Posted on 02/11/2006 2:10:39 PM PST by LouAvul
Traditional hymns to today's praise music: Churches are changing their tune to suit different tastes.
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Around the region, around the country, more churches are offering a menu of services to accommodate the tastes and styles of worshippers. From traditional to modern, churchgoers can pick the service they want to attend based on the type of music and atmosphere they prefer. It is in part a response to the so-called "worship wars" - disagreements over music that have grown in the past few years - and partly an effort to reach new churchgoers.
"Music has become a very divisive issue in some churches. Some people love the traditional music and don't like the contemporary stuff at all. ... Other people think the hymns are boring," says Terry York, associate professor of Christian ministry and church music at Baylor University and author of "America's Worship Wars" (Hendrickson Publishers, $16.95 paperback, 120 pages).
"One way churches are dealing with it is by offering a menu of worship options."
(Excerpt) Read more at sacbee.com ...
Religion is not a shopping spree. You can't pick and choose.
When the music inhibits the worship, it is a HUGE problem.
Well, that's probably true, but the choice of which sacred music to use in services is pretty open, I'd think. From Gregorian Chant to Christian Rock style music, I don't think there's any particular doctrine involved.
I've always preferred tradional music, but not everyone feels that way. I don't think it really matters, in the long run, though. All church music dates from long after Jesus' time.
We have both traditional and contemporary services and we prefer the traditional because of the songs. The contemporary songs say the same thing over and over and the song director can drag it out as long as he wants. The traditional songs at least tell the story in a way and that is what I prefer my children to learn. JMHO
I don't know, but it just seems weird for you to make that comment on this thread with the tagline, "godless atheist."
It's all about You Lord
Too many will choose a church because of a "style of worship". The result of this is a complete lack of discernment regarding good vs bad doctrine (but they have drums, electric guitars!.etc...).
"Too many will choose a church because of a "style of worship". The result of this is a complete lack of discernment regarding good vs bad doctrine (but they have drums, electric guitars!.etc...)."
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If the doctrine, preaching, etc. are all sound and all else is equal, there is nothing wrong with contemporary music, and everything right.
At one time, ALL music was new and contemporary - I don't recall seeing "Amazing Grace" or "How Great Thou Art" in the Bible. Somebody wrote those songs at some point, and they probably teed off some fuddy-duddies when they did.
Some of the congregations I have visited lately have taken to singing contemporary Christian music such as you might hear on the radio.
These songs are written for performers and are actually quite complicated. There's no way the average churchgoer can keep up.
The formerly traditional churches are trying to jazz up their services in order to compete with the "megachurch" movement. And formerly traditional preachers now seem to be looking for their place in the sun along with the megachurch preachers.
Through all of this, the gospel is lost. It's all about entertainment, not service.
LOL! I just noticed that!
Music is music. It doesn't have to written in the 1800's to be acceptable for a church service.
People need to "wake up" and ask why the majority of younger Americans see no relavence in a church experience.
Jesus sat on a hillside and taught people, he didn't need a building, robes and an offering plate.
I like all church music except the painfully loud or the irritatingly repetitive stuff. What I can't take is the dumbed down sermons. When I go to church and the first thing in the sermon is a clip of American Idol followed by a parallel to Jesus' Sermon on the Mount it just makes me sick.
That depends on where you live. My very traditional church has a huge and very active young population, from high school into the mid-20s professional school students.
If the young see no relevance in church service, it's because that's the world view that has been handed to them and been made acceptable to them.
Wake up? Excuse me but be careful that you are not fixing an imaginary problem. The young people I know can't figure out why they're being led at church by a bunch of "hip" wannabes who really are just embarrassing themselves. The young people are not as impressed with that nonsense as the geniuses who started this trend think they are.
Both reasons why I left my last church. The minister made his untalented son the music director. The son and his high school dropout group can't read music and make no effort to learn. The interminable repetitions are time-fillers since their repertory is limited and they play at ear-splitting levels in an attempt to hide the problems they have staying in tune. The minister's excruciating attempts to be "hip" were what finally drove me away, though.
I feel your pain. I hope your found something better.
I certainly did! Funny thing, I keep running into other people there from my old church.
Anybody consider God's taste in music?
I like good tight doctrine, biblically based with modern praise and worship music.
It could be that a whole lot of churches express no Christian message.
Music makes an incredibly strong spiritual statement.
That statement can be either good or evil.
I'm reminded of a missionary family I knew who went to a primitive people in the upper Amazon. Their son was a long-haired, rebelious, hippy type who played constantly on his guitar and drum set. Then the natives came to his parents one day and asked why their son was trying to call forth the evil spirits.
Their kid's "music" pretty much nullified their missionary message.
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