, congregations would die, and the losers would be left feeling ostracized.

Based upon what I have seen and heard, in most evangelicals churches that experienced a worship conflict, the contemporary side was victorious: in many of these churches, the contemporary music of Bethel and Hillsong are now the main source of songs, loud drums and guitars played by a distinctly set apart worship band “lead” congregational singing, and traditional hymns (if sung at all) are rare and are often reset in the contemporary style with added “bridges” replacing original verses. The proponents of “contemporary worship” saw this change as a great victory for Evangelicalism: in their mind, churches would be more appealing to the people they sought to reach, worship would be more heartfelt and personal, and a younger generation would feel more at home in a religious culture that was struggling for modern relevance.

Yet, now a decade or two after many of these conflicts, some observers point out that what was once thought as a welcome change may actually be contributing to a wider decline in evangelical churchmanship. While there are many aspects of and ways to look at the implications of “contemporary worship’s” ascendancy, in keeping with this series, I will examine how it relates to the rise of what I am calling “The Liturgical/High Church Movement.”

A Desire for Reverence

My online interactions reveal that many of the devout, theologically interested evangelicals of the next generation have a distinct desire for reverence in worship. Whether it is due to a newfound understanding of God’s holiness (perhaps related to the Confessional Movement), a developing appreciation for the Church as a historic and dignified body, or a personal experience of emptiness in current worship contexts, many young people are not finding contemporary worship satisfying. They perceive repeated choruses as theologically light, and the booming music of an elevated worship band with dimmed lights and fog machines to promote individual, emotional experiences. This does not strike many of these young evangelicals as reverent. They argue that contemporary worship does not reflect the holy nature of God, the dignity of the church service, and the historical and corporate realities of Christian worship.

Longing for reverence, many of these Evangelicals turn to liturgical/high church traditions, be that Lutheran, Anglican, or even Roman Catholic (among others), as they begin to see these churches as offering or preserving truly reverent worship. While it initially strikes them as unfamiliar and even foreign, many eventually accept the liturgy of these “high churches” as properly responding and relating to God’s holiness, rightly communicating the dignity of worship, strongly encouraging the corporate nature of worship, and powerfully testifying to the historical connection of the modern Church to that of antiquity.

This issue and longing go beyond just the musical aspect of worship. The concern relates to the entire service of corporate worship: how a church administers the ordinances, how it prays, and how it preaches. It soon becomes the view of many of these former (or soon to be former) Evangelicals that high church worship and its historical liturgies preserve the reverence, order, and beauty of all aspects of corporate worship. To mention a conversation I recently had, it is argued that reciting a psalm in confession and kneeling before a rail does much more to respect the Lord’s Supper than “passing out some crushed-up crackers while a CCM song softly plays in the background.”

While I previously stated that “the Confessional Movement” was most appealing in my own life, I can also honestly say that the concerns underlying “the Liturgical/High Church Movement” are equally pressing in my experience. I empathize with the critiques of contemporary worship which lead so many young Baptists and Evangelicals to “high church” denominations, and I find points of agreement with the claim that the contemporary worship which has swept through many Baptist churches does little to convey God’s holiness, worship’s dignity, and the Church’s historicity…

So why am I still a Baptist?

Error should not be replaced with error. While the language is strong, especially for those who come to love and embrace contemporary or high church worship, this is the reality of my perspective and the one I wish to communicate to other young Baptists facing this same struggle. While it is tempting to run away from the many shortcomings we have felt and experienced in contemporary worship settings, we should not be tempted to embrace high church worship without careful thought. Think about all the factors underlying our opinions on church worship: What I have realized is that when you replace contemporary worship with high church worship, you are merely exchanging problems on one side for problems on another. For example, while it is right to feel uncomfortable with a contemporary worship context which misses the majesty of our God, it is not a sound solution to move to a high church context which misses the personal relationship we have with our God. Further, I think it is worth recognizing that high church worship can be just as guilty of “emotionalism” as contemporary worship: Instead of fog machines you have incense and instead of flashing lights you have ornate candles. While this could be further unpacked, one of the reasons I am still Baptist is that moving to a high church denomination merely replaces problems with other problems, as opposed to providing genuine solutions. There is another way! Based on many of my conversations with other Baptists who struggle with the appeal of “the Liturgical/High Church Movement,” I realize that many people believe they only have two options: contemporary worship or high church worship (some of them expressing that high church worship is the lesser of two “evils”). Something I have come to learn and appreciate, however, is that there is a third option, an option that is both historically grounded and alive and well today in the Baptist world: traditional, low church worship. If one investigates Presbyterian & Reformed, Anglican, Lutheran, and even Baptist history, though not all taking the same shape, one will find robust, reverent, and liturgical styles of worship which are not high church. Churches can have a strong liturgy which includes traditional hymns, recitation of creeds, corporate confession, and other elements of reverent worship all without the pomp and problems of high church contexts. High church worship no longer appeals to me when I realize it is far from the best and only defender of reverence and dignity in Christian worship. Baptist churches can and should reform. Even if a Baptist church has embraced contemporary worship to one degree or another, this does not mean it is locked into that path. I have not given up on the Baptist tradition, for the same reason I encourage other young Baptists to not give up on it either: If you love your church, you will not give up on it. With God’s help, one can stress and teach the importance of reverence, the beauty of the great hymns of the faith, and the blessing of liturgy and corporate prayer. One just needs to embrace a Christian patience and humility to bring about that reform in a God-honouring and graceful manner. Though a person may see many problems with contemporary worship and long to see it changed, Baptist and Evangelical churches do not cease being bible believing churches because of their musical worship choices.

Reading over this post, it would appear my comments on the appeal of “the Liturgical/High Church Movement” has also served as a brief criticism of “contemporary worship.” I must, therefore, assure you that this is a topic I will certainly revisit. I believe that in traditional low church worship, one finds the biblically sound middle group between the austere reverence of high church worship and the relational emphasis of contemporary worship. Further, it is in this low church worship, Baptists can wholly relate to our own tradition as both biblical focussed and historically connected.

Next up: “The Apostolic Movement”