MUSIC AND WORSHIP
The Emerging Experiences of Baptists
We now conclude this four part series from David Music’s booklet with Contemporary Trends found on page 15. “In the last two decades of the 1900s and the early 2000s radical changes occurred in the worship and music of Baptist churches. The unity of approach that characterized Baptist services and music beginning about the mid-1900s has given way to six basic worship expressions: (1) the liturgical model (which features an orderly dignified service often following the church calendar; (2) the traditional evangelistic format (essentially following the revivalistic pattern of the 1900s; (3) a praise and worship approach typically led by a ‘worship team’ of singers and utilizing praise choruses accompanied by a pop/rock band; (4) the seeker model (directed primarily toward the unbeliever and features little or no congregational singing( (5) the blended style (which seeks to combine two or more of the previously described types; and (6) the emerging church model (a recent development that has been adopted by some Baptists) that may use any or all the features noted above, but emphasizes a more mystical, contemplative style or worship than the didactic, word-centered approach that has often characterized Baptist worship.
Here at New Hope we have tended to follow the liturgical and the revivalistic pattern with a recent effort to sing praise choruses that are contained in The Baptist Hymnal published in 1991. We have also made an effort to sing without hymnals when Ben Collins comes once a month to lead in worship. Lifeway Christian Resources (formerly the Baptist Sunday School Board) published a new Baptist hymnal in 2008 which utilizes more popular music than its predecessor. A new hymnal for Baptists called Celebrating Grace (2010) is also available.
In an effort to make our worship more meaningful, the pastor and I attended Polyphony, 2009, in Atlanta, Georgia last year where we were introduced to Celebrating Grace. Because of budget restraints, we felt that replacing our present hymnal with either of these new hymnals was not something we wish to recommend at this time. Perhaps this is a matter for our Music and Worship Committee to consider as we face a new year.
Dennis Bucher