I recently finished the book, Renovation of the Church: What Happens When A Seeker Church Discovers Spiritual Formation, by Carlson and Lueken.  It is a part biographical, part confessional story about a church that moved from being "seeker driven" to become more focused on spiritual formation.  They went from a megachurch to a much smaller one. But they found that they gained quality over quantity.  As a matter of fact, I could resonate well with their staff's feelings of having to sing and dance, so to speak, in order to please the crowd and keep them coming.  In short, they went from a consumer church to more of a contributor church.  They have the scars to prove it as well.  Music style may not have changed as much as the tone of the church overall.  

In my informal conversations with pastors of traditional churches, I have discovered that we all struggle with "performance anxiety" as well.  At the end of the day, we manage to offend and please almost all individuals in the worshipping crowd.  Then again, who ARE we there to please?

I maintain that it is the spirit of the worship, not necessarily the type of songs we sing.  I have felt God's presence deeply while singing "A Mighty Fortress," as well as I felt I was at a rock concert performance while the band cranked out the latest worship tune as heard on "YOUR FAVORITE CHRISTIAN MUSIC STATION!."  Likewise, in a more "worshipful" service, I have felt anything but.  Then again, with a hard rock'n band, I truly felt God's nearness.

My eldest son, going from a megachurch in Dallas with all its bells and whistles to a coffeehouse with a guitarist seated on a stool, said he felt closer to God in the latter setting.

But the order of worship is not up for a democratic decision, just as the sermon topic isn't.  However, a sense of what people will like is an ever nagging presence.  Some us, even in ministry, still struggle with the desire to please our fellow humans.

In closing, I say as I have said for several years:  The pendulum would one day swing. It is now swinging.  The move will be back to a more liturgical form of worship.  It is already happening in the more avant garde churches, particularly in urban areas and on the left coast.  What type of worship will characterize the next generation?

God only knows.