[Mr. Brightside]

I don't have a problem with the way people worship.

If they prefer hymnals, that's fine. If they prefer the KJV, that's fine. If the women prefer putting their hair up in buns, that's fine.

I just get a little fed up with the people who believe that an 16th century hymnals on an organ are more righteous than a modern song with drums and guitars.

[BnBlFlag]

I don't believe the new music is less rightous than the old. I just happen to prefer the traditional Hynms and organ accomponyment.

[Claud]

I just get a little fed up with the people who believe that an 16th century hymnals on an organ are more righteous than a modern song with drums and guitars.

Not more righteous no, but more appropriate yes. It's not just a matter of different times. There was all kinds of music in the 16th century that was more akin to what rock is today--dancing, exhuberant music with drums and stringed instruments. But that stuff wasn't used in churches back then--because they thought (and rightly I think) that it wasn't appropriate.

Likewise...do you think Christ and the Apostles were using the "popular" music of the time liturgically? Bust out the harps and the cymbals and drums and play the music that was typically heard on the stage or in the theater? No, they were singing psalms, and using chants as old as the hills--probably similarly to the way that Jewish folks continue to chant today.

Can rock n' roll be Godly and devout? Of course! But does it give the kind of sacred, quiet and prayerful atmosphere that belongs in church? Or is it more conducive to jumping around and emotionalism?

[Binghamton_native]

I think this speaks to the issue at hand at Bellevue and many other established churches:

Culture crashing occurs when a pastor (or any other staff member) accepts a position in a church with an established culture, and then tries to radically change the culture. This is primarily seen in efforts to make old churches young, traditional churches contemporary, or worship services "seeker friendly. "The intent to draw sinners, not saints, to God is good but should not be in the expense of an existing culture, unless, of course, the church is dying and in desperate need of some kind of change to become effective again. You have every right to develop any cultural church style you want, provided you start your own church. But when you crash an established church, you seriously violate Christ, ripping the garments of his bride. That's sin. Here's why:

First, it is a moral violation to crash a culture. Missionaries have learned the hard way that their job is to take the gospel into a culture, not change the culture. If ethics demand that foreign cultures remain intact, then the same ethics demand that an established culture in any church be honored.

Second, its egotistical immaturity to tear down a culture just because you didn't help to build it.

Third, it's downright stealing to take a salary under the guise of pastoring a certain culture, then violate and trash it. Your work is to root out sin, not destroy culture. It is ruthless ignorance to pound people with guilt for clinging to a thirty-to-fifty-year pattern of life instead of supporting your desire to dress, sing, and worship differently. You must honor the culture in which they learned to follow the Lord Jesus Christ.

Taken from a book called "Firestorm: Preventing and Overcoming Church Conflicts" [Baker Books, 2005] by Ron Susek with a forward by D. James Kennedy