When asked to address the issue of “church styles,” I was not surprised or fearful. I have had a myriad of experiences that have stretched, prodded and nurtured my worship experiences for more than 30 years. I have enjoyed them all.

My youth pastor days included inner-city churches with semi-liturgical and traditional styles of worship. My pastoral days included a wonderfully wide gamut of styles: A rural church in Meade County with a traditional style; a county-seat church in Winchester with a traditional/slightly blended style; a historic church in downtown Nashville, Tenn., with a traditional, slightly liturgical style; a new church plant with seekers’ services styled with praise and worship music; and finally, a neighborhood church in Northern Kentucky where we had three different services, classic (traditional), café (video-driven contemporary music in a gym setting) and contemporary (seeker sensitive with praise and worship music).

I do not think it is an intellectual leap to say the style of a church is most often characterized by the style of its worship, which in turn is highly influenced by the style of music. With that in mind, I want to address the issue of church styles.

Generally speaking, five “worship styles” have been identified in Southern Baptist Convention church life: liturgical, traditional, blended, praise and worship, and seeker services. While none of these are inherently better than another, they all say something about the history, vision and purpose of how and why each church seeks to connect with God in worship.

With that said, I would like to wrestle with what I consider to be the “fear factors” inherent in every worship style.

First, I would say that quality is the kill factor. If any of the aforementioned styles are planned and executed poorly, outside of a miracle of God (and they do happen), the potential for authentic, God-honoring worship likely will be “killed.” Let me ask you: How many times have you been in a worship service and the quality of every element was so poor that if you had possessed a “kill switch,” you would have gladly hit it? No matter the style, quality must be at the top of planning, leading and experiencing worship.

Second, I would say that relevance is the real factor. When churches ask themselves what style they should choose, perhaps a better question concerns relevance. “Can we use our style of worship and be relevant?” Again, I would say this is possible with each of the styles, but not without a clear, concise and carefully thought-out plan to breathe relevance into each element of the service. People must leave our churches with practical ideas about living their faith in the real world.

Finally, I would say that participation is the seal factor. I suspect the move from choirs to praise teams was, in part, due to the need to help folks not simply watch worship as a performance, but grasp it as willing participants. However, the performance designation can be just as valid for the praise team as the choir. With video technology to assist, there is really no good reason to leave the congregation outside the pool of worship’s deep reservoir of powerful, personal participation.

How are you and your church doing with these “fear factors?” Let me encourage you to be fearless in dealing appropriately and redemptively with each of them. The stakes (worshipping God) are high and the rewards (experiencing life-changing worship) are overwhelming.

Dan Francis is interim pastor of Harrodsburg Baptist Church