More than a few of our readers have racked their brains in finding persuasive reasons to help forge a tolerable consensus in worship music choices. Regardless of how one analyses the fundamental issues, good Bible-believing, Lord-glorifying Christians can get upset when the familiar is substituted for the new. In part, it is a matter of generational tastes. For the Pastors and Worship Leaders, what reasons have you offered to your congregational attendees to help them accept music choices that they do not care for?

Here's a question that no one has been able to answer to my satisfaction. We are commanded in 2 Corinthians 6:17 to "...Wherefore come out from among them, and be ye separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean thing..." We are also told to "Love not the world, neither the things that are in the world..." It is a fact that in the past 30+ years, the beat of Christian music is sounding more and more like the music of the world. All you have to do is listen to a lot of today's music to know that is a fact.

So here is my question, and I would like to hear from anyone who is interested in this topic. Why is it that we think we need to make Christian music sound like worldly music in order to reach today's generation? A simple look at the numbers of young people who are leaving the church will tell us that this philosophy is not working.

Jesus reached people because He was different. He did not reach them because he looked like them, talked like them, dressed like them, or listened to their style of music. He was different in every way. As Christians we should strive to follow His example, not the example of those who wish to be "relevant."

Please hear me when I say that your question only addresses a part--maybe even a small part--of a much larger issue. I am in my fifties with five kids who each have been helpful in me understanding both awful (and very worldly music) as well as amazingly (God honoring, very creatively) composed music. My older church friends cannot tolerate even what I believe to be well-composed tunes with insightful lyrics. They have said many times that if we return to the older hymns that the youth would welcome their generation's music. In response, I can only appreciate their thoughts but know--through the ears of my kids--their connectedness with the new.

I read an interesting article on the Colson Center website by Dr. Glen Sunshine on the Image of God, Creativity and Worldview where he spoke of the area of worship. It is a place of common ground in talking about the worship wars, and I place a link here for quick reference
www.colsoncenter.org/the-center/columns/...f-god-and-creativity
Please let me know what you think.

I am one who encourages my kids to own this world through affecting the greater culture in every area of life for the glory of God, including adding creativity. How this addresses worship is by encouraging the older generation to welcome something new. At least on occasion.

Thank God for all the creativity that He has inspired throughout history, specifically, on this point, in worship music.
Think of the psalms.
Admittedly, the earliest example that I can vaguely remember from the patristic period was a heretic.
Consider later Church history. Whatever provoked Martin Luther to write 'A Mighty Fortress is our God' to the tune of a beer-drinking song? Or Charles Wesley to employ contemporary dance music in worship? Or the Salvation Army to format evangelistic meetings in a music hall style?
During the 1920's the Times' (of London) religion correspondent complained about the contemporary music used in the evangelistic meetings of George Jeffreys, citing Rag- time as oneobjectionably worldly style. Jeffreys founded a church in Carlisle, UK in 1926.In short. 2,000 conversions were recorded in about 8 weeks and a church of 1200 was founded.
We were created in the image of God, which implies creativity in Christians. We should honour that creativity in every generation, bewaring both nostalgia and trendism.

Your examples of music from a prior era makes the point of creativity. I did not know that Martin Luther's "A Mighty Fortress . . . " was set to a beer drinking tune. The tune itself seems--to me--to be reverent while to a younger generation it seems melancholy. Do you know why Luther would choose such a tune? Was he desiring to connect with a secular mindset. This doesn't sound like the Luther I know.

We will be introducing to our readers Mark Sooy in two weeks. I will email him your comment as he teaches at a Christian college in Grand Rapids MI and has written essays on Luther as well as The Life of Worship. Maybe he can offer his perspective on your thoughs.

Although a popular argument for using contemporary music is Luther's use of "bar tunes," the actual historical precedent may not be as solid as some think. The best quote I've found on this is from Charles P. St-Onge in a paper he wrote at Concordia Seminary:

"But the controversy surrounding Luther’s use of both ‘religious’ and ‘secular’ folk music may well be beside the point. As observed earlier, the line in Medieval Germany between the sacred and the secular is, musically speaking, difficult to draw. A tune used to accompany a story about St. Anne may, the next night, be used to tell the news of the Emperor’s death, and then to describe the value of a good mistress. One historian of the period writes, “All types of [folk] music were monophonic…composed of four to eight lines of poetry, and based on simple musical structures such as the German Bar form (AAB).” Here is where the popular notion of Luther use of 'bar music' comes in. Luther did indeed use popular ‘bar’ music. What this means, however, is that Luther used a very common compositional technique in setting his hymns to music. It does not mean that Luther necessarily raided the taverns of Wittenberg for ‘secular’ tunes for his church. Rather, Luther wrote his hymns following an A-A-B ‘bar’ form. Such a form consists of a melodic system that repeats twice, followed by a unique and unrepeated melodic system."
stonge.intheway.org/documents/Music%20Wo...p%20and%20Luther.pdf

We must think more clearly about music as music (apart from the lyrics). An earlier response suggested that the use of a particular style of music could be considered "worldly" and that we must be "completely different" than the world. This commenter also suggested that Jesus was "different in every way," however this betrays a misunderstanding of how Jesus, in fact, acted the part of a Rabbi -- he had disciples, taught them in the accepted forums, and in well-know forms of teaching. His message was beyond what they had heard previously, but His methods were strikingly familiar to His listeners.

I would prefer that we think through the issue of music (as an art form) from a Biblical Worldview. Suggesting that a style becomes "Christian" just because the words have a Christian meaning is not enough. There is more to it, and this is something we must ponder and consider.
Mark Sooy