Tired of the “same old stuff” in church worship? Do you have a hard time connecting with God in most mainstream worship services? If so, you are not alone. Like many people, your distaste for “organized religion” is probably not an indicator that you have lost interest in God or spirituality. Instead, it demonstrates that the current shape of organized religion fails to offer you a true opportunity to connect with God. And, quite frankly, speaking as one who has devoted his life to full-time ministry, I can think of nothing worse that could be said of organized religion! If the church can’t help you connect with God, then it has lost its very reason to exist.

Thankfully, there is a new movement on the horizon – “alternative worship.” Alternative worship is a label given to a new and fresh expression of worship that is rooted in the rich and fertile heritage of the Christian faith (a heritage that is often ignored by modern Christians). Alternative worship affirms ancient spiritual practices from the full breadth of Christian expression – Catholic, Orthodox, and Protestant – and frames them within a contemporary setting. Alternative worship embraces the fullness of human experience –intellect, affections, volition, imagination, and all the senses. It does not look with suspicion on our shared humanity, but assumes that the fullness of divine worship can only be realized with the full spectrum of human expression.

In short, alternative worship is anything but mainstream. It views modern worship expressions as myopic in scope and thus, reductionistic in practice. Reducing divine worship to music, or even worse, simply to an act of the intellect, is dangerous and dehumanizing. It does not do justice to the rich diversity of available worship options or of the fullness of our humanity. Indeed, one of the first steps to grasping the heart of alternative worship is to understand that divine worship is “more than music” and “more than words.”

Three Aspects of Alternative Worship

Three things characterize alternative worship and distinguish it from mainstream worship.

Alternative Worship is Ancient/Future. Contrary to many modern Christian expressions (particularly in the evangelical and free church traditions), alternative worship does not hold ancient traditions and rituals in suspicion. Alternative worship understands that spirituality – in order to be authentic – must be embodied in forms and rituals. It embraces the full scope of ancient spiritual practices and reframes them in a fresh way for our contemporary context. In this way, alternative worship honors both the old and new – it is ancient/future.

One advocate of alternative worship calls this “faithful improvisation” – “the intentioned, informed reframing of tradition” in a contemporary setting. The connection with history protects it from faddishness; the contemporary expression keeps it from dead ritualism; the desire for holistic engagement preserves it from heartless religion.

Alternative Worship is Holistic. Alternative worship does not reject any aspect of our shared humanity. Contrary to popular conception (and this, mostly due to Christian misrepresentation), authentic Christian spirituality is only realized when we are fully and truly human. In order to experience this, we must embrace all aspects our humanity. Alternative worship, as a wholly human expression, proposes that the Christian life is more than mind. It affirms and embraces the imagination and intuition, along with the intellect. It incorporates all the senses – sight, sound, taste, touch, and smell. It includes practices that involve the body – gestures and postures.

Alternative worship stands in marked contrast to what most Christians (especially of the evangelical persuasion) have inherited, that is, a Christianity that is deeply suspicious of tradition, ritual, and embodied worship of any type. This is evidenced in a large majority of evangelical churches where the climax of worship is to experience God in close-eyed praise choruses (where God is confined to the mind – ephemeral, disembodied, unable to be touched, out there somewhere). In contrast to this modern suspicion, the full heritage of the Christian faith possesses a rich history of sacred art, icons, incense, stations, gestures, postures, smells, sounds, and tastes. Indeed, from its inception, the Christian faith has celebrated simple, material things such as the water of baptism and the bread and wine of the Eucharist, and enthusiastically affirmed that God can be known in and through these things. 

Alternative Worship is Culturally Engaged.  Alternative worship does not reject contemporary culture. It recognizes that Christians are called to be missional people – people committed to being a bridge from the divine to the world by sharing the love and blessing of God to others in the spirit of Jesus. This cannot be done without authentic engagement with the world. Alternative worship affirms that God is truly present in all cultures – including our own. Thus, it is characterized by a profound engagement with popular culture born out of the conviction that God is sovereignly present in all of life – and not simply the so-called “religious” parts.

Alternative worship is blowing the dust off the rich treasures of ancient Christian spirituality and offering them anew to the contemporary world in fresh and exciting ways. Though it has its inception in youth and twenty- and thirty-something culture, it is clearly not simply an option for the young. It is a refreshing reformation and renewal of worship that is rooted in the past with a desire to connect in the present. It is “living tradition” at its finest – ancient faith for a modern/postmodern world.

© Richard J. Vincent, 2005