What It Looks Like to Truly Embrace Blended Worship

Is it possible for a church with a history of a traditional music program (choir, organ, hymnals, handbells, and the like) to embrace modern forms of music (bands, vocalists, projected lyrics, and worship teams) without the traditional music dying as a result? Yes, it is possible. That’s what my church, our congregation, our choir, our instrumentalists and I have been pursuing for years. We’ve been pursuing a model of worship called called “convergence.” Maybe you call it blended worship. Read More

My former parish pioneered convergence, or blended, worship during the 1980s and 1990s. We were not the first so we built on the experiences of other churches. We blended the older hymns and songs with the newer ones. We were a new church plant which enabled us to implement this approach to worship more easily than in an existing church. Along with our warm, friendly congregation, our eclectic blend of worship music was at the top of the list of reasons that newcomers said that they were attracted to our church. A resource that we found insightful in planning worship music that would release all generations into praise was Betty Pulkingham's Sing God a Simple Song: Exploring Music in Worship for the Eighties, available online in PDF format for free download.  The principles that Betty Pulkingham articulates in her book are applicable today as they were in the 1980s. We have a lot more music in various styles--contemporary, folks, global, traditional, to name a few, to use in our worship gatherings now than in the 1980s. Music groups have also explored the use of other music instruments--string, woodwinds, percussion, bagpipes--beside the guitar, bass guitar, and drum kit of the praise band that the Praise and Worship Movement popularized in evangelical and charismatic churches in the 1990s. The Caribbean gospel acclamation, "Halle, Halle, Halle," sung to the beat of the djembe, box, or conga drum, for example, is a simple but effective way to greet Christ present in the gospel at a celebration of the Holy Eucharist, an acclamation in which all generations can join in singing. For the liturgical church convergence, or blended, worship brings together all the riches of the music of the Church from the past, from the present, and from around the world.