When you take a believer and add all of his or her life experiences, abilities, gifts, passions, and spiritual maturity, a worship language is born.

Click here for Part 1: DNA - Worship Language

Have you ever wondered why people complain so much about church?  Maybe it’s because they’re just mean.  Or maybe there’s a reason for their opinions.  Worship languages as described above are affected by life experience.  There are 3 different eras represented in most Churches in America – Print, Broadcast, and Digital (Information).  Here are some short overviews of each time period.

Print

From the time of the printing press until around 1950s, print was the main source of communication.  Newspapers & books were items that fueled the information to the masses.  It’s not a coincidence that there was a extreme emphasis on the Word of God, and sanctuaries reflected this by placing the pulpit and Bible as the highest point in the room (with exception to balconies).  People came to hear from/about God thru the preacher because many could not read or did not have seminary degrees for further study.  Main music style was hymns.

Broadcast

When TV was introduced to the world a lot changed.  You could get up-to-date news at 5, 6, 10, and 11 at night instead of waiting until the next morning.  You could get entertainment in your own home (Leave it to Beaver, Everybody Loves Raymond, Late Night Talk Shows).  Meanwhile, churches began re-shaping their sanctuaries (now called Auditoriums, Worship Centers, etc) to be better for television.  A rise in the televangelist began to occur around this time as well (Billy Graham).  The focus became everyone’s view of the service became important.  So unlike the Print Era, the floors of the sanctuaries were slanted in ways for all to be able to see better.  The shape of the room became more of a fan instead of a box.  Because TV was a quicker medium of information than print, there were a lot more music styles during this time than any to this point.  These include:  southern gospel, choir anthems, Contemporary Christian Music (Michael W. Smith, Amy Grant, DC Talk, Audio Adrenalin, Living Christmas Trees (Pageants).  I’m not saying any of these things are bad (most are great), but the emphasis shifted from the Word of God to the show/production value (like a TV broadcast) during this period.

Digital (Information)

The internet created an explosion of information.  You can use Google, Wikipedia, Amazon, Ebay, BibleGateway to find just about anything that you need in literally seconds.  Thousands of years of knowledge at your fingertips just waiting to be read, heard or watched.  People born during this time period don’t care about a “show” in church because they can get the best on Youtube, iPad, Kindle, or laptops.  They can also get the best Biblical teaching in the world on blogs, websites and once again YouTube.  The focus of this era is relationships and authenticity.  This is a great thing, but because of the wealth of information trends tend to be as quick to leave as they arrive.  Tradition is viewed as cold and dead.  It’s about the next thing.  Churches started to look more like Starbucks, Regal Cinemas and Panera than First Baptist down the street. 

An Opportunity to Learn

One thing to note is that it took hundreds of years to change eras from print to broadcast.  It took only 40-50 years from Broadcast to Digital.  All three of these eras are within our churches today.  Don’t blame someone because they were born or lived during one of these time periods.  Instead embrace the differences.  Learn from one another, and why we say things like “when I was your age…”  As worship leaders, we should be able to see our congregations and their needs based on these eras. 

What era are you from?  Put your comments below. 

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