Does anyone else feel that worship music is a point of contention in American churches? Some of you who attend contemporary churches might not feel it but in many American churches there is a division about what style of music and worship is fit for corporate worship.

On one side, you have the hymn lovers. These church goers are usually older and from “the greatest generation.” Most of the people in this crowd usually only go to a church if they sing straight from a hymnal.

On the other side you have the contemporary music crowd. This group is often filled with young adults and teenagers who feel that the old hymns are rigid, boring, and constricting.

What I wish to do is reconcile these two forms of worship.

The Problem

Although each group has somewhat of a disdain for the other, the hymn group often has more of a distaste for contemporary music than the contemporary group does of hymns. This might be my personal experience talking but I think this is true in most instances.

Psychologically, this makes sense. Members of this generation were raised on hymns from a very young age. They sang them every Sunday, memorized them, and learned to love and adore them. And now, from their perspective, my generation thinks they have this new wonderful way of worship that is completely different from how they were taught. It is important to understand their perspective. If you worshiped to one style of music for your entire life I bet it would be hard for you to change too.

However, the problem doesn't lie in the fact that it is hard for hymn lovers to enjoy contemporary music, or vice versa. The problem lies in thinking that either way of worship is somehow unbiblical or sinful.

I know some older members of my church who refuse to sing contemporary songs. Seriously, one minute they’ll be singing a hymn, the next minute they will have their head down refusing to sing a contemporary song (we have a “mixed” service). On the flip side, I know some students at Grove City College who refuse to go to a service that has traditional worship.

What is the deal with this? Is one type of worship biblical and the other sinful?

Let’s take a journey.

Let’s transcend the little bubble that is America and go somewhere else. I don’t know, Uganda.

A couple from our church have a great heart for the country of Uganda. They helped start and currently manage CEED, a ministry focused on creating income-generating projects for Ugandans. Part of what they do is provide stoves to the Ugandans which help them cook their food quickly and in a clean environment.

When the CEED missionaries gave a stove to coffee farmers in Uganda they were overjoyed. Very quickly, an impromptu celebration started to occur. Below is some video they shot of that event. These Ugandans aren't praising and putting on a show for our missionaries, they are praising and thanking God for providing for them.

I’m not going to lie to you, this doesn't look anything like traditional hymn singing or contemporary worship. This is something completely different.

So, if hymns are the only “right” or “biblical” form of worship, are they sinning too? Is this another wrong way to worship? I don’t mean to spoil the ending for you but, no, it’s not.

A Better View of Worship

Last year I took a class known as “CivArts” with Dr. Munson. Although I was originally unsure about taking a class about art and music (I actually didn't have a choice, it’s a gen-ed), it turned out to be a life changing class. Dr. Munson changed my perspective on so many topics and left me with a yearning to better understand beauty and how it fits into the Christian life.

Beauty, as defined by Dr. Munson, is “the forms through which we recognize the nature and ways of God.” Of course, one of the forms through which we recognize the nature and ways of God is worship music.

The following is an excerpt from a book Dr. Munson co-authored with Dr. Drake, another Grove City College professor.

In the Christian view, beauty is endlessly diverse because it manifests an infinite glory. Moreover, everybody’s approach to this endless diversity is different, because God endows each with a unique constitution and background. It’s only to be expected — and, indeed, it’s good — that we have different preferences. The reason individuals and cultures differ in their notions of beauty is not that its essences is up for grabs but that no finite (not to mention fallen) mind can comprehend it in its fullness. This historic Christian understanding of beauty acknowledges not just that beauty is bigger that we — infinitely bigger than we — so we all see different aspects of it. And, as we do so, more of God’s glory is beheld than if we all saw the same things.

Hymns, contemporary music, and Ugandan dances can all show us different aspects of God’s glory. Do you really think fallen, finite individuals like ourselves can fully explore and experience God’s glory through one kind of worship? Of course we can’t!

Different kinds of people and different cultures help us see God’s glory in different ways. For this reason, we should be seeking out other forms of worship, not trying to isolate ourselves from one another.

Hymn lovers should be seeking out contemporary worship music. They should come with open hearts and ask God to show them His glory in a new way through a new style of music. On the flip side, those who are fond of contemporary music should do the same!

Thinking this way unites us as a Christian body. No longer are Ugandan dances a weird form of worship that I never want to associate with but rather a form through which I can see God’s glory but have not yet appreciated.

For this reason, I encourage you to seek out new ways of worshiping God. You might just find that it enables you to see God’s infinite glory in ways that you haven’t experienced before and unite you to Christians who you otherwise wouldn't know.