Posted on 09/13/2023 2:57:18 PM PDT by Fiji Hill
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (RNS) — The crowds seen buzzing last week outside the Bridgestone Arena, a regular host to the NCAA basketball tournament and a hometown venue for country music acts, were coming not to take in a game or a concert, but to sing, write and bond over Christian hymns.
The annual Sing! Global conference, held Sept. 4-6, drew some 8,500 Christian worship music leaders and other church musicians, pastors, vendors and hymn composers from as many as 35 countries. (An estimated 80,000 others in 120 countries participate online.) They attend breakout sessions on congregational singing, songwriting and children’s and family ministry. Others address themes such as “Hymns in Hard Places,” evangelism and singing at home. They listen to speakers, live recording sessions and late-night performances.
Most of all they come to sing together — tunes from historic hymnals, from Celtic traditions and new creations — and to share a common love and culture of sacred music.
“I like seeing all different denominations represented, kind of breaking down the walls and seeing the church at large,” said Amy Bauman, from Appleton, Wisconsin. Over the hum of strangers getting acquainted in the lunch line, Bauman said she and her fellow singers had come to be reenergized and have their “flames reignited.”
But there is another story about a battle for American hymnody that has been on display since the Sing! Global conference was founded in 2017 by Keith and Kristyn Getty, a husband-and-wife hymn writing team.
For more than a decade, American worship services have started to leave traditional hymns behind. Instead of historic chestnuts such as “Be Thou My Vision,” whose words date to the sixth century with music from the early 1900s, or “Love Divine, All Loves Excelling,” adapted in the mid-1700s by the Methodist Charles Wesley from a popular opera number of the time, the most popular church music now originates in bands associated with megachurches such as the Bethel Church network in California, Elevation Church in North Carolina, Atlanta’s Passion City Church (“How Great Is Our God”) and the global megachurch Hillsong (“Oceans”).
One recent study found that of the 38 most played songs, 22 were released by one of the four most prominent megachurches. An additional eight songs were released by artists with ties to those churches, and six more were collaborations with megachurch artists or cover songs.
Those who gather in Nashville are in part a bulwark against the takeover by megachurch music, known as “praise and worship” songs. Such hymns are palatably positive, easy for a large crowd to sing along to and focus on a personal, emotional closeness to God. But these features, critics say, come with a theological vagueness and a musical blandness.
“Unfortunately some of the modern music of contemporary Christian music has become almost secularized, or has become popular tunes, but pretty shallow gospel,” said Mark Hosny, assistant professor of music and worship arts at Trevecca Nazarene University. “As believers, there is nothing wrong with upbeat songs. We’ve just got to be sure that what drives that narrative is talking about the gospel of Jesus Christ,” said Hosny.
The Gettys answer this call, according to people who attended their conference.
“I think what sets these types of hymns apart from some of the current trends is that there are very specific, concrete things being said. It is not vague, it is not general,” said Cliff Johnson, a pastor from Hope, Arkansas, who attended the conference last week. “There is a very concrete truth being proclaimed, understood, and felt that you can build your life upon.”
Despite Sing! Global’s popularity, Hosny said he doesn’t expect churches to swing all the way back to the traditional hymnody. But he takes it as a sign of a desire in congregations for a “deeper and richer” theology than what they have been getting.
“and focus on a personal, emotional closeness to God”
Reminds me of the South Park episode where Cartman forms a Christian rock band and just replaces all the romantic references to a love interest from his previous, non-Christian rock band, with “Jesus” in his new song lyrics.
Yep. When comedy is actually just so much like real life it makes you think “Is that mockery, parody, or sacrilege?”
I'm OK with dumping the pipe organs, they had their time but as a musical instrument they're very limited and muddy sounding. Just use a nice piano. On the other hand there is nothing better than a great choirs, no instruments needed.
I love the Getty’s and their contribution to Christian music. There is a musician named Stuart Townend who is affiliated with the Getty’s who wrote the best communion song called Behold the Lamb. We used to sing it when we did communion.
Bkmk
I disagree. I love organ music. However, choirs and singing groups can, indeed, sound great without instrumentation, as demonstrated by the Song Spinners, the Ken Darby Singers, and other vocal groups who managed to make hits in the early 1940’s when the instrumentalists were on strike.
My mother-in-law refers to modern Christian music as 7-11.
Seven words repeated eleven times.
Ping to a couple saints who I suspect are still around.
I call it ‘Jesus is my boyfriend’ music.
“Worship Leaders”. How did churches survive hundred of years without worship leaders? Ridiculous.
My sainted mother said that if you needed to provide entertainment to get people to go to church, their being there didn’t amount to much
I would love to see hymns brought back into the church. And not the adulterated Christ Tomlin versions.
That said, some of the hymns could use a little tweaking of their music.
But I also agree. Get rid of *worship teams*. Just put the words on a screen and do a simply instrumental.
And make them true worship songs. Not feel good *Christian* music. Too many songs sung as *worship* are not about worshipping God, but about us and how we feel.
I differentiate as *Christian music*, and *worship*.
I am a designated “worship leader” at our small community church. I’m 64 years old. Many modern churches have pushed out older people and replaced them with younger musicians who have little to no knowledge of musical history. All they know is what they hear on the radio. I draw from hymns, spirituals, country gospel, bluegrass gospel, as well as from modern and contemporary music. I also write songs when I don’t find any that I like to fit a certain scripture or topic.
My goal is to select songs that reflect and complement the “message” of the day. Also, to have a good time doing it. Old hymns are full of teaching and speak right to the soul. They do not have to be sung as dirges. I personally like to put some “yeehaw” with our “amen” and add a country flavor to a lot of the worship that we do at our church.
So glad there’s a push back. Contemporary music is OK but when but it all tend to sound the same. It’s disappointing when I hear an artist come out with something that grabs my attention because of it’s different. The next album that comes out sounds exactly like the rest of the stuff of CCM. It’s like they get captured and forced into a mold.
One last thing. A few years ago, I spoke to a couple of A&R people who were looking for contemporary songs. One key elements - songs shouldn’t say Jesus too many times, if at all. I kid you not. THAT is the problem right there.
My first introduction to Jesus was when my parents, along with other members of the choir they belonged to gathered in front of a reel-to-reel tape recorder and sang Haldor Lillenas' hymn "Jesus Will Walk With Me" and the old Methodist gospel tune "He Keeps Me Singing" (Jesus, Jesus, Jesus, sweetest name I know). Although those tunes wouldn't fly with those A&R guys you mentioned, they did stimulate my curiosity about Jesus, setting me on the road to becoming a Christian.
My mother is among the singers on the first recording, and I'm pretty sure she's on the second as well.
Those songs are not hymns!
There are modern hymn writers out there who are putting out deep, thoughtful songs that are not in the camp of the 3x3* and Jesus is my boyfriend genre.
*3 stanzas sang 3 times that is 3 inches deep in the depth of their meaning
How about This one?
I've never ben a sinner, I've never sinned.
I've got a friend in Jesus.
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