Resolving the Worship Wars of Generation Z

So is Gen Z at worship traveling back in time or making its home in modernity? I believe that the answer is both at once—and that the primary worship divide in my generation isn’t random, nor is it strictly about theology, denomination, or politics (though it’s related to all of those). The main difference is sex. Zoomers gravitating toward traditional worship are mostly men, while CCM resonates primarily with women.

Young men, according to Simon, are gravitating towards expressions of Christianity that are stable, unchanging, and counter-cultural.  Traditional worship and the historic liturgy capture that.  Young women, though, prefer expressions of Christianity that are more personal, authentic, and intimate.  That’s the version captured in contemporary Christian music.

This is part of a larger “digital divide” between men and women that Simon identifies as a problem in his generation.  He concludes,

Men need more than intellectual stimulation and stoic self-help; they need the historic, embodied faith of orthodox Christianity with all its beauty, challenge, and intimacy. And women, just as much, need grounding in theological depth and tradition, not just vibes, reels, and vague inspiration. But for now, the genders are divided by algorithm.

Right.  But he here acknowledges that “the historic, embodied faith of orthodox Christianity” as expressed in traditional liturgy is full of “beauty, challenge, and intimacy.”

In other words, its appeal is not simply intellectual.  For that, you might go to the bare sanctuaries, rationalistic theologies, and lecture-style sermons of the Young, Restless, and Reformed.

That has certainly been happening.  But, speaking as a convert to confessional Lutheranism, I find our liturgical worship–which is a vehicle for our sacramental and Word-centered spirituality–both intellectually bracing (though more in the category of blowing my mind, rather than reducing the faith to something I can fully understand) and personally engaging and emotionally moving.

I would suggest that this approach to worship can bridge the gap that Simon is worried about.  Indeed, I have found Lutheran women to be some of the most devoted to the  liturgy of the Divine Service.

But let me try to resolve the paradox that Simon notes between Generation Z’s increasing interest in both traditional worship and contemporary Christian music.

When record companies track CCM sales, those are individual purchases.  That is not the same as using CCM in church worship services.

It is quite possible to enjoy listening to CCM artists at home or in the car, while worshipping with the Catholic Latin Mass, the Orthodox Divine Liturgy, the Anglican Book of Common Prayer, or the Lutheran Divine Service on Sunday mornings in church.

I know that many churches of all denominations today do use contemporary Christian music in their contemporary worship services.  But that isn’t a necessary connection.

In 1941, when the Lutheran Hymnal came out, big band music was all the rage, but it never occurred to anyone to expect that the hymns and services used in church should be recast to resemble Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington.  Actually, Duke Ellington did compose some highly original and profoundly devotional music in his series of “Sacred Concerts.”  But these were concerts.  Ellington said that he never intended them as a worship service, though churches sometimes hosted the concerts.

There are countless musical styles for all kinds of different occasions.  Music exists for every mood, every emotion, every activity, every thought, every stage of our history, every group of our friends.

So what kinds of music work best for “the historic, embodied faith of orthodox Christianity with all its beauty, challenge, and intimacy”?

I realize that churches have different theologies and different traditions.  Not everyone goes to one of the distinctly liturgical churches.  But every tradition–Baptist, Methodist, Presbyterian, Evangelical, Pentecostal–has its traditional worship, with its treasured hymns and time-honored customs.

One problem with contemporary Christian worship is that it cuts off Christians and their churches from their past.  We value fellowship and unity with the members of our congregation in the here and now.  We should also value fellowship and unity with the members of our congregation and our church body who, as we say, have gone on before us.  We are one with them as well, and singing the songs they sang and worshiping as they did underscores that unity and the timelessness of the eternity that they have entered into, as soon we will too.

Here is my suggestion for resolving worship wars:  Listen to whatever music you want to.  That can include devotional music, songs that touch you uniquely for whatever reason.  I love bluegrass music, and I especially love the bluegrass songs about the Christian faith.

But that doesn’t mean you need to use that style in church.  I don’t want a bluegrass church service and neither did the great bluegrass artists.  Pop music has its place, but that place is not necessarily in church.

Already traditional worship, liturgical or not, will typically include music from the entire history of the church and from the variety of cultures that are part of that history.  That will include music written recently.  But for all of the different musical styles and different lyrical emphases, the hymns will be church music, designed for corporate worship, not a performance but meant to be sung by all, filled with Scriptural truth and fervent devotion.

I know it gets complicated.  I have found that for many evangelical young people, contemporary Christian music is their tradition.  Their parents and even their grandparents grew up with praise bands and even the same praise songs.  That is all they have known.  Introducing them to liturgical worship tends to produce one of two reactions:  Many of them like it because to them it is new.  “It’s different.  I like it.”  Or they respond with the same knee-jerk reaction that we old fogeys have to contemporary worship.  “It’s different.  I don’t like it.”

Feel free to enjoy the particular music of your generation, including its religious music.

But learn the old hymns.  There is a reason they have lasted.  Not all of them do.  Only the ones that speak to the hearts of souls of worshipers in every generation.

This may be exactly what Generation Z Christians are doing.

Photo by Arina Krasnikova: https://www.pexels.com/photo/woman-praying-inside-church-5417917/ via Pexels. (All photos and videos on Pexels are free to use.)