(In response to another social media post touting 'old school' contemporary music as being better than more recent contemporary music.)
"No matter where I attend church, song selection is the most neglected aspect of contemporary worship services.
Congregations spend the vast majority of their time standing and staring at words on a screen that were matched up with unsingable melodies and harmonies that don't make musical sense.
So most of the time, worship becomes concert-like, where praise teams miraculously sing the notes they've invested the time to memorize regardless, and congregations become audiences rather than singing participants. I can get that by listening to Pandora and choosing Hillsong or Bethel as stations, and then not singing when their songs come up.
This will continue until worship leaders and the listening/buying public raise the bar of expectations. Songs that are mediocre at best should be avoided in church, even if we love the personality and/or testimony of the person whose picture appears on the original CD.
Does God instill the same level of songwriting talent into every Christian who calls themselves a songwriter? HINT: No.
Does God want us offering up meat or produce? HINT: Meat.
Does God want us singing? HINT: Yes.
Do we march into Christian bookstores and buy a book just because a Christian wrote it? I hope not.
If it means that the good songs which people can actually remember and sing are chosen with greater frequency throughout the year, for years on end, so be it. I'd consider that a good thing. There are plenty of good songs when we don't limit ourselves to the most recent decade, or whatever has stuck to the Christian radio stations in the last 12 months. Radio airplay, Dove Awards, and Billboard charts are constantly evolving, in part due to competition at that moment. But no one is entitled to CCLI royalties.
Not everyone wants to sing, but for those who do, churches can help them do it. After deciding to choose a contemporary style of worship over more 'traditional' music, churches should narrow down the pool of options to a greater degree. The contemporary catalogue is not our grandfather's hymnal, filled with sensible melodies and smart chord progressions that are consistent with the Doctrine of Ethos. More discernment is desperately needed, even by worship team pastors who have written entire books on the subject of music in worship.
If I decided that old school, new school, or whatever school meant better, I'd vote for better, and I'd be able to vote by SINGING!"
"No matter where I attend church, song selection is the most neglected aspect of contemporary worship services.
Congregations spend the vast majority of their time standing and staring at words on a screen that were matched up with unsingable melodies and harmonies that don't make musical sense.
So most of the time, worship becomes concert-like, where praise teams miraculously sing the notes they've invested the time to memorize regardless, and congregations become audiences rather than singing participants. I can get that by listening to Pandora and choosing Hillsong or Bethel as stations, and then not singing when their songs come up.
This will continue until worship leaders and the listening/buying public raise the bar of expectations. Songs that are mediocre at best should be avoided in church, even if we love the personality and/or testimony of the person whose picture appears on the original CD.
Does God instill the same level of songwriting talent into every Christian who calls themselves a songwriter? HINT: No.
Does God want us offering up meat or produce? HINT: Meat.
Does God want us singing? HINT: Yes.
Do we march into Christian bookstores and buy a book just because a Christian wrote it? I hope not.
If it means that the good songs which people can actually remember and sing are chosen with greater frequency throughout the year, for years on end, so be it. I'd consider that a good thing. There are plenty of good songs when we don't limit ourselves to the most recent decade, or whatever has stuck to the Christian radio stations in the last 12 months. Radio airplay, Dove Awards, and Billboard charts are constantly evolving, in part due to competition at that moment. But no one is entitled to CCLI royalties.
Not everyone wants to sing, but for those who do, churches can help them do it. After deciding to choose a contemporary style of worship over more 'traditional' music, churches should narrow down the pool of options to a greater degree. The contemporary catalogue is not our grandfather's hymnal, filled with sensible melodies and smart chord progressions that are consistent with the Doctrine of Ethos. More discernment is desperately needed, even by worship team pastors who have written entire books on the subject of music in worship.
If I decided that old school, new school, or whatever school meant better, I'd vote for better, and I'd be able to vote by SINGING!"