As a worship leader myself, I believe my approach to blending hymns and contemporary worship songs goes along with your ideal. I use a standard arrangement most of the time, and keep things pretty much the same verse to verse. I don’t always separate hymns and contemporary songs into their own segments, however. Sometimes they flow together nicely. When I am preparing music for church, I make a list of all the possible choices for that week and then sing them to myself to see which ones flow together and make “sense.”

The only point I will challenge in your post is this: that hymns are somehow more “musical.” They are, as a whole, no more musical than contemporary worship songs (the ones appropriate for worship, anyway.) There are a FEW outstanding hymns…but most of the good ones still only score a “B” in my estimation. Many hymns also have terrible theology. 3/5 of most hymns in the *average* hymnal are unusable. I have been on the hunt for a really good hymnal. I think I found one, but I am waiting for my order to arrive.

As a composer, I find it troubling that anyone would say that new songs for worship are inappropriate. How are our modern songs, written from our hearts and minds (yes, human and fallible) less appropriate than a sermon or a prayer, also coming from a fallible human heart and mind? I know the people who hold these views about music have a high view of Scripture, but they still listen to sermons and read books of prayers.

Currently my view is God inspired Psalms should only be used in the service as nothing else man made is worthy of His praise. I think that once you get into what I call modern hymns, man then choses what they feel is right and appropriate as worship and depart from God Inspired Biblical Principal

I am not saying no to modern hymns in everyday life, just not in the worship service, and would appreciate any Biblical reasoning to show me an alternate to this.

Hello Faith :)

I’m sorry, but this post was more along the lines of personal opinion formed over time through personal experiences and reading various articles and posts, so I don’t have resources to recommend, sorry.

So far as descriptors, it’s largely a matter of opinion, but I might lean towards “traditional church hymn” and “contemporary worship music”. You might try typing each term into the Google search bar and see which results most closely line up with what you are after. Hope that helps! ~Pamela :)

Marci,
Thank you for taking the time to let me know that my post resonated with you. I will admit that I struggled in the writing of it as I have no desire to come across as a know-it-all, but I certainly do have opinions, both as a lover of music and a member of congregations for years. I covered a bit in the post and worried about rambling. I am glad you made it through! ;)