Why Young Evangelicals are going Liturgical
The reasons for this new wave of sneakers are obvious. They’ve grown up dancing, so they long to kneel. They’ve grown up with masterfully orchestrated services, so they long for worship that may be planned, but never rehearsed. They’ve grown up with the latest, so they long for the oldest. They’ve grown up with, “God is here, let’s celebrate!” They long for “God is here, let’s kneel and be silent.”
They’ve grown up being urged, “Now, everyone can just worship God however you might want. Just let the Holy Spirit move you. We are all different.” So now some are seeking worship where the implied advice is, “Now, everyone leave your hyper-individuality at the door. Let’s say words together. Let’s make gestures together. Stand together. Kneel together. Let’s listen to the wisdom the Holy Spirit has given over the centuries.”
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Our church can’t seem to harbor 10 seconds of quiet during communion! There’s always a song or video going.
I grew up in the Methodist Church (w/ a modest amount of liturgy) but went the Bible Church/non-denom. route after college. It’s where I met my wife, who was Baptist, so it’s always been a good fit for us.
I still enjoy going back to a more traditional church from time to time, especially one with a choir (even the ones that wear robes!) and classical music. And I find the liturgy moving and meaningful. It took growing up and being away from it for years to truly appreciate it.
My wife and I were saved into a non-traditional fellowship group. We called it a prayer group, but it was, in reality, a church. We sometimes visited charismatic churches to experience the large corporate worship.
We also visited liturgical churches off and on to experience the worship. We were surprised to find the Bible-centered quality of it. We didn’t, and still don’t subscribe to their doctrines, per se, but the liturgy was almost all straight scripture.
One interesting thing we noticed was the theological aspect of church architecture. The liturgical churches had the Host up front, at the center of attention. The evangelical and charismatic churches had the lectern and choir loft upfront at the center of attention. We assumed the first was intended to focus our attention on Christ and His atonement of our sin, and the other was intended to focus our attention on our own activities. Thanks for the article.