Tuesday, February 17, 2004

Ancient Future Worship

In the January/February issue of Worship Leader, Robert Webber, well-known for his work in thinking about worship in our postmodern culture, described his experience at Mars Hill Bible Church, a megachurch that engages in "Ancient-Future worship." The following is what Webber considers to be the difference between an ancient-future service and a Boomer contemporary service.

"First, it was not a Boomer seeker service. That kind of service is designed not to confront people with truth. The idea is to interest them in faith so they will come back for more or ask questions of friends who are Christian. The new generation has abandoned the "seeker notion." Yes, seekers are there in worship. But instead of hearing "tid-bits" of the Christian faith, they hear the whole thing.

"Consequently, the truth of God's work in Jesus Christ to rescue the world was proclaimed in word, enacted in the Eucharist and sung in the great hymns of the church. The old way was to make worship a show to watch; the new generation way is to immerse the congregation in truth through participation.

"The singing was noticeably different. No choruses sung again and again in endless repetition. Instead, hymns of great depth were sung with deep emotion as people moved forward (no plates sent passively around) to take bread and wine and receive Jesus.

"These changes sound simple, but they are profound. Mars Hill, like many others churches pastored by a new generation of leaders, are paving the way for the recovery of the old! Where are you headed?


As many churches struggle to become "contemporary," being driven by "seekers," I wonder if we aren't simply rushing to join the sidelines with other churches? Are we at a point where we need to rethink completely our worship paradigm? Is it time to actually trust that if we bodly "lift up Jesus," God will draw all people to him? Yes...where are we headed?

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