In the shift we’ve just made, there are a few interesting factors that have become important in the health of the transition.  Today’s topic: song selection. Here’s what  the ‘contemporary’ side of our new worship world has looked like over the past three weeks:

July 6: band, vocals

• Sing to the King (Foote)
• Unchanging (Tomlin)
• Hallelujah to My King (Brown/Baloche) 

     The message this week encouraged us to take time to worship. So we did:

• Be Still and Know 
• Unashamed Love (Ten Shekel Shirt)
• My Jesus I Love Thee
• You are My King (Amazing Love) (Foote)

July 13: band, vocals, worship choir

• Joyful, Joyful:  worship choir arrangement with brass & band
• Cry Out Your Name (Moore): older, but a solid hook & great theme
• Hallelujah to My King (Brown/Baloche)
• Your Name (Packiam/Baloche)
• I Surrender All: beautiful 4-part accapella vocal arrangement (sung by 8 person ensemble from the back of the room) used as a response to sermon

July 20: band, vocals

• You Are Good (Houghton)
• Cry Out Your Name (Moore)
• You Are (Roach) 
• How Great is Our God (Tomlin)
• May the Words of My Mouth (Hughes): great response song

Prior to this transition, about half our congregation attended our contemporary service, and about half attended our ‘blended’ service.  The blended service included a few newer style songs, plus a few traditional style hymns each week.  Because of that, and because of the culture of that service, we did not use the same ‘library’ of new songs as the contemporary service.  Now that we’ve upset the proverbial apple cart, probably 1/3 of the people in the room for each of our contemporary services aren’t familiar with our standard, use-them-whenever, hit-the-ball-out -of-the-park worship songs.  So, two things become important:

1.  intentionally using 1-2 songs each week that are well-known to everyone (at least for a while)
2.  thoughtfully choosing the songs that will continue to be used (hopefully, new songs are always thoughtfully chosen…)

THE BIG DEAL
Before: 8:30 & 9:45 identical, ‘blended’ worship.  11:15 ‘contemporary’ worship.
Now: 8:30 classic worship.  9:45 & 11:15 identical ‘contemporary’ worship. 

While I’m not a fan of these incredibly non-descriptive words like ‘blended’ and ‘contemporary’, there has to be some way to talk about what’s happening in the room.  So this is where we’ve landed.  Our new ‘classic’ service is truly traditional in nature, and has been very well received across the generations. My long-time co-worker in the worship ministry is doing a great job of planning this service very thoughtfully and including a variety of accomplished musicians. The ‘contemporary’ service will vary from week to week… the music sometimes being very band-driven, sometimes including a worship choir, but the overall atmosphere informal.  

ATTENDANCE  PATTERNS & SEATING
Before:  Attendance in 8:30 + 9:45 = attendance in 11:15, give or take 20-30 people, with the 8:30 service always the least attended.  Room had to be set up to accommodate the 11:15 attendance, so we had 3 huge sections of chairs with 2 long aisles.  With limited ability to rope off parts of the room, the 8:30 service always felt a bit cavernous.

Now: We anticipated a more evenly dispersed attendance across the three hours, which has proven to be true. The room has been set up in a pattern of smaller sections, which allows for some areas to be roped off for the 8:30. So far, none of the worship services feel too empty, and none feel too full.  I realize attendance patterns will change in the fall, but still believe this configuration will accommodate people more effectively.

MUSICIANS
Before: two different worship bands each week, one in each style of service.  Two different groups of vocalists rotated with these bands. Our adult choir sang nearly every week in the blended services.  Once a month, an orchestra was a part of the blended services.

Now: Two different core bands, and one pool of vocalists,  rotate week to week playing in the contemporary services.  We now have two distinct choirs: one will sing in the classic service 2 times a month, and one will sing in the contemporary service 2 times a month along with the worship team vocalists.  Once every 2-3 months, the orchestra and combined choirs will be a part of all worship services.

REHEARSALS & SOUND CHECKS
Before: 
Wed pm:  6:45-8:00 choir
                8:00-9:00 blended service band
Thur pm:  7:30-9:30ish contemporary service band
Sun am:   7:30 sound check band #1
                8:00 choir
                8:30 1st service
                9:45 2nd service
               10:45 stage re-set: move 2 rows of choir chairs, 3 large platforms, move drums & all other instruments, sound check band #2, talk through set
               11:15 3rd service

Now:
Wed pm: 6:45-8:00 classic choir
               8:00-9:00 contemporary choir
               7:30-9:30ish worship band

Sun am:  8:00 classic service rehearsals
               8:30 1st service
               9:00 band meets in separate room to talk through set, run through songs
               9:15 contemporary choir meets in separate room (if singing)        
               9:30 band moves to stage with minimal re-set, sound check
               9:45 & 11:15 worship services

It’s probably not immediately obvious, but the schedule we’re now keeping is waaaaay more tolerable and sustainable than the previous plan. We used to have 30 minutes to re-set the stage between services,  plug in, talk through the set, and sound check.  This always felt harried to me, although we usually made it.  Now, we have 15 minutes.  But.  The band meets ahead of that time to get our heads into the music and the flow of the set.  We have very little to re-set on the stage, so the 15 minutes can be all about plugging in instruments and doing a quick sound check. Somehow, in the end, it all feels more relaxed.

So??
In quite a lot of words, that is how this transition has affected us so far. What I didn’t write about is what I see happening every week in our church family. I see people gathering to worship, some in the same manner they have for years, some with greater freedom than they have had for a while.  We set out to solve a few logistical issues, knowing that we also had a chance to provide more effective worship environments for our entire congregation, which is no small thing.  I believe God has led us to a great solution for this time, for this church… and for that I am grateful.

(Read about the background to this decision here.)

Statistics:

• attendance at our contemporary service vs. our blended services has been split nearly 50/50
• style preferences of our congregation (as reported through a survey in 2007): 14% prefer traditional worship, 37% prefer ‘blended’ style, 41% prefer contemporary, and 8% don’t care.
• the 14% who prefer traditional are never offered worship opportunities in their comfort zone.  Talk about growth and ‘it’s not about you’ all you like, this still matters. 
• Because of our worship style split, 86% of our kids attend Sunday School at the same time. This amounts to nearly 250 kids.  The goals of kids’ Sunday School had been to adopt a ‘small group’ approach, which is impossible with that number of kids and the configuration of space available.

How is this a creative solution?

Our church’s current transformation comes, of course, out of a history that cannot be ignored. Since the early 90′s, there has been an effort to ‘blend’ styles of music within worship services. What does that mean? For this congregation, it has always been more complicated than simply using a combination of ‘choruses’ and ‘hymns’. People placed a high value on things like choral singing, orchestral instrumentation, and excellent seasonal productions featuring both. The style of music used by these groups was never truly classical, but often what I would call adult contemporary/choral style. Over the years, as the worship movement grew all over the world, we grew toward using a ‘band’ in worship services for the more contemporary congregational songs, while still including organ, piano, choir, and orchestra as well. People who really enjoyed the contemporary style let us know that they loved what was happening; people who didn’t really enjoy it let us know their opinions as well! The trick was to always convey the intent, the heart of worship, while attempting to blend and balance the styles of music.

We didn’t experience full-force ‘worship wars’ during this season, just low rumbles. But as I worked through the various dynamics every week, I began to have questions. Like….

- I believe that God really doesn’t prefer one style of music over another, yet I also can’t get away from the feeling that moving toward contemporary music is forward progress, while staying more traditional feels like moving backwards. So…if that’s true… what are we progressing towards?

- I personally feel closer to God when worshipping through ‘contemporary’ music…. I feel like there is more freedom in worshipping that way. Is that really true, or is it just that I feel that way because of who I am?

- when it comes down to it, there are lots of differences between what we all label ‘contemporary’ and what we label ‘traditional’ …. like the level of formality of a worship environment…. the extent to which the congregation feels comfortable with physical responses in worship…. freedom from time frames and schedules. So if you have a congregation that comes out of the ‘traditional’ mold, and you move toward using new kinds of songs, can you also change those other factors?

- we tell people all the time that it’s not the style of music that matters, but the heart of the worshipers. But I would perish if I had to attend a church for 5 years that was all polka, all the time. So, do my preferences matter?

- along with the above, we love to remind people that ‘worship isn’t about them’. But isn’t it? A little bit? If worship is our response to God, then doesn’t it matter that we occasionally are able to participate in a corporate response that feels ‘native’ to us?

- what if, in the name of progress and reaching younger generations, we create an environment where the older generation among us soon come to church expecting to not ever find tools they can use to worship God? Is there away to hold all that together with integrity?

What I found is that my first attempt at answering some of these usually comes out as de-valuing traditional worship. And to do that, while simultaneously using an argument that ‘all worship is valuable to God’, doesn’t work. So. Help me out…. what do you think about these questions?

For about forever, the church I’m a part of had 2 identical ‘blended’ style services. From 2003-2006, we had a very lively contemporary Saturday night service. I served as worship leader in both situations. Then, a year ago, we moved the contemporary service to Sunday mornings, creating a 3-service schedule in 2 different formats. It worked. The contemporary service has grown like crazy, filling our 500-ish seat auditorium every week…… lots and lots of 20-something-ish people attending….. really talented musicians coming out of the wood work. A dream come true. However, it didn’t work. The attendance shifts created by this transition have, over 12 months, nearly killed our kids’ ministry team. The goals they have for kids’ Sunday School are not at all attainable because of our worship service schedule.

So, change is a comin’.

This is not something they teach you in worship leader school. Not that I went to worship leader school. But if I had gone to worship leader school, I cannot imagine Professor Worship Leader Guy leading a discussion about how kids’ Sunday School may someday annihilate the ‘progress’ of your worship ministry. Because worship trumps everything, right?
On the other hand, maybe there would have been discussions like this: what is, exactly, ‘progress’ in worship ministry? Have you ‘progressed’ if you’ve grown in size? Attendance? Diversity of musicians? Is it only ‘progress’ if you’re moving toward being more edgy? And is quality of worship offered best measured by the music you do/people you train/hands raised on the heavy songs? What if ‘progress’ were measured by the extent to which people are willing to put aside personal preferences for the good of the whole organism?

I hope to blog my way through the transition we’re facing. All of us–myself included–will face fears about losing something incredibly important to us in order to serve each other and our community more effectively. Loss = gain. We’ll see how that math works out.