Music: A Follow-Up

It's always fascinating (and yes, sometimes frustrating) how God works. Just a couple days after I wrote the last post, I had a discussion with an older member of a church here in Portland about music.

The conversation began with a comment about how a church he had visited recently had music that was a little "too over-done." When asked what he meant, he launched into an explanation that took 10 minutes to wait through. In this discussion, he was all over the map from how "rock music appeals to our lower, carnal nature," to "that kind of music is all about making the person feel good and not about worshiping God."

At the next opportunity, I asked the question that I'm sure is burning in your minds right now: "Are we supposed to not feel good when we praise and worship God?" A simple question that sent him spinning around in circles that was at times difficult to follow. The gist of what I understood was that while we should feel good about worshiping our Creator, it should be done so in a respectful and appropriate way.

So, here we come back to the generational disconnect. While I was able to start getting him thinking along the lines of "this is my opinion," and "it's just not for me," and "I shouldn't judge," it's still discouraging to see someone who cannot appreciate the fact that people are reached that would never be reached by traditional-style churches.

This is where the conversation took an interesting turn. In his response to my question, he veered into a whole new direction. He mentioned that our churches (it's a denominational church that he belongs to) need to get more focused on evangelism and that by doing so we will become more effective. While I agree with this philosophy, the traditional evangelism model is in serious need of re-vamping...but I digress. He went on to mention that these "feel-good" churches did not encourage people to grow and thus were not effective.

That's when I stopped him and told him I knew of a small church in Vancouver that was non-denominational, had a regular average attendance of around 120 people every week, and baptized 13 people last year alone! And this church already has a world-wide influence by supporting a variety of mission and outreach projects in Russia and Africa...and it's less than four years old! The particular church that we were standing in while we were having this discussion had less than 5 baptisms in the last calendar year? I could be off on that number, but that's all I remember. And that's a church with over 1100 on the books as members...so tell me, which church is being more effective? Oh, before you answer, let's keep in mind that at least 8 out of 10 people who attend this Vancouver church have no history of going to church. Makes you think, doesn't it?

Ok, so, here are my thoughts: we need to get outside of our normal way of thinking, which is an "us-them" attitude and start looking for ways to work together, and not focus so much on what makes us different. We might be Methodist, Lutheran, Presbyterian, Adventist, etc., but we all hold true to the same tenets of Christianity, don't we? And isn't winning a soul for God the same, regardless of which "brand" of Christianity you ascribe to? Why can't we mirror the heavenly realms when a person is baptized and rejoice for that person? Baptism should elicit a response worthy of a touchdown, or a home run; after all, it's one more person saved from the clutches of Satan! But we let tradition, status quo, rules and regulations, and so many other man-made things get into the way that the joy is squeezed out of the event. Oh, sure, we'll applaud and smile, and welcome the person to the "family," but some of the churches I've been in are nothing more than people going through the motions.

Worship, praise, and church in general should be fun, engaging, thought-provoking, challenging, intimate, and lots more...but it should never become routine or dull. After all, look at the world around us-could this have possibly been created by someone who is boring?!?!?!??

All we're asking for is mutual respect for viable music and worship styles that bring glory to the God of Heaven and Earth by utilizing the talents bestowed by God himself to offer him praise and adoration with our own unique style. Isn't that worthy of respect and acceptance?

What do you think? Frankly, I'd be surprised if you read this far! Post your comments-I'd love to hear back on this one!

Oh, and I'm still waiting to get a reply back Mr. Adams regarding the article he wrote in the "Adventist World" magazine about "The Shack." I will post his response for all of you as soon as that comes in.