Daniel Renstrom is a good friend of mine and one my fellow elders at First Baptist Church of Durham. Daniel’s primary responsibility at FBCD is serving as our worship pastor. He is an experienced worship leader and Bible teacher who has ministered in a variety of contexts, including local churches, collegiate ministries and conferences. Daniel has also released a number of worship albums, most recently “Jesus Wants My Heart,” which is intended for family worship and teaching the gospel to children through music (pictured on the left). You can check out all of his albums on iTunes.
Today, Daniel has written a short essay for theTGC Worship blog at The Gospel Coalition. His post, titled “Multi-Generational Worship,” is a helpful discussion of what ought to unite congregations when they gather together for corporate worship. (Hint: it’s not music preferences.) I especially like the following illustration:
I don’t think anyone has ever gone into a country club and said in amazement, “How did all these people find each other…this is amazing!” No one ever wonders what brings country-clubbers together. It is obviously their wealth, their love for refined leisure and their desire to play golf or tennis. So it’s actually not that amazing at all that they’re together. I’m afraid you could walk into many of our churches and make similar observations. This is the old people church with the organ and hymnbook. This is the young people church where people wear skinny jeans and the music is loud. It’s just easier to divide that way.
It is indeed “just easier to divide that way,” and many churches have done just that. And I agree with Daniel that this sort of division is a scandal in the body of Christ that does not reflect the gospel we all profess to treasure. I hope you will read his entire post.