Secular Music in churches

I cant believe theyd play ACDC in church. Its some of the most genuinely evil rock music ever. Bon Scott era, that is.

USCGrad90 said:

NewSpring church in our area regularly uses secular music in their services, including covers of Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, and AC/DC songs. I know some of the justification for doing so is based on trying to appeal to non-christians and be relevant to people with those interests. FYI - I personally haven't been to a service - just watched on YouTube and talked with friends who attend.

Click to expand...

What's the point of appealing to the unregenerate, when church is supposed to be for the Body of Christ?

And if you're making it "relevant to people with those interests", then what about people who don't share those interests? Are they not welcome?

And since when is the purpose of church to cater to our interests?

With so many Christian artists out there with quality music that sounds nearly the same - I think the same type of attraction and emotion in their service could be created, while opening up the listeners to a better alternative to all of the questionable songs out there.

Click to expand...

But why resort to entertainment at all? Isn't the point of the local church to gather for corporate preaching and teaching of the Word of God and for corporate worship.

What are the general thoughts on this?

Click to expand...

I'd leave and go find a real church.

USCGrad90 said:

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about classic hymns being rearranged with contemporary music arrangements or the details of how some classic hymns came into being?

Click to expand...

My guess is that he's referring to the urban legend that hymns were adapted from drinking songs.

keith99 said:

Both Jesus and Paul often used examples from outside the Church. I see no reason songs recorded by or written by secular artists should not be used in a church service.

Click to expand...

Two small problems.

The first is that the Church wasn't founded until after Jesus' Earthly ministry.

The second is that while they did use "examples" from outside the Church, they did so only as an illustration, not an attraction to lure the unregerate into the Church.

In fact, in every instance, they did so in the context of evangelism, outside of the Church.

In addition, they did not use profane examples.

Paul instructed us to conduct the church service reverently.

A rather creative preacher could easily take any of several current secular songs and preach on both the bad and good in each of them. Hmm rather like the way most humans are.

Click to expand...

But why? Is the Word of God really not interesting enough?

USCGrad90 said:

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about classic hymns being rearranged with contemporary music arrangements or the details of how some classic hymns came into being?

Isaac Watts (1674-1749) wrote about 600 hymns during his time and was criticized early on beacuse he was going away from the tradition of sing psalms in the church. Watts wrote hymns that departed from the psalms and included more personal expressions. This literary license did not please everyone and some felt his hymns were "too worldly" for the church as they were not based on the Psalms. Yet Watts felt strongly that the Christian church should sing of Christ. To me this is similar to churches that use contemporary Christian music in their service or more modern hymns than the traditional ones written in the 1700-1800s.

What I'm describing here is different. It's not about songs that are written to focus on Christ, it's about using an established secular song - with no reference to Christ - in a worship environment for the purpose of engaging and pumping up the audience, prior to a message delivered by a pastor.

Click to expand...

Sorry, my mistake then.

USCGrad90 said:

I think this was the opening song for their Easter service. Highway to Hell.

Click to expand...

Sin City?

durangodawood said:

Sin City?

Click to expand...

Gram Parsons reference. Nice. I wouldn't have thought anybody here would know who Gram Parsons was.

South Bound said:

Gram Parsons reference. Nice. I wouldn't have thought anybody here would know who Gram Parsons was.

Click to expand...

Sorry. ACDC. Sin City. Evil song!

Paradoxum said:

I don't think there is anything wrong with that if the songs have a good message for church.

Click to expand...

Which AC/DC song does that???

ChangedByHim said:

Which AC/DC song does that???

Click to expand...

I dunno... I'm not fan...

USCGrad90 said:

Not sure what you mean by this. Are you talking about classic hymns being rearranged with contemporary music arrangements or the details of how some classic hymns came into being?

Isaac Watts (1674-1749) wrote about 600 hymns during his time and was criticized early on beacuse he was going away from the tradition of sing psalms in the church. Watts wrote hymns that departed from the psalms and included more personal expressions. This literary license did not please everyone and some felt his hymns were "too worldly" for the church as they were not based on the Psalms. Yet Watts felt strongly that the Christian church should sing of Christ. To me this is similar to churches that use contemporary Christian music in their service or more modern hymns than the traditional ones written in the 1700-1800s.

What I'm describing here is different. It's not about songs that are written to focus on Christ, it's about using an established secular song - with no reference to Christ - in a worship environment for the purpose of engaging and pumping up the audience, prior to a message delivered by a pastor.

Click to expand...

Bolding mine. I honestly had a hard time deciding how much to bold.

If that is all that is done then yes I'd agree. Save there needing to be explicit reference to Christ (refer to others posts about only using Psalms in Church services).

BUT that is an entirely different thing from a secular song that is a lead in to the sermon. In that context a song can be outright attacking the Church and fit quite well! Heck fit extremely well the opening line of the Sermon being 'Why do some see us this way?'

Honestly thinking back most Church services are poor presentations with songs and sermon being selected with little apparent relationship.

I could have been a great preacher, until they burnt me at the stake.

USCGrad90 said:

NewSpring church in our area regularly uses secular music in their services, including covers of Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry, Imagine Dragons, and AC/DC songs. I know some of the justification for doing so is based on trying to appeal to non-christians and be relevant to people with those interests. FYI - I personally haven't been to a service - just watched on YouTube and talked with friends who attend.

My personal view is that by using the secular artist, they foster an interest in that artist's other music - which in most cases has questionable lyrics and viewpoints which are counter to Christian teaching. With so many Christian artists out there with quality music that sounds nearly the same - I think the same type of attraction and emotion in their service could be created, while opening up the listeners to a better alternative to all of the questionable songs out there.

What are the general thoughts on this? Are there other churches out there doing the same thing?

Click to expand...

I'm not outright opposed to the idea. There is a lot of secular music that could be a great worship song.

Mumford and Sons is one band that comes to mind that I've often thought would go great in church. Nada Surf is another that comes to mind. I could see how some songs of Imagine Dragons would be applicable (I believe the lead singer is Christian?).

I think it also depends on how you view the music portion of the church service. It is often termed "worship" meaning most worship songs are about how awesome God is with a lot of focus on happy feelings like joy and love.

I'm a bit of grumpy cynic so all that happiness sometimes gets to me. Mumford and Sons has some great philosophical songs that are a little bit more serious and reflective. If those were played in church it wouldn't be a "worship" setting where we sing about how awesome God is, it would be more of a "reflective" setting where we sing and think. I think a lot of these songs could make great transitions into a sermon topic as well because the songs are by nature quite reflective and questioning things.

"How fickle my heart and how woozy my eyes
I struggle to find any truth in your lies
And now my heart stumbles on things I don't know
My weakness I feel I must finally show

Lend me your hand and we'll conquer them all
But lend me your heart and I'll just let you fall
Lend me your eyes I can change what you see
But your soul you must keep, totally free

Awake my soul
Awake my soul

In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
And where you invest your love, you invest your life
In these bodies we will live, in these bodies we will die
And where you invest your love, you invest your life"

A pastor is immersed in religious topics all week, and thinks it's refreshing to insert something secular. But the parishioners have likely been immersed in secular clutter all week and are looking forward to their haven of peace and sensibility, spirituality and reverence.

It is a shame to deny people of what they came there for, especially when they're hoping to draw nearer to God. If a full song is played, five minutes of a twenty-minute sermon or a 60-minute service has been taken over by a secular voice, triggering secular memories.

We associate music with things we were doing the times we heard the song. At a party... breaking up... the songs pull these memories back up at a time we're trying to distance them.

We want love, money, party?

Psalms 11:4
In the Lord I take refuge...
If the foundations are destroyed, What can the righteous do?"

The Lord is in His holy temple; the Lord 's throne is in heaven; His eyes behold, His eyelids test the sons of men.


Psalms 5:7
But as for me, by Your abundant lovingkindness I will enter Your house, At Your holy temple I will bow in reverence for You.


Habakkuk 2:20
The Lord is in His holy temple. Let all the earth be silent before Him.

parsley said:

We associate music with things we were doing the times we heard the song. At a party... breaking up... the songs pull these memories back up at a time we're trying to distance them.

We want love, money, party?

Click to expand...

This is a point, which is why, IMO, such a thing should be done only if the pastor is prepared with a sermon to readdress those thoughts to specific points of worship.