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A perfect start to Christmas?

 
Tim Thornborough | Dec. 16, 2011

The snow had started falling and the setting was perfect. What better way to start Christmas?

I was waiting at Sheffield station to catch a train to London late last night, quietly drinking a cup of coffee, when a rich heavenly sound filled my ears. Not just any tinny choir of children, but the Sheffield Philharmonic choir echoing round the atrium at the shiny new station forecourt. The voices were well balanced - strong tenors and basses giving glorious counterpoint to the pitch perfect sopranos and contraltos. Under the echoing roof with surprising good acoustics, the total effect was simply stunning. Having been to and taken part in hundreds of carol concerts, you could forgive me for being blasé about such things.

But the words of praise caught me up: Veiled in Flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Born as man, with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel…' . I shed a tear (yes! me!) and prayed a prayer of gratitude over my steaming tea cup...

But then another, more disturbing, observation. While there were a few who stood, listened and applauded appreciatively, there were many who did not. Most of the 20- and 30-somethings walked past without registering any interest at all. Some openly mocked and laughed, while others had faces twisted in distain. Why?

It may just be that this traditional music is not to the taste of this hip-hop and indie-band soaked generation, or perhaps it was just an inconvenience on their commute home. It may be that, like the Grinch, their hearts are just several sizes too small. Or it may be that this age range is more hostile to the God dimension of Christmas than others. Without stopping them to ask, we'll never know. But there may be some disturbing implication for the future of our Christmas outreach here.

Christmas is perhaps, our biggest opportunity for Gospel-telling we have. People come in their droves to church at Christmas, and we look with gratitude over church buildings filled to the rafters. But who is this traditional package not reaching? It is probably touching the over 50s who are sentimental for the the experiences of their youth. It may have many younger children who are brought along. But our gratitude to God for the size of the crowd may be blinding us to our failure to engage with a whole generation of more cynical people, who are actively turned off by Victorian choral music.

As you run, we hope, packed Christmas Carol service events over the next two weeks, just cast an eye over the congregation. How many in their 20s and 30s are present?

And then ask the question: Is there an alternative Christmas event with a different kind of music that will reach them?

3 Comments

moira

10:33 AM EST on February 1st
not necessarily different music as my experience is that even young people want the familiar carols. I shut off myself when I listen to 'perfect' choirs performing after lots of rehearsals. I need to be involved in what is happening and not just a spectator, I suspect others do to. until we engage in a non rehearsed, less than perfect way with those we want to reach and let them see Gods love in us by our actions, the shops and tinsel will win.

Anne-Marie

10:33 AM EST on February 1st
I'm not sure I entirely agree with the idea of using a different kind of Christmas music to engage with the 20s and 30s. Speaking as a 24 year old with a pretty even mix of Christian and non-Christian friends also in this age group, I've found it's a complete nightmare where churches try to 'be cool', because lots of the time it coincides with the Gospel message being watered down!

Let me explain... Most of my non-Christian friends have never voluntarily attended a church service - if you ask them what you find at a church service, most of them will respond with something like ; "they'll an old guy in a frock saying I need to behave better or I'm doomed", or some neo-Catholic explanation that it'll cleanse them so they can go out and do what they want again until their next visit.

None of my non-believing friends have ever stated that they won't go to church because the music is somehow outdated. However, most of them do complain when I have modern worship music such as Tim Hughes or Matt Redman on in the car because they don't share the beliefs it proclaims. To them it sounds 'cringeworthy'; an attempt by Christians to 'be cool'. Ask me and my Christian friends our opinion and we'll state it's a way to be reminded of God through a genre of music we enjoy, without automatically singing along to lyrics that are sinful.

Last year, I invited a friend to our carol service and she commented that the music actually moved her emotionally because it wasn't the same sort of pop/indie/rock genre that we hear every day. The more traditional style also reflects the church's heritage and asks as a familiar comfort for newcomers - not everything is different. The problem comes when the more traditional language is not explained. To use the line that moved you to tears... "Veiled in Flesh the Godhead see, hail the incarnate deity. Born as man, with man to dwell, Jesus our Emmanuel". What does that mean to someone who has no idea of the Gospel? What's it talking about? What does veiled in flesh mean? Who's the Godhead? What's an incarnate deity? Emmanuel, huh?

In reality, my contemporaries have such low expectations of church that the fact there is a guy who is NOT wearing a frock, NOT reading from a book in ye olde hard-to-understand language, and who IS proclaiming a clear, faithful Gospel message in a warm building with a friendly welcome creates the 'alternative Christmas event' that challenges people to think again about their perceptions of church, religion and Jesus himself. Suddenly the words being sung in the carols become fathomable!

That's not to say that modern music can't or shouldn't be used. This year, our music group are performing Carol of the Bells with Gospel lyrics - I'm sure it'll be great. And throughout the year, many evangelical churches successfully used a good mix of old and new songs to worship! What I'm suggesting is that perhaps we shouldn't focus so much on completely changing the style to attract new people in, but why not encourage existing congregations to be inviting friends and family of all ages along in the first place.

Tim Thornborough

10:33 AM EST on February 1st
Thanks for these insightful comments Moira and Anne-Marie. The comment I made about the music not connecting with them was just a guess, as I didn't actually talk to them. All I wanted to do was to raise some caution about being too pleased with ourselves that we have some full carol services over Christmas, and to stimulate some thinking about <b>who is not being reached</b> by the traditional package. We all to some extent default to thinking: "because I like it, everyone must!" Not so.

And I agree that whatever we attempt to do musically, it must be high quality, or risk the cringe factor. Perhaps the sweet spot for us here is Gospel music - which as a strand of contemporary music has a good hearing, and people seem less resistant to having spiritual themes expressed in it, as it is part of the musical tradition in a way that it is not in other modern musical genres.

Tim Thornborough

Tim Thornborough is the founder and Publishing Director of The Good Book Company. He is series editor of Explore Bible-reading notes, the author of The Very Best Bible Stories series, and has contributed to many books published by The Good Book Company and others. Tim is married to Kathy, and they have three adult daughters.