I write the above, not to brag, but to illustrate several points.

1. My education does not qualify me to write a song. I simply do not have the skills. But I think I can evaluate what is “good music” and what is not.

2. I have seen Christian music decline precipitously over the last 30 years or so. I am extremely tired of the “mind numbing” chanting of the modern praise choruses. These “songs” to me are very difficult to sing and I do not enjoy them. They are “fluff”.

3. I do admit to enjoying some of the choruses from about 20-30 years ago such as “Unto Thee Oh Lord”, “Great and Mighty is the Lord Our God”, and “Emmanuel”

4. I currently attend a theologically sound baptist church. At least half of the congregation has never heard the songs “Standing on the Promises”, “Heaven Came Down”, and “At Calvary”. These were standard fare in the GARBC and Baptist General Conference churchs we attended during my high school and college days.

5. We also sang “Count Your Many Blessings”. Consider the 1st verse:

When upon lifes billow you are tempest tossed.
When you are discouraged, thinking all is lost
Count your many blessings angels will attend
And it will surprise you what the Lord has done.

I believe I have the exact wording. I am wondering how this is not biblical? David reflected on all of the calamities from which he was delivered by God. He was very grateful. Sometimes we need to reflect. The scriptures tell us that angels watch over us.

6. I realize different generations may have different tastes. But some times change is not good. And at times, it is destructive.

May I know your thoughts about the songs by the Music Ministry of Hillsong Church in Australia?

Say, for example, the song “Now That You’re Near”.

Thank you so much!

God’s blessings be with you all!

Just as the song of the whale constantly changes so should the song of our heart. We are always in a different place in our walk and not every song will uplift us as we journey. Christian music is to be a form of worship. Whether that is “Blessed Assurance” or (straight from the scriptures) “Seek Ye First the Kingdom of God”. The styles may be different, but the message is still the same.

Most of contemporary music is designed to do to two things. First and foremost it is written to glorify God and secondly to reach lost people. John Bagge writes “The one purpose of my music is so kids & adults will love to worship the Lord together, and experience the eternal joy that is found only in Christ Jesus!”

In the song, “How Great is Our God” the writer calls all to sing with him how great is our God. The group Big Daddy Weave has a song entitled, “Every time I Breathe” in part the word states:
“…Every time I breathe You seem a little bit closer
I never want to leave
I want to stay in Your warm embrace
Oh basking in the glory shining from Your face
And every time I get another glimpse of Your heart
I realize it’s true
That You are so marvelous God
And I am so in love with You…”
It speaks of God’s glory and getting closer to Him. Is this a scripturally sound belief? Yes, I think so. These are people who have been given a gift from our Almighty Father to put into a pleasing composition (which is pleasing only in the eye of the beholder) music and lyrics that are used for God’s glory and not their own.

A Casting Crowns song “Jesus is Hope for Every Man” is another song whose lyrics are just as significant as the lyrics, “My hope is built on nothing less than Jesus blood and righteousness…”

The spiritual perspective comes from your devotion to Christ. The joy of the Lord is for all. How we express that joy is as individual as the number of people on the planet. If you do not enjoy the music of the Gaithers, don’t listen. If you don’t enjoy hearing Bill Graham preach, then turn him off. But if listening to contemporary Christian music lifts your heart and puts you in a constant prayerful mode, the listen. I’m quite sure that Jeremy Camp would be delirious that your 98 year old grandma is listening to him, but won’t be offended if she still prefers the songs of worship to be accompanied by the pipe organ and a robed choir instead with the understanding that a “Closer Walk with God” will help us “All Get to Heaven” whether we got there by singing with a guitar and cymbals or the using worst a cappella voice on the planet. For He is the God who presides over harmony and determines that our faith and worship in him is the melody He prefers most to hear.

To put it in a secular context, Frank Sinatra’s records are better, from an artistic sense, than modern popular music. Some current singers may be talented, but the music and lyrics are bad. To me, it is simply perpetual immaturity and twenty and thirty somethings (and their parents) want to continue to act, think, dress like and listen to music of teenagers.

It is sad to think that churches would lower their standards to accomodate a new generation that is lowering its standards. “We blossom and flourish as leaves on a tree, and wither and perish but naught changeth thee.” What a true statement about God’s faithfulness. Even though we sinners change we can be sure that our God’s standards will NEVER EVER change for any reason.

That’s really going to impact today’s generation. It sad that people do not know enough about church history to realize that the music of the church has and will always change to reach a new generation.

I have long thought that contemporary worship music is feminizing to the Church. Several years ago I had the opportunity to observe the congregational singing of two large evangelical churches in the Chicago area, and the conclusions that I drew from that experience are the basis for my thoughts here.

I lived in the city of Chicago for 4 years and during that time attended a large non-denominational church: average Sunday morning attendance: 1500. The church used a hymnal, but more and more, over those 4 years, I saw the worship services change from mostly hymns, with one or two praise choruses, to mostly praise choruses, with one or two hymns. For the hymns, the accompaniment was piano (grand) and organ (pipe), with extremely competent musicians. For the praise choruses, however, the organist played a small electronic keyboard on a stand next to the organ. (I always felt sorry for him. A master organist consigned to play a little 3-octave electronic keyboard.)

In June 1998, toward the end of my time in Chicago, I attended a church music seminar, held at a large church in the western suburbs. That church was about the same size as my own, and it, too, had a grand piano and pipe organ. The seminar was excellent, and I’m so glad I was able to go. The choir of that church sang several times during the conference, and they were very good. I also met the church’s music minister, and was so impressed with his philosophy of church music, as well as with other aspects of this church’s music, that I decided to visit this church the next Sunday morning.

That Sunday, as I looked through the bulletin during the prelude, I saw that we would be singing only hymns, as the music minister had told me—hymns that would be considered “great, historic hymns of the church.” Watts and Wesley were well represented.

As we sang the first notes of the first hymn, I was astonished at what I heard. There was a *significant* difference in the quality of the singing between this congregation and my own, back in the city. This congregation had a depth and strength to its singing that my own did not. It was obvious that the *men* were really singing–and many were singing tenor or bass. The difference between the two congregations was so stark that I stopped singing and just listened in wonderment for the remainder of the hymn. The other hymns that morning were sung in the same way.

The next Sunday, back in my church in the city, the singing of the choruses and the hymns was “thin” — melody only, and few men could be heard.

Over the next few days I thought a lot about that experience, and why the singing was so different. The only answer I could come up with was that praise choruses are feminizing to men and once a church “crosses the line,” so to speak, from primarily hymn-singing to primarily chorus-singing, *all* the singing of that congregation changes, and is feminized–either
a) qualitatively–where the men become effeminate in their singing, or
b) quantitatively–where the men are so repelled by the music that they do not participate—or they don’t come to church at all.

The following factors contribute to that process.

1. Most praise songs are subjective and emotionally oriented: what *I* think; what *I* feel; what *I* want to do. Such content is more appealing to women than to men.

2. Because usually just the words (not the music) are visible on the screen or in the bulletin, 4-part harmony–with the men singing their parts– is nearly impossible.

3. Many praise choruses are made popular by commercial Christian “artists.” Most male artists today sing in a style that is breathy and effeminate, and if such popular Christian music is what churchgoers listen to. . . .
I recently listened to an on-line clip of a male singer who has for years been considered conservative and “middle of the road.” Well, sad to say, he, too, has adopted the breathy style. How I miss singers such as Frank Boggs, Bill Pierce, and Hale and Wilder! And groups such as the “16 Singing Men,” and the “Melody Four Quartet”!

4. Many men have never been encouraged to really *sing.* In most churches today, congregational singing has become less and less important, with the “performers” (aka the worship team) doing the singing, and the congregation mostly listening passively.

5. Hymns that have challenging men’s parts, where the men are really encouraged to sing, are pretty much a thing of the past. Alas! These hymns would include:
* All Hail the Power of Jesus’ Name (second tune–“Diadem”)
* The Spacious Firmament
* Joy to the World
* Wonderful Grace of Jesus

Other hymns that lend themselves to vigorous singing would include “O Worship the King,” “A Mighty Fortress is Our God,” “Praise to the Lord, the Almighty,” “Crown Him with Many Crowns,” “Soldiers of Christ, Arise,” “Rejoice, the Lord is King,” and many more.

(When was the last time you sang any of these hymns, all the verses, with a song leader who inspired you to sing to the Lord with all your heart? When was the last time you sang a hymn, where the leader had just the men sing one of the verses?)

Because many churches have noticed that the men tend not to participate in contemporary worship, they have implemented elements of popular culture and entertainment in order to attract the men. A very sad situation indeed.