Several congregations between Newark and Lyons have swapped hymnbooks for projected lyrics, but longtime members say something sacred is lost when you can't hold the words in your hands. Is contemporary worship an evangelism tool or a compromise of tradition?
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Add your commentI used to attend a congregation between Newark and Lyons that made the switch and I'll be honest — I cried the first Sunday the hymnals were gone. Not because I'm dramatic. Because my late husband and I used to share one. His hands would find page 347 before I even checked the bulletin. "How Great Thou Art." Every single time. When they took the hymnals away it felt like they took one more piece of him. I know that's personal. But so is worship.
Born and raised in Newark, attended First Presbyterian my whole life, and I will tell you flat out: the day they rolled that projector screen in front of the cross was the day I started sitting in the back pew with my arms crossed. It's not about being old-fashioned. It's about the ACT of holding something. My grandmother's hymnal has her handwriting in the margins — dates, names of people she prayed for during specific verses. You cannot marginalize that. A screen gives you nothing to hold onto, literally or spiritually.
Contemporary worship is literally just Hillsong and Elevation recycled every single Sunday. Meanwhile we have 200 years of theological depth sitting in those hymnbooks collecting dust. "Oceans" is a fine song. It is not "A Mighty Fortress Is Our God." These are not equivalent and I will not pretend otherwise.
Fun fact for everyone debating this: Charles Wesley wrote over 6,000 hymns specifically because singing was the PRIMARY way ordinary people memorized theology. The hymnal was itself the contemporary innovation of its day. People said the EXACT same things about hymnals replacing chanted psalms. So before you call the screen a compromise, maybe crack open a church history book.
I want to push back on something here. Someone needs to ask: who exactly is being served by keeping the hymnal? Because I volunteered with our outreach ministry along Route 88 corridor and I can tell you the families we're trying to reach don't have a nostalgic attachment to a book format. They have attachment to music that feels alive. Evangelism isn't about our comfort. It never was.
My church in Lyons tried the hybrid approach — kept the hymnals in the pews but projected lyrics too. Know what happened? Half the congregation stared at their laps at the hymnals and half stared up at the screen and nobody was looking at each other or at the Lord. Worst of both worlds. You gotta pick a lane.
ok so i just moved here from Rochester about eight months ago and honestly the contemporary setup at the church off Miller Street is the reason i actually kept coming back. i grew up thinking church was boring and stuffy. seeing the words big and clear while a real band plays — that got me. im 26. im IN the pew. isnt that the whole point
Screens are actually better for accessibility and anyone who says otherwise hasnt tried holding a hymnal with arthritis in both hands at 7am on a cold February morning in Wayne County. Just saying.
This is gonna be an unpopular opinion but the real issue is that contemporary worship screens let worship leaders change songs on the fly without any congregational input, whereas the hymnal selection had to go through the worship committee months in advance. That accountability structure actually mattered theologically. Also I'm pretty sure the original King James Bible was written specifically to be used WITH a hymnal, so they were always meant to go together.
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