We started a poll a couple months back asking, “In general, how should worship music relate to culture?” Here are the results, which show % of total voters, not votes, since you could choose more than one answer. (That’s why it adds up to more than 100%)
- 34% – Counter-cultural in some ways
- 29% – Uni-cultural in some ways
- 16% – Counter-cultural in every way
- 12% – Subcultural in some ways
- 9% – Uni-cultural in every way
I agree complete with the top 2 choices, in some ways our worship music has to be counter-cultural and in some ways should be uni-cultural. The subcultural choice is difficult and perhaps many voted without reading the kick-off post which defined subcultural as being “unconcerned with the dominant culture it finds itself in.” I’m going to give those voters the benefit of the doubt, but I think most of the church that defines itself as having a “contemporary worship service” fits into this bucket.
What frightens me is that almost 16% of people who voted think that our worship music should be counter-cultural in every way. I’ll explore what that really means and why I think that’s a bad perspective. When we say “every way” here’s what that means to me:
- Spiritually – spirit residing in the musicians, spirit communicated and proclaimed in songs, doctrine believed and communicated and spirit in the congregation
- Stylistically – what our worship music sounds like, instruments used, production, songwriting, etc…
- Usage – The how, when and why music is played and sung.
Spiritually we must be counter-cultural
Our hearts our regenerated and now desiring to see the name of Jesus glorified. Our music should be born of that spirit, no longer seeking to glorify ourselves or our sin. What we sing in our sings should be counter-cultural, the message of the cross is foolishness in the world. And lastly the congregation, those listening and joining in song should be counter-cultural from crowds in the world. Those seeking comfort, peace, excitement, joy, transformation of some kind in the music and performance. Our worship better not be that kind of idolatry, we better be counter-cultural and using music as a unifying tool and biblical expression of our worship of Jesus, not as any mediatory avenue.
Stylistically uni-cultural with innovation
I’m a firm believer in contextualization in musical style. There is no point in human history that reached a perfected musical form that is moral and the rest now immoral. Obviously 16% of the people on this site disagreed with me, they view that anything the secular world uses in music stylistically is bad and should be rejected. I would argue that a style or musical instrument or tool carries no intrinsic morality, but that it is amoral and could be used for God or idols.
Contextualizing our style and being uni-cultural with innovation means we assess our culture, see what musical style is grabbing the worship of the lost and redeem that style, innovate and point people to Christ in it. The result is a church that has some relevance to it’s community and culture but is distinctly counter cultural in spirit and message. Why should our worship music style be a barrier to entry in our culture?
The innovation aspect is important here because we don’t want to just copy secular music. One aspect of secular culture that the church should just receive is innovation. Remaining relevant while innovating is no simple task, but there’s an attitude of progression and experimentation that needs to be present in our music. Find boundaries and press them creatively. Acoustic guitars and piano are not the only means to unify a body of Christ, you can be musically innovative and not leave behind your congregation.
Usage should be counter-cultural
The lost, and to be honest a lot of the church as well, use music in many idolatrous ways. Here are a few:
- Comfort – We let songs minister to us to make us feel better, music becomes our priest instead of Jesus.
- Motivation and Inspiration – Not only do we use music to motivate and inspire us but then often times the object of our motivation and inspiration is music in itself, meaning music has become not just the means to an end, but the means and the end.
- Healing – Not just Marvin’s sexual healing, but we use music to heal our hearts, minds and bodies.
- Confession – Here again music can become not just the mode of confession but the object that receives our confession.
I’m going to go deeper into the points above on a follow up post, so I will explain and give examples of all those soon. Many churches are sub-cultural in their usage by ignoring all of these points which leads to ignorance and inability to address the music culture. In many cases the church ends up in the same sin the world is with our worship music.
The church should be counter-cultural so we address the points and make sure we let God redeem this, change and mold our hearts so that Jesus is our only comforter, motivator and inspiration. Jesus is our healer and hearer of our confession and profession.
If you voted and would like to talk more about your vote or if you disagree with me, please leave a comment and let’s hammer this out.