Praise bands and production-quality light shows are now standard in many Loudoun churches, but a vocal contingent insists that abandoning the hymnal strips worship of theological depth. Is contemporary style evangelistic wisdom or a compromise of corporate worship's purpose?
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Add your commentFun fact that nobody here seems to know: hymns WERE the contemporary worship music of their day. Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns and the established Anglican church thought they were too emotional and populist. So the next time someone tells me contemporary worship is historically unprecedented compromise, I will simply smile and say nothing because arguing on the internet is pointless but I'll be right.
As someone who spent 15 years on worship teams in Loudoun County let me be very clear: the problem was never hymns vs. contemporary. The problem is churches chasing growth metrics instead of asking what faithful worship actually looks like. I have seen BOTH hymn-only churches and full-production contemporary churches that were spiritually hollow. Style is a surface question. Who are you worshiping and why is the actual question. Anyone who tells you the sound board or the hymnal is the issue has not been paying attention.
Born and raised in Ashburn before it was a data center suburb. My grandparents helped build the hymnal tradition at our little church off Claiborne Pkwy, and watching the pastors rip out the pew hymnals in 2019 to put up fog machines felt like a funeral. Did we gain young tech workers? Sure. Did we lose the Sternhold-Hopkins theological backbone that shaped three generations of our family's faith? Also yes. Not everything old is dead. Sometimes it's just unfashionable.
The light shows are where I draw my personal line. I visited a church near One Loudoun last spring and I genuinely could not tell if I was at a worship service or a Zedd concert. The music itself was fine, theologically thin but fine. But when the lighting rig started doing strobes during the bridge of the last song I had to step outside. That's not reverence, that's entertainment dressed up in a cross.
I work in cybersecurity in Reston and drive out to Ashburn for church. My team is full of brilliant people who would never set foot in a church that felt culturally alien to them. But here's my honest pushback on the contemporary side: I've sat through five years of praise bands and I can barely remember a single theological concept that was communicated through the lyrics. I could hum you every verse of A Mighty Fortress right now. Depth matters. Production value alone does not disciple anyone.
Hard disagree with the entire framing of this question. You don't DROP anything. You blend. My church does How Great Thou Art followed by Hillsong and somehow the roof hasn't caved in. The either/or thinking is exhausting and honestly a little pharisaical.
Moved here from Seattle 18 months ago for an AWS role and honestly the first thing I did was Google churches. Contemporary worship was a big factor in where I landed. I'm not saying hymns are bad, I genuinely don't know most of them, but if a church wants people like me to walk through the door, meeting us where we are isn't compromise, it's just communication.
ok so genuine question for the pro-hymn crowd here — if a 27 year old software engineer from Chennai who just got his green card walks into your church and you're singing It Is Well With My Soul with a pipe organ, do you think he's coming back? be honest
my pastor literally told us last sunday that we added a hymn back into the rotation and three deacons complained. THREE. about one hymn. in a 75 minute service. i dont even have a point im just tired
Okay somebody please correct me but I'm pretty sure the Bible specifically commands hymn singing in Colossians 3:16, which means dropping hymns is literally unbiblical. Case closed, no?
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