Sadly it's even in the OPC, officers in the church complaining about our pastor not choosing songs with uplifting tunes and that preaching from Ecclesiastes doesn't draw people in. People coming to worship wanting their feelings massaged.
I’m in a small PCA church in northeast Alabama. Our morning service is very traditional, although we do sing some contemporary songs, Gettys, for example, but NO Bethel or Hillsong music. The singing is led by a team of two to four women singers and sometimes there is a guitarist who plays along with the piano. We use the Blue Trinity Hymnbook, although there are a good number of us who wish we used the Trinity Psalter. We have an evening service, too, which is always so good. There are usually about 30 members in attendance, but we have had as few as 12. It doesn’t matter, though, our pastor preaches a full expository sermon just as he does in the morning, and which is usually 40-45 min in length.
This problem is endemic. Charismatic type worship has become the focal point of church as it gives a nice buzz but is woefully short of Biblical worship reflected in the Psalms. Time and money is sucked into elaborate worship teams and then churches cover it with talk of being Bible and Christ focused. And that is my take of on the woeful situation here in the UK. This is likewise in their parachurch gatherings like Keswick. America has it worse maybe with a production style take on so much for it's services, coupled with upbeat well crafted vibes. The makers of this 'worship' craft their brand to appear sound and even Reformed to get maximum credibility but compared to hymns from old they are not that good at all. It baffles me why folks drool over these so called hymns writers who appear to have done very nicely financially from their music. If sung corporate worship can be arguably a distillation of our theology, then this topic is actually important and not some minor 'worship wars'.
Sadly it's even in the OPC, officers in the church complaining about our pastor not choosing songs with uplifting tunes and that preaching from Ecclesiastes doesn't draw people in. People coming to worship wanting their feelings massaged.
I’m in a small PCA church in northeast Alabama. Our morning service is very traditional, although we do sing some contemporary songs, Gettys, for example, but NO Bethel or Hillsong music. The singing is led by a team of two to four women singers and sometimes there is a guitarist who plays along with the piano. We use the Blue Trinity Hymnbook, although there are a good number of us who wish we used the Trinity Psalter. We have an evening service, too, which is always so good. There are usually about 30 members in attendance, but we have had as few as 12. It doesn’t matter, though, our pastor preaches a full expository sermon just as he does in the morning, and which is usually 40-45 min in length.
I forgot to mention in my reply to Ian James that about 5 years ago my pastor preached through the book of Ecclesiastes! It was amazing!!
This problem is endemic. Charismatic type worship has become the focal point of church as it gives a nice buzz but is woefully short of Biblical worship reflected in the Psalms. Time and money is sucked into elaborate worship teams and then churches cover it with talk of being Bible and Christ focused. And that is my take of on the woeful situation here in the UK. This is likewise in their parachurch gatherings like Keswick. America has it worse maybe with a production style take on so much for it's services, coupled with upbeat well crafted vibes. The makers of this 'worship' craft their brand to appear sound and even Reformed to get maximum credibility but compared to hymns from old they are not that good at all. It baffles me why folks drool over these so called hymns writers who appear to have done very nicely financially from their music. If sung corporate worship can be arguably a distillation of our theology, then this topic is actually important and not some minor 'worship wars'.