The crowd around me is wearing jeans and tennis shoes. The audience is starting to get into the music and their hands are in the air. On the stage, a long haired electric guitar player’s Gibson wails and drums thump out a steady and uptempo beat. The lights above are multi colored and strobing in time to the music.

Is this a concert at a local bar or club? No, it’s my Sunday morning church service.

Over the past two or three years I’ve noticed a decided change in tone and setting of many church services. There is a modernization taking place that is long past due and, as far as I’m concerned, completely necessary to compete with the high tech offerings of the world.

High Def video screens on either side of the stage give an equally satisfactory view of what’s happening on the stage from front row to balcony. Digital sound systems blare out the music better than anything you’d hear at a concert. Multi colored lighting displays work in time to the music and mood of the service.

Coffee bars and book shops in the lobby offer a chance to catch up with your social circle before and after service.

Out are the standard announcements by a pastor at the top of the hour and in are pre-taped video packages dubbed “Church News” with graphics and chic editing shown on one of the aforementioned screens.

Human videos are replacing offertory instrumental performances and you’re far more likely to be singing Chris Tomlin or Natalie Grant during a time of praise and worship than Isaac Watts or Fanny Crosby. That doesn’t mean you won’t get a hymn on Sunday morning, but with a slight tempo change and different instrumentation, you’re dealing with a whole new take on classics. Add to that, the recent popularity of modern hymns by Stuart Townend and Keith Getty and this ain’t your grandma’s church service.

The change has been a long time coming and seems to be at its most successful when done slowly and progressively. Most churches haven’t changed overnight and no one denomination seems to have the market cornered on modern worship. In fact, those denominations that have been slow to change have still managed to do so by offering extra services on either a Saturday night or early Sunday morning dubbed “contemporary” services in order to serve those ready to make a more modern approach to worship and at the same time, not offend the more traditional members.

I’ve been fortunate enough to be part of a church who made a decidedly modern change in both their music and message. We have three services (one on Saturday night and two on Sunday morning) and all are identical. Over the past three years the music has gotten more upbeat and the tone of the service has become more casual. Casual in atmosphere, yes, but just as serious in what is experienced and taught. Knowing that the youth and young married families are the future of our church seems to be what prompted the kinds of changes I see happening. Fortunately, the very same committees that initiated the changes have managed to also ensure that those members looking for a continuance of tradition are still being ministered to and served. Change without alienation is essential.

But, is change really essential? What’s wrong with the way church services have been conducted for hundreds of years? The answer seems to be at the same time, nothing at all and everything. Change is an inevitable fact of life. As a society and through the advancement of technology, we have become far more dependent on visual and auditory stimulation to hold our attention. We’re not satisfied with merely hearing music, we want a music video. Movie budgets have almost doubled in the past five years to allow for visual effects. The more flash, the more our minds are stimulated. In essence, that’s what the modern church is competing with. An attention span the size of a pea and a flash, glitz, and glam approach to everything.

So, how does a church balance modernizing and being “in the world” (filling seats and keeping them that way) and not “of the world?” I think each church has to figure that out for itself. But, as long as the message and teaching stay the same, how you get there is more than open to interpretation.