Old? Blended? New?

Oct 29, 2010, 2:42pm

So here is a touchy subject in may churches across North America and beyond. What style is acceptable in church for worship - music? Is it the old and tested hymns? The choruses of the 60's - 80's? The Blended style of bringing the best of the old and blending it the best of the new? Contemporary - all new praise and worship music including new hymns? Beyond that even to include the "louder" styles to reflect the congregation such as using reggae, rap, dance, metal? Or how about the use of non-Christian music in services by bands such as U2 to draw in the unchurched? Music has been such a hot issue over the years in many churches. Do we use drums? Organs? Electric guitars? Orchestral instruments such as flutes, trumpets, trombones, tubas, and percussion instruments rather than a drum kit? Issues such as these have divided churches much the embarrassment of the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. People who are not believers see this and decide to not want anything to do with church because we can't behave ourselves - shaming the name of Christ.

My personal thought is to blend everything. What do I mean when I say that? I mean, use the old hymns and old instruments when called for, use the choruses of the 60's - 80's when called for, use drums kits, electric guitars, keyboards, pianos, trumpets, flutes, tubas, and so on when called for. Use the new worship music and new hymns, and use the harder styles that reflect those in the congregation who enjoy it. Let's not be afraid to use a rap song, a reggae song, a metal song, and more once in a while to show we can be relevant to ALL walks of life. When you look in the Psalms - worship was anything but tame, it was wild and exciting! David told us to use anything to praise the Lord, he told us to dance with all our might before the Lord - I don't think in our underwear would be appropriate though before the congregation. The point is musical worship is not confined to our boxes, and niether is God. God made music, Lucifer messed it up, and now we need to reclaim all music for the Lord - all styles, all instruments, and all ways to praise our Lord. The point of worship is to worship in Spirit and in truth. To let out hearts and minds work together in our praise of God. New songs help inspire - in Revelation it talks about when we get to heaven we will sing a new song. So even in eternity new songs will be written. Probably new ways to do it too will be done that we haven't thought about. God is the God of creativity. Our job in our worship services is to be creative in leading people to a place to worship God. We need to be sensitive to everyone in the congregation - young and old alike. Every style should be looked at to see how it might fit in. Granted - not everything will work and we need to be ready for that. Trying to sing some of the stuff on 3SN on Life 100.3 on a Sunday morning just isn't going to work - depending again on your church of course.

So all this to say that music worship on a Sunday morning needs to be creative, fresh, respectful, vibrant, flexible, and wild. It needs moments of unbridled, let-it-rip songs, and time for reflective heart moments to lead people to hear what is about to be said, and also to reflect on what has been said. Let's not put the Spirit in a box - but be box-breakers! John 4:23 But the hour is coming, and is now here, when the true worshipers will worship the Father in spirit and truth, for the Father is seeking such people to worship him. God bless!