5 Principles for Twenty-First Century Worship

BIC communities look different and face new challenges in the twenty-first century than they did even a generation ago. Today, BIC churches in the United States are found in rural, suburban, and urban contexts, with members from many cultural backgrounds and languages.

Technological innovation has made available a world of resources and connections that did not exist in previ­ous generations. As BIC, we must think wisely and creatively about how our worship engages the resources around us so that we form men and women of faith and equip one another to be ministers of the gospel wherever we go.

Ultimately, worship is not about the songs we sing or the feelings we experience in worship gatherings. It is instead about practicing something as individuals and as a community that points us to God and reminds us of our calling as follow­ers of Jesus.

1. Finding Shared Identity

The presence of psalms in scripture represents an example of how shared worship resources create a shared identity in a community over time. People that prayed the Psalms were shaped and molded by the prayers as they offered language that helped God’s people express a full range of emotions to God.

Likewise, throughout Christian history, groups of Jesus followers have developed resources that they have shared and that have shaped them in a particular way. Previous generations of the BIC used the hymnal as a unifying worship resource. For example, a BIC church in California in 1930 could expect that BIC brothers and sisters in Ohio would sing similar songs in worship gatherings.¹

If there are no thoughtful BIC frameworks for selecting songs and worship resources, churches risk sharing fewer and fewer things in common. If BIC churches do not share worship resources, what are the things that churches do together that shape people in similar ways?

Likely the worship resources of the past—particularly hymnals—are not adequate to respond to the contemporary reality. This reflection is an invitation for BIC individuals and communities to dedicate creative energies towards sharing worship resources that uniquely reflect BIC core values and that help shape us in similar ways.

2. Connecting with the Global Body of Christ

Worship experiences connect deeply with our emotions, our understanding of God and our cultural contexts. The worship resources—particularly music—present when a person comes to faith in Christ tend to be the resources and styles that they most resonate with throughout their lifetime. In addition, each of us grows up in families or neighborhoods with their unique musical and artistic styles that bring comfort and joy.

This is natural and good—we want people to experience heart-felt communication with God that emerges from our cultural con­texts.² God also makes himself known in every time, place, and culture. So we celebrate the fact that God enters into our own lives and cultural contexts, and that we can communicate to God in styles and expressions that come from our hearts.

At the same time, it is important to remember that God is not only the God of our own cultural subgroup; God is also God of the whole world. Our understanding of God can expand when we embrace worship resources from outside our communities, traditions, and cultures.

Fortunately, technology gives us easy access to learn from Christian brothers and sis­ters—including BIC communities—in different places. Wor­ship experiences are ultimately about us learning to embrace God’s big, global story of redemption. BIC churches can grow in wisdom, maturity, and depth of insight when we commit to expanding our worship horizons and embrace practices that are not our “preferred” style.

3. Extending Hospitality

The practice of Christian worship makes sense for Jesus fol­lowers who want to be shaped by God’s story in Scripture. Christians understand the importance of setting aside regular time to gather around the Bible, to sing and pray together, and to share in community life. These practices remain strange, however, for those who have not yet chosen to follow Jesus.

As the United States increasingly becomes a post-Christian society, where the average citizen attends a religious gathering with less frequency, it is important that we remember how strange a Christian worship gathering may seem to people with little faith background.

The early church regularly received encouragement to prac­tice hospitality as part of their Christian discipleship (1 Tim­othy 5:10; Hebrews 13:2). One component of hospitality is welcoming people into our space and helping them feel a sense of belonging.

When it comes to our times of worship, BIC churches do well to remember that in any given event, a new person might be present who has no idea what is going on or why certain events take place. Practicing hospitality in worship does not mean trying to offer visitors what they want. Rather, hospi­tality means explaining the elements and rationale of worship in simple terms, creating spaces in which people feel welcome, and inviting participation as people feel comfortable.

4. Encouraging Active Participation

God invites every Christian into relationship through a Chris­tian community. Worship events provide opportunities for each person to hear from God and to respond with praise, gratitude, lament, and service. Worship emanates from us collectively as an expression of the community’s commitment to follow Jesus. As such, worship events prove more effective and transforma­tive when the community is invited and expected to participate.

This does not mean that every person must have the same level of participation, or that there is no place for individual elements in worship. Individuals with certain gifts and talents can be invited to share their gifts with the community in ways that encourage the group; for instance, when a soloist sings the Lord’s Prayer, or a poet shares a poem.

We should be cautious, however, of the tendency to treat worship experiences like performances—where one group of people produces worship while another group of people consumes it. This is a particular temptation for churches that expect a certain level of skill or professionalism at a worship event. Professional concert expe­riences with professional musicians can be worship, but they can also quickly become concerts.

Christian discipleship also involves investing in the next generation of Jesus followers, teaching and training them in the story of God’s saving work. Much of this training and teaching happens in the worship services of the gathered com­munity. It is the collective space where we people of all ages gather around God’s Word and recount the stories of who God is and what God has done. Children and youth learn about the habits of faith and worship when they participate with adult believers in the activities of worship.

Recent research confirms what the scripture writers also knew: the most important fac­tors that influence whether children and youth will remain a part of the Christian community are whether the children and youth feel connected to the adults in their faith communities.³ As such, the BIC want to include people at all ages and stages of faith in worship gatherings—from the youngest to the old­est, from the least to the most experienced.

5. Nurturing Skill and Heart

Skill and heart represent two important considerations for BIC worship in the twenty-first century.⁴ Since worship is the community’s engagement with God and God’s story, it creates space for us to hear from God and be transformed as a com­munity. Meaningful worship requires good leadership to help with the planning and execution of the various elements. This is especially true for the musical, technological, and artistic elements of a worship event. To that end, Christian commu­nities need to encourage excellence in skill so that worship events flow smoothly and have integrity and coherence.

God welcomes our skills and talents to benefit the church community, and God is concerned about our hearts (1 Samuel 16:7). We can learn from David on this point, as the psalmist commends him for leading with both skillful hands and integ­rity of heart (Psalm 78:72).

Local BIC leaders should ensure that those tasked with leading the community in worship attend to both skill and heart. It does not mean that those who lead must be perfect. But BIC leaders should exercise caution when inviting only highly-skilled people to lead while over­looking the heart. The lack of attention to the heart can lead to obstacles for the community of believers to truly participate in the worship experience.

Footnotes

1. Since the last half of the nineteenth century, the BIC have compiled and used music resources in hymnal format. The most recent is Hymns for Praise and Worship (Nappanee, IN: Evangel Publishing House, 1984).
2. The teaching and mentoring of Dr. Dwight Thomas contribute to this section.
3. For more, see Kara Powell, Jake Mulder and Brad Griffin, Growing Young: Six Essential Strategies to Help Young People Discover and Love Your Church (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Books, 2016) and Kara Powell and Chap Clark, Sticky Faith: Everyday Ideas to Build Lasting Faith in Your Kids (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 2011).
4. Credit is due to Dr. Doug Curry, Worship Pastor at Messiah University, for calling attention to these important dynamics.

From Compelling Convictions: Finding Our Future in a Modern World (Brethren in Christ Core Values Revisited). © 2024 by General Conference of the Brethren in Christ. Used with permission. This is an excerpt from chapter three, “Worshipping God,” by Alan Claasen Thrush, shortened and formatted for the internet. Purchase a copy to read the full chapter.