The terms traditional and contemporary can be as elusive and confusing as the people who use them.  They are loaded terms which more often than not emphasize preference over content.  Terms must always be defined by those who use them, and in the place they are being used.  Experience may be helpful in avoiding future mistakes, but they are often vague memories.  This is to say, our experiences are not ultimate conclusions.  They may be good experiences or bad ones, but they are not “the gospel truth”.  You have heard others say over and over, “at my last church we used to do it this way”.  The fact of the matter is people change and so do churches and their contexts over the years. The following is an excerpt from the website of Christ Presbyterian Church in Nashville, TN (The Music City) about their services:  “You will experience a blended worship style with one common goal to worship the Lord “in spirit and in truth” (John 4:23).  Worship services combine our rich musical heritage of traditional hymns, contemporary praise choruses, classical music and multi-cultural styles. We believe that the young ears need to experience the richness of hymnody and reformed theology in our liturgies and readings, and the older ears need to experience the freshness and relevancy of contemporary offerings.”  

I think this is a helpful description of what we are seeking to do at Christ Covenant in Hernando.  But keep in mind, the Nashville church has been in existence since 1981, almost 30 years, and they are still seeking to understand and define their worship of God through music or style. To put this in perspective for you, we have been worshipping a whopping one year and six months. As I have shared before, and regularly emphasize about this church plant, soon to become a planted church, music will NOT define this church, nor will the personality of the preacher. Christ Pres. of  Nashville has a similar desire in worship, “The style of our corporate worship is not of emphasis or importance.  Of primary importance is that we worship God 'in spirit and in truth' (John 4:23).”  We have had some leave our church and its worship because they believe we are not worshipping God "in spirit and in truth", emphasizing truth.  This is often a response of many who want a worship style that is traditional.  And what is often meant by this are Hymns only, accompanied with piano, and or an organ as the only instrumentation in a service. Some of these traditional preferences would also be in favor of a full choir and its immediate development to be a “true church”.  I would argue that these preference do not define spirit or the truth concerning the worship of God.  If a worship service is Christ centered it will always be sober minded and celebratory.  Why else would Paul write in Colossians, "Let  the word of Christ dwell in you richly, teaching and admonishing one another in all wisdom, singing psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, with thankfulness in your hearts to God."