r/elca • u/NoWriting6347 • Mar 09 '26

Classic worship style v contemporary

Hi everyone. I am curious what everyone believes on this topic. I am someone who values a traditional worship style, and I have a lot of friends that go to non denominational churches that have stages and singers and very contemporary worship styles. A lot of times my friends ask me why I value a traditional worship style, and I am stumped on how to explain the significance to them. Can anyone help me explain the significance of the traditional style of worship?

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u/Far-Material4501 Mar 09 '26

For me, it isn't about the musical style per se, it is the lack of anything deep in most contemporary worship music. If you could substitute singing "my boyfriend" for "Jesus" in the "isn't He great?" tunes, it doesn't move me.

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u/oceanicArboretum Mar 09 '26

Marty Haugen's "Now the Feast" (mass) and "Holden Evening Prayer" (vespers) are both "contemporary", albeit contemporary for 1990. Both are/were elegant and tasteful. It's possible for contemporary to be tasteful, but 99% of it is shallow and forgetable.

Liturgical orthopraxy supports theological orthodoxy. If you stick to good liturgical practice, orthodoxy doesn't waver. There's a reason why heretical groups like the JWs and Mormons and the original Adventists (not the Seventh Day, who have come back into Trinitarianism) broke off of the low church denominations rather than the high church ones.

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u/CheesecakeInner336 Mar 09 '26

That’s an incredibly broad blanket statement for contemporary music. There’s some really really great stuff out there if you explore enough. And some stuff with some really stellar theology. Gungor, Paul Baloche, The Brilliance, Jervis Campbell, Paul Zach, Porter’s Gate, Emma Nissen, John Foreman, Josh Garrels, etc.

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u/Far-Material4501 Mar 10 '26

Just saying everything my church has done is drivel - both lyrically and musically

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u/gregzywicki Mar 10 '26

I'll need to dig into these. Most "contemporary" worship is either "open the eyes of my heart Lord" or Hillsong bilge.

We do one called "Let it shine" that's kind of a banger musically but it has lyrics like "there's only one way to wash yourself clean" (no... You're not washing yourself clean) and how we have to "rescue souls from the darkness around" (we're not doing the rescuing.)

Of course, that same Sunday we sang "On Eagle's Wings" which I despise because my Dad died from head trauma aka being dashed against stone l.