Adelle M. Banks and Angela Abbamonte from ReligionToday.com report on the effects of contemporary worship on church growth:

When a congregation moves from a traditional to a contemporary style of worship, the change can often lead to painful conflict in the pews but also, according to a recent study, higher attendance.

Almost two-thirds — 64 percent — of congregations that switched to contemporary worship in the last five years saw an increase in worship attendance of 2 percent or more, the latest Faith Communities Today survey shows.

David A. Roozen, author of “Faith Communities Today 2008: A First Look,” said the findings on contemporary worship held true regardless of the congregation’s denominational affiliation (or lack of one).

“What it seems to suggest is that if you make the change, you’re going to get an immediate impact, positive impact,” said Roozen, director of the Hartford Institute for Religion Research and professor of religion and society at Hartford Seminary in Connecticut, in an interview.

“And if you …just had been doing the contemporary for a while, you’re still going to be more likely to be growing than more traditional (congregations).”

Roozen’s findings, known as “FACT 2008,” may be reflected in the results of a new list of the nation’s fastest-growing churches. Outreach magazine, in conjunction with Southern Baptist-affiliated LifeWay Research, announced Tuesday (Sept. 15) that the fastest-growing congregation is New Life Church in Conway, Ark.

The church, which features a contemporary worship team and has grown 61 percent to 10,000 members in just one year, is where 2009 American Idol winner Kris Allen served as an assistant worship leader.

Abe Smith, New Life’s associate worship pastor, believes the contemporary music at the church “affects how people see the church as relevant,” and may make them feel more comfortable.

“If they feel like clapping, they can clap,” said Smith. “If they feel like raising their arms, they can raise their arms.”

(Rounding out the top five fastest-growing churches in LifeWay’s survey were Calvary Temple Worship Center in Modesto, Calif.; Cornerstone Church in National City, Calif.; Elevation Church in Charlotte, N.C.; and Faith Church of St. Louis in Fenton, Mo.)

Smith said the contemporary music is sometimes supplemented by modernized hymns as a way to reach people who may have been to church in the past and are now starting to return. The church also uses video screens and lighting to supplement its worship, and recruits church members as singers and instrumentalists for its worship team.

The FACT 2008 study found that more than half — 53 percent — of houses of worship that had already featured contemporary worship more than five years ago and have kept it saw at least 2 percent growth in worship attendance.

That’s compared with just 44 percent of congregations that maintained their traditional worship over five years that were able to report a comparable growth in attendance figures.

Congregations that changed their traditional worship style without adopting contemporary music were the least likely — 41 percent — to see a 2 percent or more growth in worship attendance.

The Faith Communities Today survey is based on an analysis of 2,527 questionnaires from a random sample of congregations that were answered by clergy contacted by mail, phone or e-mail.

The Outreach Magazine/LifeWay Research Special Report is based on contacts with more than 8,000 churches that self-reported their information. Researchers confirmed the statistics by reaching the churches through phone, e-mail, fax and certified letter.

Larry Taunton: When a Christian foundation interviewed college nonbelievers about how and why they left religion, surprising themes emerged.

“Church became all about ceremony, handholding, and kumbaya,” Phil said with a look of disgust. “I missed my old youth pastor. He actually knew the Bible.”

I have known a lot of atheists. The late Christopher Hitchens was a friend with whom I debated, road tripped, and even had a lengthy private Bible study. I have moderated Richard Dawkins and, on occasion, clashed with him. And I have listened for hours to the (often unsettling) arguments of Peter Singer and a whole host of others like him. These men are some of the public faces of the so-called “New Atheism,” and when Christians think about the subject — if they think about it at all — it is this sort of atheist who comes to mind: men whose unbelief is, as Dawkins once proudly put it, “militant.” But Phil, the atheist college student who had come to my office to share his story, was of an altogether different sort.

Phil was in my office as part of a project that began last year. Over the course of my career, I have met many students like Phil. It has been my privilege to address college students all over the world, usually as one defending the Christian worldview. These events typically attract large numbers of atheists. I like that. I find talking to people who disagree with me much more stimulating than those gatherings that feel a bit too much like a political party convention, and the exchanges with these students are mostly thoughtful and respectful. At some point, I like to ask them a sincere question:

What led you to become an atheist?

Given that the New Atheism fashions itself as a movement that is ruthlessly scientific, it should come as no surprise that those answering my question usually attribute the decision to the purely rational and objective: one invokes his understanding of science; another says it was her exploration of the claims of this or that religion; and still others will say that religious beliefs are illogical, and so on. To hear them tell it, the choice was made from a philosophically neutral position that was void of emotion.

“I really can’t consider a Christian a good, moral person if he isn’t trying to convert me.”
Christianity, when it is taken seriously, compels its adherents to engage the world, not retreat from it. There are a multitude of reasons for this mandate, ranging from care for the poor, orphaned, and widowed to offering hope to the hopeless. This means that Christians must be willing to listen to other perspectives while testing their own beliefs against them — above all, as the apostle Peter tells us, “with gentleness and respect.” The non-profit I direct, Fixed Point Foundation, endeavors to bridge the gaps between various factions (both religious and irreligious) as gently and respectfully as possible. Atheists particularly fascinate me. Perhaps it’s because I consider their philosophy — if the absence of belief may be called a philosophy — historically naive and potentially dangerous. Or maybe it’s because they, like any good Christian, take the Big Questions seriously. But it was how they processed those questions that intrigued me.

To gain some insight, we launched a nationwide campaign to interview college students who are members of Secular Student Alliances (SSA) or Freethought Societies (FS). These college groups are the atheist equivalents to Campus Crusade: They meet regularly for fellowship, encourage one another in their (un)belief, and even proselytize. They are people who are not merely irreligious; they are actively, determinedly irreligious.

Using the Fixed Point Foundation website, email, my Twitter, and my Facebook page, we contacted the leaders of these groups and asked if they and their fellow members would participate in our study. To our surprise, we received a flood of enquiries. Students ranging from Stanford University to the University of Alabama-Birmingham, from Northwestern to Portland State volunteered to talk to us. The rules were simple: Tell us your journey to unbelief. It was not our purpose to dispute their stories or to debate the merits of their views. Not then, anyway. We just wanted to listen to what they had to say. And what they had to say startled us.

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The former 4 Him vocalist answers questions about how he does worship ministry:

1. How do you implement new songs? How often do you put in new songs? Is there a process to put in new songs?

We don’t have a specific timeframe for new songs being added. We are always looking for new songs that we feel will connect with our crowd and when we find one, we get it in there for a test drive. As far as a process or implementation we just make sure that the new song “feels” like us. Our current set up of players and singers seems to be a little more adept at playing Hillsong and Jesus Culture styles of music. And we’ve come to that conclusion through much trial and error. Bottom line, we don’t mind trying new styles but we try and limit the awkward moments as much as possible.

2. How do you rotate your band and vocals (volunteers) and keep them motivated and happy? How are you developing new leaders? Recruiting?

We are always looking to add new singers and players so we try and rotate as much as possible. Team members will never get better unless they get up there and do it. I think it shows your church members that you are serious about growing when they continually see new faces up there. Having said that, I believe you need to have as many familiar faces up there every week as possible, too. I am always up there, every service, along with my associate worship leader, my band director/keyboard player, and my lead guitarist. This also helps with continuity musically. You are playing with fire if you don’t have your top players covering the essentials every weekend.

I’ve never really concerned myself with keeping my team members “happy”. I continually cast the vision of our department before them: we will be diverse and always growing. If you are connecting with people and growing as a musician you’ll have a place on the team; otherwise we’ll use you only in a pinch. I’m upfront and honest with all of them, constantly evaluating them. And they deserve as much. As a leader I do them a disservice by not helping them get better and letting them know when they are putting it on auto-pilot, or worse, just punching their spiritual service time card. They are the happiest and most fulfilled when they see the church thriving and reaching the lost. And if they can’t rejoice in that, I release them to find a church that will satisfy their need to sing and play more.

As far as developing new leaders, we have started an intern program here called NEXT. I’ve been able to pour into young leaders daily through this. We’ve also started Church on the Move Creative to help us connect and spend more quality time with those in our church who have specific artistic gifts. It’s a great chance for me and my team to continue to pour into our younger players and singers off the stage.

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Last week I ran an article by David Murrow that has been burning up the Internet. This week, a response from Adam Walker Cleaveland:

Now, let me start off by saying that I’ve certainly sat through services like Murrow did. A primarily traditional church that had a group of individuals who really wanted to pull off something more contemporary and…well, just didn’t quite make it happen. Maybe it was because they were doing “contemporary music” that was contemporary in the 70s, or the technology just failed over and over again…who knows. So I get where he’s coming from to some degree.

And I know that there are young adults and young families who really do connect with a more traditional form of worship, so I’m not trying to say that you have to try to pull off contemporary or modern worship to bring in young people. But it doesn’t take a rocket scientist to realize that the way we’re doing church right now isn’t connecting with a vast majority of 20-40 year olds. And I would argue that a lot of that has to do with our worship services.

So when I hear Murrow say “traditional churches should stick with traditional worship,” what I hear is “traditional churches should stick with traditional worship if they’re content with dying a slow death.”

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Great worship leading tips from Jamie Harvill:

When I set out on my professional music career in 1980, the first thing I learned from my mentors was to connect with the audience. I was taught that the stage is not like a fish bowl, where the audience peers statically at the action happening on stage. The potent energy that flows back and forth from performer to the audience is a very important aspect of the presentation. That is why live performances haven’t been completely obliterated by movies and television; people still desire that back-and-forth, “being there” camaraderie of a live program.

The concept of “entertainment,” in the context of church, is forbidden in certain circles. But as I’ve said before, using musical and dramatic techniques to enhance the art of storytelling can help create a flowing and enjoyable experience–one that allows the audience to lose self-awareness, to the point where they are fully engaged in the action on the the stage. To make sure that I’m not misunderstood, I want to emphasize that delivering the message of Christ and His redemptive power is, by far, the most noble and virtuous use of the stage, cutting-edge technology, and excellence in all genres of performance.

The difference between a great performance and an average or poor performance is essentially the connection with the audience. Jackson made a humorous but accurate observation of a great performer, using Bono, lead singer of U2, as an example. He said Bono is “married” to the audience, when most of us are just “dating” the audience. It takes a great amount of work and skill to create a great performance, and in doing so, we earn the audience’s respect. I’ve personally seen U2 perform live and Bono had that huge indoor sports arena in the palm of his hand!

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Excellent advice from Jamie Brown:

When you’re in ministry, there are going to be times when you say some really stupid things to people in your congregation. In the moment, you’ll either not be thinking clearly, or not thinking at all, and you’ll open your mouth and say something that you should have kept inside. I am really good at this.

Here are some things that you should never say.

“When are you due?”
Unless you have no doubt that the woman you’re speaking to is 100% pregnant, and that the news is public, never ask this question.

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