It might be assumed that if you create new worship experiences then they will dismiss tradition. This happened with the "seeker-sensitive/contemporary" worship movement. There was a strong effort to remove a lot of Christian language and make it easy on the ears for those who might be seeking Christianity as a faith to live into. So contemporary worship, generally, does not have things like creeds or liturgies or litanies or the like. As such when people think of new worship many people think that this new worship will be anti-tradition.
And when you value being efficient over being unique then that may happen.
This is not the case when you value unique over efficient.
The worship services that are truly unique are those who are able to root themselves in the past while introducing something new. Unique worship services are difficult to replicate and in many ways are often "one and done" worship experiences.
If you have ever seen "Glee" then you know what I am talking about. This show takes the words from common songs but puts them to new music and then you can instantly sing along. You can instantly join in a tradition while at the same time that tradition is brought to life in a different way.
And when you value being efficient over being unique then that may happen.
This is not the case when you value unique over efficient.
The worship services that are truly unique are those who are able to root themselves in the past while introducing something new. Unique worship services are difficult to replicate and in many ways are often "one and done" worship experiences.
If you have ever seen "Glee" then you know what I am talking about. This show takes the words from common songs but puts them to new music and then you can instantly sing along. You can instantly join in a tradition while at the same time that tradition is brought to life in a different way.
Take this clip for instance. Notice that they build on the tradition of the song and yet bring it a new breath.
If you like it or not this is not the point. Not everyone likes Glee (I do not), Glee is a community (Gleeks) and the music that is created speaks to the Gleek community. Yet, this community, while creating unique music, it is rooted in a tradition that is much bigger than the community. They do not betray the tradition, rather they take the tradition (in this case a Christmas song) and "Gleek it up" to be an unique expression of that tradition in the Gleek community.
Notice that a worship community does not have to be original to be unique. In fact, it is a bit arrogant to think that you can be original in a world of 7 billion people. Rather, worship that values unique over efficient identifies where their community fits into the larger whole while at the same time striving for uniqueness.
In all the efforts to make worship attractive to people, faith communities across the nation have created tract worship experiences that appeal to a broad audience but are ubiquitous and generic. So back to the original question, "What would worship look like if it were driven by millennials and the creative class?"
It would look unique but not original.
It would be ancient and future.
It would be remix and mash up.
It would be culturally located and not difficult to replicate in other locations.
It would connect with a tribe or community but not everyone who encounters it.
It would be something that I could not wait to participate each week.