One worship style no longer fits all as churches offer more variety to make God relevant to people in different ways.
By MOLLY MOORHEAD
Published July 12, 2003
The "9 O'Clock Rock" at All Saints Lutheran Church in Hudson opens with drums, guitars and a cluster of kids belting out a peppy worship song, one you might hear on a contemporary Christian radio station.
The minister, wearing a sport coat and open-collar shirt, invites the kids back up to the altar during the sermon. He sits on the floor and talks in the manner of a kindergarten teacher.
Two hours later, pillar candles on tall poles burn atop the altar. The same minister enters the sanctuary to organ music, this time in full vestments. The congregation sings multiple stanzas of Shall We Gather at the River and What a Friend We Have in Jesus.
Many churches hold separate, and very distinct, worship services to appeal to different sectors of their congregations. The differences come through in music style, the degree of structure and ritual and the type of people who attend.
Churches say the approach reaches different age groups and worship preferences, which helps draw new people.
Critics argue the result is a divided congregation. They worry that too much emphasis is placed on pleasing parishioners instead of the God they're worshiping.
Cheri Cline-Evangelista leads All Saints' early service, strumming her guitar to country gospel music. The service, at 8 a.m., is geared toward older folks who can come hear songs they grew up singing.
"It's a fun service," Cline-Evangelista said. "It's not the "frozen chosen.' "
Darlene Wallace of Hudson attended one recent Sunday with her husband. She said they enjoy the informality of it.
"I appreciate the traditional, but my husband and I are just more comfortable at this service," Wallace said.
The next service, at 9, targets mainly families with young children. It's casual; several teenagers stroll in wearing shorts.
"Instead of hearing the old Lutheran hymns, contemporary praise is a way to appeal to the younger people," said Dennis Margheim, who plays keyboards.
Margheim also pounds out the organ notes for the traditional service, which bears the structure of a formal liturgy.
"People should go to church to hear the word of God," he said. "But this was a way to bring people in. A lot of people at the early services are not traditional Lutherans."
All Saints pastor, the Rev. Bill Deist, recognizes that fact. He says the church has offered different styles of services for many years, and the approach has worked to attract new members.
"With each service we are targeting a different audience," Deist said.
Target audiences, musical tastes, casual vs. formal - there's an inherent problem with churches concerning themselves with those sorts of issues, says Terry Williams, director of church music for the Florida Baptist Convention.
"When you talk about the subject of worship, its intent and purpose is to unify. That's its ultimate goal," Williams said. "So when a church or a body or a congregation begins to create different worship experiences where it's a style issue, they're basically dividing the body up."
Deist agrees that divisions do occur, but he says they're not necessarily detrimental.
"It divides them, but the division is only around the time and place of worship, not necessarily around theology," Deist said.
"Any time you have more than one service, even if all three are traditional, you end up with essentially three small congregations," he added.
St. James United Methodist Church in New Tampa also offers three Sunday services: a simple acoustic service, a traditional one with a choir and a contemporary service led by a 15-member band.
Mark Deen, St. James' director of worship and arts, says any divisions that occur in the congregations are superseded by the people's love for God.
"We do have people that definitely attend services because of the styles of worship," Deen said. "But the worship is only the vehicle. They all love St. James, they all love God."
Hoyt Hickman, a retired minister in Nashville, Tenn., and editor of the book The Faith We Sing, said it makes practical sense for churches to diversify their worship styles.
"I think it's a very good approach because tastes and needs in worship do differ," Hickman said. "A church that's large enough to have (multiple) services probably should."
And any assertion, Hickman says, that so-called contemporary worship is less "biblical" than one featuring robes and chants is misguided.
"Traditional services are just reflective of just a different set of preferences," he said.
Hickman recognized the danger of a congregation becoming segmented if people who attend one service never see those who attend another. But it's a fixable problem.
"There are ways of counteracting that," he said. "Churches ... very often will have a special event where everybody comes together."
Deist said All Saints holds numerous events to reunite its members, including group meals and fellowship.
But Williams, of the Baptist Convention, insists the practice further splinters an already fractured body of Christians.
"We're subdividing over music and worship style," he said. "In addition to denominations being personalized by doctrine in theology, we are now internally subdividing our congregations."
He compares a church service to a meal at grandma's house. Children, adults and elders sit together at a table and are expected to eat what's in front of them. There are old traditions and new practices at work among the family members.
So it should be with churches, Williams says.
"I'm saying we need to be multigenerational. Jesus had compassion upon the multitudes. He reached out to everybody," he said. "We cease to be New Testament in our ministry if we go after a certain group."
A further problem, Williams says, is the emphasis on the tastes of the worshipers.
"We've gotten to a place now where we are more conscious of appeasing the people and what they want to hear and what they want to sing," he said. "We rule out the fact that God is the one that we want to be pleasing."
But to Deist, who is striving to build his church's membership, spreading the Gospel in a way that's appealing and timely is just plain smart.
"We're looking at the different people, and we're going after their musical interests," Deist said. "We're not changing the gospel, we're changing the way we approach them.
Added St. James' Deen: "There's only one audience and it's God. And worship is a tool that we use in order to communicate and actually enter into God's presence."
