I am often asked to define contemporary worship. My response usually revolved around the musical definition. I never considered the full scope of what was really being asked. Although contemporary means many things to many people, let’s focus on its true meaning. It merely means “occurring in the modern” or “of the day.”
Defining Contemporary Worship
It can be a difficult thing to call worship contemporary. The true translation makes it too unclear. For the past 50 years worship was “contemporary.” It was the way people all over the world had done it…for the most part. Ideally, worship cannot be categorized as traditional, contemporary or blended. Worship is worship. It hasn’t changed since man was created. We can argue over the elements and the ways in which we worship, differentiate the outward expressions of our worship, and even label our churches to better clarify the freedoms permitted in worship. To use the terms as definitions for our corporate worship styles is misleading and incorrect.
The only things that have changed in our corporate worship are the tools we use to help facilitate it. Sadly, until 15-plus years ago, the church had not been modern in its use of music in the church. We held too tightly to the styles, presentation and other elements of our music. At the expense of losing millions of young people to the world, we failed to become contemporary in our look and in our presentation. We have, in a sense, left them behind at the risk of becoming relevant to their desires and needs.
