Gordon McDonald, who turns seventy this year has written a great book with the full title of,Who Stole My Church?: What to Do When the Church You Love Tries to Enter the 21st Century.
This book follows the conversations in a fictional church in which Gordon and his wife Gail represent the only "real" people in the story. Forming a "Discovery Group" these church members address some of the issues facing a church as it tries to move into the contemporary world in which we live today.
I'm not sure who else could have written this book. Gordon, as a respected pastor, and slightly older gentlemen, is in a wonderful position to be able to address the concerns of an older generation in a way in which a younger person would be unable to. The characters in the story are well written and don't serve simply as straw figures for Gordon to make his point. Indeed Gordon deals thoughtfully and carefully with the full range of personalities that can be found in the church including one who decides to leave.
The underlying approach in the book comes from Everett Rogers work Diffusion of Innovations in which Rogers explains how new ideas are adopted by any given community.
The book emphasizes the importance of open and honest communication between peers and between the generations. Exploring the topic of music in the church you learn that there have been four points in history (maybe more) where battles over church music took place. Isaac Watts, "the Father of English Hymnody," is the first controversial young hymn writer who breaks with tradition in this book. I don't suppose to many of us think of his hymns as rebellious contemporary songs, but in his day, "Joy to the World," When I Survey The Wondrous Cross," "Jesus Shall Reign Where'er The Sun," "O God Our Help in Ages Past" and many other of his works were a far cry from the Psalms only worship of the English church in his day. People were known to refuse to sing these new hymns and some even walked out of worship when they were sung!
Yes, Isaac Watts was the Chris Tomlin, Robin Mark or Matt Redman of his day!
I'll let you read the book to discover the other controversial figures in church muisc. This book is worth reading just for the discussion between the generations on music.
Written from the perspective of a fairly conservative, evangelical, congregational church this book nonetheless has much to offer all in thinking about what it means to be a church that carries out its ministry in the world of today.
While not a stated purpose of the book I left feeling that the most important thing a church can do is come to a real understanding of its tradition. Most congregations have long held traditions but rarely do people stop and ask what the original purpose of something was (the real reason it came to be) and whether it still serves that purpose or if that particular need even exists anymore.
The church cannot live in the past, it cannot live in the future, it can only live today.
