WORSHIP MUSIC: Is this a hill to die on?

Tim Challies of Challies.Com has a couple of posts up which are an interesting read but which left me sort of wondering, "So?" Maybe it's just me?

I had forgotten what a difficult and even contentious issue it is within the church. I guess, at least to some extent, it has always been this way. The issue of music brings out both the best and the worst in Christians.

In Mr. Storms and Mr. Taylor, I Respectfully Disagree Tim seems to be arguing with himself. At one point seemingly in favor of contemporary music and then at the next he's not.

A couple of years ago I spent some time reflecting on the question of "What is Christian music?" What is it that makes one song Christian and another mainstream? What makes an artist Christian while another is mainstream? What makes one song suitable as an expression of love to God and another unsuitable?

Later, he comes back to his original proposition ...

So again I ask, what constitutes a Christian song? Though certainly not an exhaustive list, here are some options. Perhaps a Christian song is:

• A song written by a Christian. This speaks of the songs's authorship.
• A song written to be a Christian song. This speaks of the motive of the song's author.
• A song sung as a Christian song. This speaks of the motives of the individuals singing the song.
• A song with explicitly or obviously Christian lyrics. This speaks of the song's content.

Does any one of these, taken alone, provide a definition of Christian music? I don't think so, as each of them seems to have an obvious flaw. What we find is that no song can truly be said to be Christian.

In the end I had hoped he'd develop more thoroughly the following ...

At the time I first began to reflect on this issue the American Music Awards had just been handed out. This organization distributes awards based on genres. They give out awards for rap music, jazz, pop, heavy metal and other categories. Each of these forms its own musical genre. Though the lines dividing the genres may not be perfectly clear, there is usually little doubt as to what constitutes a jazz album versus what constitutes a blues album.

But then there is the award for Christian music (or, as they call it, Contemporary Inspirational Music). This one is not awarded based on a style of music, but on lyrical content, or further, on the beliefs of the artist. Is it not strange that Christian music forms the sole exception to the rule? Is it not strange that in a system divided by genre, a hard rock Christian album can be considered in the same category as an adult contemporary album?

Closing his post, Tim decides a seven-part test proffered by "Elmer Towns and Ed Stetzer in their book Perimeters of Light" is the best standard for what Christian music is and is not.

I get very uneasy when we begin to scrutinize our service to God with paradigms, templates, and tests. Don't paradigms, templates and tests fence out the Holy Spirit and fence in the church?

Things appear slightly better defined in his second post ... From the Frying Pan Into the Fire

Repeating the opening quote ...

Until yesterday it had been quite a while since I had written about worship. I had forgotten what a difficult and even contentious issue it is within the church. I guess, at least to some extent, it has always been this way.

Tim seems to again struggle with himself over this issue. In all fairness to him, you need to read both posts to get the drift of his analysis; I can't do them justice in the time I have to post.

Challies is an excellent writer and an audience-tested thinker, but his philosophy of church music left me wondering what brought this on; I left feeling like I do after I've watched one of those movies with no ending.

TAGS: Challies, Christianity, Christianity Today,
Ecclesiology, Music, Religion