May 10
2
Lutheran Church and Contemporary Worship
As I grew up in a Lutheran environment, our services were repetitive and very traditional. Now that was a “few” years ago of course. In April my wife Terri and I visited her sisters church. Her sister was playing keyboard for a Contemporary Lutheran Worship Service. I must admit that my expectations were that they would have a fairly quiet and not real energetic service. This is based on a few main line denominational churches we have done business with over the last several years and I know is a “generalization”. However, I was pleasantly surprised.
The service, while still somewhat structured, had a very contemporary feel, sound and look. The worship songs were played energetically. The volume was at a good and reasonable level so that you could feel the power of the songs when needed. The technical crew had a good mix. Songs were projected well on a very large motorized screen. The Pastor was somewhat casually dressed and did not remain behind the pulpit when speaking.
Improvements could be made fairly easily to further enhance the worship experience (I took a few notes as usual). But for most medium sized churches, this was a very great start, especially for a main line denomination. I want to contact the technical leader there and ask him how they got to where they are at and also give him and the other crew members some words of encouragement.
The most important observation I made however was that the attendance for this service was very good and it consisted of many young families (you could here the babies/toddlers throughout the whole service). Bringing the Gospel to young families, youth, and children is so important. Many mainline denominations struggle with the younger generations. A contemporary service, done right as this Lutheran church is doing, does accomplish the mission of bringing the Gospel message to these younger generations.
And that is what the sound/media ministry is all about!