I could see more traditional mainline churches having them, but a lot of newer and nondenominational churches have ditched anything “traditional” to be more seeker friendly.
Our church no longer uses the organ, but that change happened before we made the switch from orchestra & choir to guitar-led band. When our organist left the church, there was no one in the congregation to replace her.
But still, in general, a lot of churches these days feel that a contemporary model is necessary, and that simply isn’t true.
"Necessary" is a really squirrely word. The fact that plenty of churches have traditional music and orchestration doesn't negate the fact that plenty of people want nothing more to do with that music and are, in fact,
turned off by it. It is not culturally a part of who they are.
For the record, I've sung in church choirs and played in church orchestras. I've arranged hymns for choir and still do on occasion. And I also currently play drums in a guitar-led band in church every Sunday. I have a deep appreciation for traditional Christian music and hymnody, and I worry that we've thrown the baby out with the bathwater during the traditional-to-contemporary music shift. But I also understand that music is a very subjective thing that touches us on an emotional level. If worshippers are emotionally disengaged from the music used in their worship, then I believe that's an issue to be addressed. No, I don't believe that a person's religious life is all about emotion, but music specifically has a large emotional aspect that should not be ignored.
I also understand that what we consider "traditional music" was at one time "contemporary music"–centuries ago in Europe. I personally know how to read Gregorian chant notation and enjoy hearing a good
schola cantorum, but it would be silly to expect all churches everywhere to sing
a cappella in parallel fifths in medieval Latin. I think it's similarly silly to expect all churches everywhere to sing four-part organ-led translated European hymns. A missionary in the Congo shouldn't expect Christians there to only use traditional classical Western music in worship, and we likewise shouldn't expect Christians here to do so either.
[/soapbox]
Mormons still use organs. Electric ones.
Naughty boy. Isn't everyone supposed to pretend that Mormons aren't "Mormons" now? Or is there just a widespread but unspoken consensus that it isn't worth the extra ten keystrokes?
I'm currently listening to the Herbert Grönemeyer album
Bleibt Alles Anders on YouTube. Annoyingly, it's a relatively unknown album and I can't find it as a playlist. So, instead, I'm searching for each song track-by-track.