Should the Church Accommodate Its Worship to the Culture?
Yes… and no. Early this morning, I finished reading John D. Witvliet’s essay, Theological Models for the Relationship between Liturgy and Culture in his excellent collection, Worship Seeking Understanding (Baker, 2003). Heady and academic stuff, as the title demonstrates. But the concepts that he unpacks are important for every pastor and worship leader to encounter and grasp. There are some groups who resist the surrounding culture at all costs. The Orthodox Church, along with certain Anabaptist sects (such as the Amish) are probably the most radical in this regard. But there are other traditional groups who avoid cultural infiltration like it was the plague. On the other side of the spectrum are evangelicals who will do most anything and everything in order to satisfy the god of relevance. Neither pole on the spectrum is to be desired. Cultural influence, or inculturation, in corporate worship is unavoidable and should be, in so...