Saturday, June 20, 2015

Shredding Churchiness

In the previous posting “Freedom of Style”, we talked about the “Three E’s” where we explored the Biblical imperative for the church to structure its services so that God is exalted, the believer is edified, or built up, and the seeker is evangelized. I concluded this article by asking what worship music might look like if it conforms to this mandate.

It’s relatively easy to establish music that exalts the Lord. Such music should be Biblically sound, should give Him glory, highlighting who He is and what He has done.  I see this as being primarily a focus on lyrical content, although some styles of music can distract one from God.

Choosing a worship style that edifies the believer is not necessarily any more difficult, except where such a strategy conflicts with the goal of the third E of evangelization. I would suggest that the third E of evangelism is potentially the most controversial, causing a lot of headaches for worship leaders.
As stated in “Freedom of Style”, I believe that God has given us the freedom to use any style as worship music. However, this freedom of style does not mean that we are free from practical considerations.

Drawing from a pool of styles that should all exalt the Lord and edify the believer, we now ask which styles are best suited to allowing us to evangelize the seeker? Which styles are seeker-sensitive? Which styles give the seeker the least amount of distractions from the Gospel? Which present the least amount of speed bumps, and pave the smoothest path to a relationship with the living God?
To think of it in another way, if a seeker were to walk in on a Sunday morning in the middle of a worship service, how can we better ensure that if they ARE offended, that they will most likely be offended by the truth of the Gospel, instead of by an irrelevant or irreverent music style?

Given the fact that popular music is mass marketed, it is easy to determine which musical styles both seekers and believers should be able to relate to. One doesn’t even have to consult marketing surveys (although they can be helpful). Marketing trends are easily seen in pop culture. Just do a scan on your FM radio dial. What styles of music dominate? And out of those styles, which can be used to serve the three E’s?

You will most likely not hear classical pipe organ music with vocals during that FM scan. You will unfortunately find classical orchestra music relegated to non-profit radio stations because of their lack of popularity. It is unlikely that you will find music that sounds like Christian Southern Gospel on secular stations. You will find that the popular musical landscape is dominated by guitars, drums and bass, with the guitar usually being central.  And of course vocal music is vastly more popular than instrumental.

The FM radio scan helps us identify what I call “churchy” music. I define churchy as the things that the church uses to unnecessarily distinguish itself from the world. This can even go so far as to be legalism when taken to an extreme.

“You have let go of the commands of God and are holding on to the traditions of men." - Mark 7:8
While there’s nothing wrong with more traditional styles of worship music, such music is foreign to most seeker’s minds, especially the unchurched seeker.  What instruments dominate the cultural landscape? What kind of vocal styles are most popular? What sounds are considered modern and what sounds are dated?

The driving force behind these questions is the church’s freedom, given by God to adopt the culture’s styles so long as the truth of God’s word is never compromised. After all, if one wants to catch fish, you have to use the right bait.

Paul did this:
19Though I am free and belong to no man, I make myself a slave to everyone, to win as many as possible. 20To the Jews I became like a Jew, to win the Jews. To those under the law I became like one under the law (though I myself am not under the law), so as to win those under the law. 21To those not having the law I became like one not having the law (though I am not free from God's law but am under Christ's law), so as to win those not having the law. 22To the weak I became weak, to win the weak. I have become all things to all men so that by all possible means I might save some. 23I do all this for the sake of the gospel, that I may share in its blessings. I Corinthians 9:19-23

Even with this in mind, I do believe that it is good for the church to sing hymns and do traditional music in order to remember where we have come from and to keep a historical perspective. I also see traditional music as bridging generation gaps that can otherwise occur.  In my opinion, all of these considerations serve the E of edification, without significantly hindering evangelization. And in many cases, these elements will even help to serve evangelization.

And by the criteria of the FM radio scan litmus test, one will also never hear choirs or even praise teams singing vocal lines. The use of choirs and praise teams may be limited to church culture, however because I defined churchy as that which the church unnecessarily distinguishes itself from the world, I wouldn’t call this a churchy characteristic.  The very reason for the church is to enjoy the presence of God (worship) in the fellowship of believers (community).

Although the sound of worship team vocalists, or choirs might not be a sound heard on FM radio, the practice of using praise teams and choirs reinforces the Biblical imperative that the church should be a functioning, fellowshipping community. Furthermore, it is very unlikely that a seeker is going to be deterred by this distinction.

Now how do we handle the believer who feels left behind by the whole approach outlined thus far? Galatians 5 indicates that the fruit of the spirit is evident by the fact that we believers should not be driven by selfish desires. We are challenged to be a living sacrifice for God, always esteeming others higher than ourselves (Philippians 2:3).

As a worship leader, I don’t want ANY believer to have to suffer through the worship styles that I might be tasked to lead. However, good ministry has been said to “comfort the afflicted and afflict the comfortable”. If we believers can’t worship God through the “suffering” of worship styles that we might not like (and I include myself under all the standards that I am laying down in this series of articles), how can we possibly worship God as Job did in the midst of much, much greater suffering?

 ”Woe to you when all men speak well of you, for that is how their fathers treated the false prophets.” – Luke 6:26

If following Christ inevitably leads to displeasing some people, which is preferable? Would it be better to please some immature believers in our congregations and hinder advancing God’s kingdom? Or is it best to allow these immature believers to either suffer the growth pains necessary to blossom into maturity, even at the risk of them leaving our fellowships, thus saving our fellowships from being “infected” with their influence so that the kingdom of God can advance?

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