The New Worship Topography
After the music wars, the map has changed. How shall we navigate?
By Skye Jethani
October 1, 2004
Somewhere over the Midwest I asked Ryan in seat 7A what his ideal church would be like. The 26-year-old nominal Catholic with a degree in food science and interest in "spirituality" provided an increasingly common answer: "I don't understand the rock concert-style churches. I like the practical Bible teaching, but I always find myself wanting to go to Mass instead. Ideally I'd like the liturgy with practical Bible teaching." Ryan's answer hints at the shifts in the worship preferences of many; not just the younger generation's interest in liturgy, but the general blurring of lines between worship traditions and the theological schools from which they emerged. Today you can find a praise band at St. Mark the Apostle, a Friday night Taize service at First Baptist, and the holy Eucharist adored at Something Creek Community Church. In this shifting landscape, Exploring the Worship Spectrum proves a valuable roadmap. The contributors intelligently speak to the history, theology, and benefit of six different worship formats, and respond to one another with a level of respect all too rare in most "worship wars." Paul Zahl presents the case for formal-liturgical worship that is vertical before it is horizontal— seeking the transcendent holiness of God in a time-tested tradition. The blessing of traditional (hymn-based) worship is presented by Harold Best, the most eloquent, and musically proficient, apologist of the group. Willow Creek's Joe Horness argues for the contextualized benefit of contemporary worship with humility about its limitations and tempting abuses. Don Williams's discussion of charismatic worship traces its history from the Jesus Movement to Third Wave. Robert Webber tackles blended worship, redefining it not as choruses ...
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