Holy WarsThe Challenge We FaceTags: Church Growth, Church Growth Movement, Counterculture Church, church renewal, contemporary praise songs, traditional hymnsThere are two ways to respond to the
challenge we face today. One can be stubborn. Stubbornness closes the mind and heart to
anything other than personal desire. Stubbornness finds its seed in fear. Stubbornness
refuses to admit it has been wrong. Stubbornness is born in pride and leads to
destruction. “For all that is in the world - the lust of the flesh, the lust of the
eyes, and the pride of life - is not of the Father but is of the world.” (I Jn Instead of blind stubbornness, one can
remain steadfast in the faith. Steadfastness comes from our belief in the True and Living
God, to seek after Him and Him alone. Steadfastness is founded in perfect love that casts
out all fears. (I Jn 4:18) And perfect love has no pride in it and can admit when it is
wrong. (I Cor 13:3-8) Steadfastness is all about remaining firm in who we are as
Christians without submitting to compromise. Steadfastness is all about influencing
society with the Christian conscience instead of being run by its humanistic value system.
It’s not civilization that corrupts man but the lack of Christian influence in
society that leads to corruption and the resultant enticements that cause man to fall and
the church to sway from its course. The church ought to stand above all of this while
holding firm to what it has always been - the light of the world. (Matt The admonishment here is to remain steadfast. “Watch, stand fast in the faith, be brave, be strong.” (I Cor Unfortunately the traditions of the church
in many Christian venues today have taken a big hit in the wake of the cancerous
counterculture creed that envelops our society. This takes us to a pastor who had taken
this path of destruction. However, long before he had arrived on the
scene God had shown the church a better way. Decades earlier a distinguished pastor had
successfully moved the church towards an appreciation of contemporary praise music while
holding to a remarkable blend of the old and the new. The church had a grand history and
was recognized as one of the most prominent and distinguished bodies in town. The pastor
had worked for decades with a very talented music minister and the church’s influence
in the arts in the community was profound. As the church began to adopt modern praise
music, a praise leader was simply added to the mix and a blend between the two styles
arose that provided blessing to all. The campus that the pastor had built was beautiful
with vast array of very functional facilities. The focal point of this campus was a
magnificent sanctuary that contained a grand historical pipe organ and the stained glass
taken from the church’s former location. In this magnificent building you could find
both contemporary and traditional music played with excellence. As a result of this, the
church grew by leaps and bounds while young families flocked to it weekly. The church body
and all that it embraced became a model for the rest of the community. When the old pastor retired, a very
liberal teacher replaced him and the downward progression began. The resultant events were
an exact mirror of American church history as theological liberalism led the church down
the slippery slope with the ‘60s counterculture at its end. The first thing the new
pastor did was to force the praise leader into leaving his post. Then he made the mistake
of opening his mouth. As with most theological liberals, this pastor had nothing to talk
about. In spite of the fact that he used every visual tool imaginable from a chicken coop
to a backpacking tent to a Hebrew replica scroll that he was very proud of, nearly half of
the congregation left as a result of his ministry. The once proud church was left in
disarray as it found itself suddenly gutted of the vast majority of its membership,
including families that had worshipped there for generations.
Slowly but surely the pastor sought to do
away with most of what that this church was and stood for. He started by moving members,
servants and staff who stood for tradition or disagreed with his agenda of transformation
out of his way. He changed everything that he could in order to veil the fact that his
church belonged to a traditional denomination. He changed the church’s name, took
down the paintings of the pastors who had proceeded him from the foyer, and one-by-one
sought to dissolve the traditions that the church had held for over a hundred years. With
each “transition” the church grew weaker and weaker as nothing was ever there to
replace that which was eliminated. He wound up with a staff who did what they
did because of what they were against rather than what they were for. The church as a
result of all of this grew to be divided with regard to its worship life as its rich
musical traditions were replaced by boisterous rock and roll. Congregation members could
be seen “worshipping” while utilizing dance moves that you could also witness in
the local clubs as they boogied to the rhythm of the electric band. The sense of decency
and respect slowly faded as the quality of the music sank to new lows with each successive
week. If you had a traditional music background you would be seldom seen on the platform.
Only those who could be used to help the pastor achieve his growth objectives were
considered worthy for service, and anyone or anything that had anything to do with
tradition was seen as a hindrance. Faithful servants were treated as a means to an end and
were worked to the bone rather than appreciated. The old saints stood aghast as the
dilapidated church floundered deeper and deeper into the hole that the pastor was digging.
People continued to leave even as neighboring churches experienced unprecedented growth.
The reputation of the church among the body of Christ in town sank to newer lows with each
successive year. Everyone wondered, “What happened over there?” The answer lied
in the slippery slope of liberalism along with church growth theories accompanied by a
strong dose of rebellion against the past. This instance stands out as a real example of
the logical conclusion that emanates from the anti-tradition position of many in the
church today. In the example above, a very gifted music
minister had managed to thrive during the years he served with the first two pastors.
During the decades that he led in song his prosperous music ministry became a focal point
of the arts throughout the city. In spite of the music minister’s obvious success, at
the advice of the church growth consultant, the third “renewal” pastor turned
his attention to new commercial worship. It was not long before the elderly man retired.
In the blink of an eye the entire music department was ravished in the modernist’s
hands as that which the music minister had built was systematically undermined. During the years of his tenure, the music
minister had amassed a huge collection of choral music. The proponent of contemporary
music would have none of that! It was not long before one of the retired music
minister’s successors, while claiming that “some of this stuff was printed in
the ‘40s,” threw the entire collection out to replace it all exclusively with
contemporary praise. One has to ask at this point, “Is it
necessary to put our churches through ruinous scenarios such as this in order to minister
to the world that the countercultural liberals have created? Is it essential to discard
the past in order to move into the future? Is it prudent to turn from tradition in order
to minister to the world that the modernists have created?” I would emphatically
argue “No!” Traditional hymns have stood the test of
time. How many of our contemporary praise songs will still be sung centuries from now?
Most of the worship and praise songs that came out of the ‘60s and ‘70s have
already fallen by the wayside. I would suppose that only a small percentage of the new
songs that are written today will even be remembered a decade from now. It would seem to
be very appropriate, therefore, to offer a great deal of respect for those classic songs
of praise that have remained with the church throughout the ages. The So beware of counsel of those who tell you
otherwise. “The thoughts of the righteous are right, but the counsels of the wicked
are deceitful.” (Prov 12: 5 MKJV) In our exuberance to push into the future, let us
not be negligent of our glorious and rich past. One age of music need not be exclusive of
the other and the blending of all ages has always provided spiritual blessing. It is this
marvelous mixture of the old and the new that ought to characterize what is occurring in
the music life of the church today. Let us press into the future while holding tight to
those things that have made us who we are. And who exactly are we anyway? Have we
been placed on this earth to grow churches or worship God? The truth is if we make
worshipping God our first priority, our churches will naturally grow. There is no need to
tear our churches in half over the musical quarrels. For once we discover that we are
commanded first to worship God with all our heart, soul, mind and strength (Mk “’Therefore do not worry,
saying, 'What shall we eat?' or 'What shall we drink?' or 'What shall we wear?' For after
all these things the Gentiles seek. For your heavenly Father knows that you need all these
things. But seek first the If you liked this CLICK HERE or call Author House @ 888.280.7715 to purchase a soft or hard cover copy of Don Wigton's book "Holy Wars" upon which this blog is based.Click Here to purchase the E-book edition for only 99 cents!
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