When I was young, there was nothing worse for a church than to be \u201ctraditional\u201d\u009d. We stripped back the liturgy, swapped the organ for a drum-kit, and replaced the hymnals with Hillsong. We unceremoniously dumped the icons, architecture and rituals that had fed the church for hundreds of years. We were desperate to present a cool, socially acceptable, \u201crelevant\u201d\u009d package for modern culture.<\/p>\n
Today, something unexpected is happening. There is a small but distinct movement of young people abandoning the smoke machines, multi-purpose buildings and celebrity pastors of recent church models, and heading back towards traditional worship services, where sacraments are central, buildings are beautiful, and the liturgy has a historic rootedness about it. Gracey Olmstead, Rachel Held Evans, Aaron Niequist, Ben Irwin and Erik Parker have written illuminating articles about why young people are embracing \u201cun-cool\u201d\u009d church and becoming \u201cliturgy nerds\u201d\u009d.<\/p>\n
What is going on?<\/p>\n