To Grow or Not to Grow?

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... think in terms of ushering people into the presence of God. You can have the best performance in town, but if people aren’t touched by the Holy Spirit, you might just as well be a theater or coffee house.

Greetings!

As I prepare to retire, the toughest item to find a home for is my clerical garb. Robes and stoles just aren’t used any more, though when I started in ministry 35 years ago they were standard garb for a Protestant minister. This little predicament of mine is symbolic of a larger issue that has helped turn mainline Protestantism into sideline Protestantism - mainly the drastic change in worship that has taken place over the last three or four decades. Finding a way to deal with this change will be a vital key in Pilgrim navigating the future.

The first question to ask is, “Do we want Pilgrim to continue for generations to come or are we content with allowing it to dwindle until remaining open is no longer an option?” If the answer is the latter, then no changes are necessary. Simply keep doing what you’ve been doing until you can’t do it anymore. Just when that time will come is, of course, difficult to say. It will depend on finances, age, mobility, and the availability of organists and choir directors when Perry and Shane decide to retire or move on.

If, however, the desire is to help Pilgrim continue in ministry for decades to come, then certain changes will be necessary. The only questions are “What?” and “How?” I will look at those two questions in a moment but first I want to provide some background and context so that you can have a better understanding of what is involved.

In the mid to late 1960s, a group of young people turned from drugs to Jesus and began to express their conversion in songs that used simple lyrics set to various forms of rock music. Initially it was more like stuff by the Mamas and the Papas but it didn’t take long to move into territory associated with the Rolling Stones. By the end of the decade there were a few recordings being made, though the production quality was terrible (and I’m being kind).

During the next decade, the availability of this music increased and began to proliferate on college campuses in such groups as Campus Crusade for Christ, an evangelical parachurch organization. This meant that more and more people born in the baby boom era were coming to faith and/or expressing that faith in music that was guitar based and not infrequently involved percussion as well. When, however, those students returned home, they found the churches they had grown up in still using the hymns and rituals from centuries past. This led a few of them to start loosely knit fellowships where their new music combined with informal sharing and Bible study to form the beginnings of what would become contemporary worship. I should add that a dose of Pentecostalism was pretty common in that mix.

In the 1980s, with people now in their 20s and 30s, these fellowships became churches. At the same time, the mainline churches were growing older and still using traditional hymns and worship. Eventually the generation gap began to produce more and more contemporary worship churches and fewer and fewer traditional worship churches. By the time the 1990s hit, the balance between the two hit a tipping point. Today, what were once known as the “Worship Wars” are over. The vast majority of growing, vital, and younger churches take contemporary music as a given. Traditional music, choirs, and robes and stoles are a dying breed in the world of Protestantism. Even many mainline Protestant churches have gone to offering (or trying to offer) contemporary services.

This means that any church seeking to reach a younger crowd with a traditional service is fighting an uphill battle. There are a few exceptions of course, but they are the proverbial exception that proves the rule. So what are older, traditional churches that still want to reach a younger generation (i.e., anyone who is not yet on Medicare) to do?

I think there are three basic options. One is to offer two services - one for the older folks and one for the younger. Eventually, the traditional service will die out, but until then it provides an opportunity for people who just don’t like contemporary worship to maintain their traditions, while allowing the younger portion of the congregation to grow. I have known a number of churches that followed this path. Some succeeded, some didn’t. It depends a lot on how willing the older folks are to increasingly find themselves as a minority in the church they once ran. It also depends on finding people who know how to do contemporary worship. (I can assure you that contemporary worship is much more difficult to plan and execute than traditional worship.)

Option two is to try and blend elements of both traditional and contemporary worship. I have known churches that have done very well with this, although one of the best eventually became another “contemporary worship only” congregation. It is also the least recommended approach by church growth experts. Nevertheless, Pioneer Memorial Church in Berrien Springs does very well with it. (Of course, a college campus does give you an awful lot of talent to work with that most local congregations can’t begin to match.) I would add that some contemporary churches have added some elements of traditional worship. Word of Life Church in St. Joseph, Missouri, is an excellent example.

Option three is to tweak a traditional service so as to be more appealing to a younger crowd. I know of churches that have done this successfully. Redeemer Presbyterian in NYC and LaGrave Avenue CRC in Grand Rapids are good examples. I also think options two and three might be on a continuum. The Pillar Church in Holland has worship that strikes me as being halfway between a blended service and a tweaked traditional one.

Clearly none of these options guarantees success or failure. It all depends on who’s doing it, how they’re doing it, and for whom they’re doing it. What works in one situation won’t necessarily work in another. NYC, GR, and Holland are not St. Joseph.

I think the best option for Pilgrim is to look at options two and three. I don’t see us having the resources to do option one very well and I seriously doubt there would be enough buy in from the majority of our members. With that in mind, let me make a few suggestions

First, talk with some of the younger newcomers. I’m afraid we’ve lost some contact due to the virus, but I think they will still come back once things return to some semblance of normalcy. Some of you have younger relatives that visit often enough to be familiar with Pilgrim worship. Find out what these people enjoy about our current style and what would make them feel more engaged.

Second, take some time to watch other churches that are somewhere on this spectrum. Most of the ones I’ve mentioned can be found online and two of them - The Pillar Church and LaGrave Avenue are within easy driving distance. If you visit and see something you think might work here, call the church and ask to speak with someone who works with worship. Don’t try to copy these churches; just see what you might learn from them.

Third, take an inventory of what resources you have to work with. Right now, you have a phenomenal organist and a really good choir. Without wishing to single out anybody, I’d add that there are at least a few people who play different instruments very well. Don’t overlook the fact that you are in a building with acoustics that are very favorable to most kinds of softer music. (This would include guitars, violins, cellos, flutes, electric or stand up bass, and light percussion such as a snare drum or cajon.) It seems like more could be done with the musical side of worship, though it would take some work.

Fourth, don’t ignore the power of visuals. I think the most important thing that I’ve seen in terms of worship resources during my time here is the TV. That, a computer, a good internet connection, and some people that know how to use them open up a whole world of opportunities and resources. Regardless of the various tastes among younger people, screens are second nature to all of them. For that matter, I think exploring ways to engage people via their smart phones would be a very worthwhile endeavor. Besides, as our Zoom worship has demonstrated, you can have people participating from Florida (Linda), South Carolina (Ronda), and elsewhere.

In conjunction with screens, I think our sanctuary might lend itself to the display of other visuals such as paintings, sculpture, and multi-media.

Fifth, we have some people who are good public readers. Marsan was one of the best, but there are a number of other people that I really enjoy listening to. How might this skill be incorporated into a worship service in ways other than reading a Bible passage?

Sixth, use silence creatively. Giving time for quiet reflection (often with a visual focus point) can be very powerful. Again, our sanctuary is quite conducive to reverent silence. It’s beautiful without being gaudy.

Seventh, be aware of the flow and pace of the service. Dead space between a hymn and a reading, for example, is like dead air on a radio station - you lose your audience. Make sure the various parts of the service are put together in an intentional manner and that any silence in the service is deliberate. Don’t wait 30 seconds while a reader or musician gets into place. If you want to see how transitions are used effectively, watch some TV shows, movies, or even ads, including those on the radio.

Eighth, and most importantly of all, think in terms of ushering people into the presence of God. You can have the best performance in town, but if people aren’t touched by the Holy Spirit, you might just as well be a theater or coffee house. One of the things I have done before every in-person worship since I’ve been here is to go through the sanctuary sometime during the preceding week and pray. I pray for the service in general, for the sermon, for the choir, for Perry, for communion, and for the people in every pew. I even pray that people will sense God’s presence when they walk through the sanctuary doors. (And that the emergency exit doors will never have to be used but will work properly if they are.) I believe that a good deal of our growth is a result of that prayer. What might happen if a whole group of Pilgrims took turns doing that each week?

The overall message here is that it is possible to make some meaningful changes that are acceptable to older and more traditional members while making worship more attractive to younger newcomers. It will, however, take some serious buy in and work by a significant number of Pilgrims to make it all happen. Leaving it to the new pastor and the worship committee will only decrease the effectiveness of the project and increase the frustration of those involved. That said, putting in the effort to provide a high quality, imaginative worship celebration that allows people to connect with Jesus can’t help but bring great blessing to everyone.

Blessings!

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