TAGS: Church Growth, praise and worship, hymns, contemporary
Christian music, Jeff Sharlet, Harpers, megachurch
Coming to a
church near you
“A battle of immense
proportions.”
Coming to a
church near you
“Confusion, division and
strife.”
Coming to a
church near you
“A catastrophic struggle for its
eternal soul.”
Many warriors are already engaged in
the horrific tragedy. Others are left in unawares only waiting for calamity’s
arrival. Few have been able to resist the call, for there is trouble in our midst and
judgement in our future. It is a Holy War and its conclusion will determine the very
nature of Christendom for decades to come.
The conflict begins simply enough with a new pastor in town. He
has been very busy filling his church with fresh visions and the latest ideas. Even as he
stepped before the congregation for the first time he looked around at the century-old
pews to see too many old faces. “Where are the young folks?” he wondered. Just
down the street the enthusiastic leader saw another church bursting at the seams with
youthful and exuberant families. In the electrified air he heard the sweet sounds of
guitars and drums accentuating simple melodies carrying intimate lyrics upward to the
heavens. He desperately wanted some of that in his church. So, while filled with high
hopes and good intentions, the resolute pastor decided to leave the past and press on to
the future.
In the blink of an eye this church
renewal advocate relegated the organ along with the choir to the back of the bus. He
then dug up the faithful but inexperienced guitarist who had been leading worship and
praise in the youth group. As a result of his promotion to the front of the congregation,
the novice musician put together a makeshift band that literally took over the Sunday
morning music program.
Suddenly and without warning the
congregation was exposed to music that was very foreign to their ears. These were not the
old hymns that they were raised under. They were something else, more like simple camp
songs. And to them they sounded awful. After the service they staggered out of church
confused and enraged at the fact that the music they had known for decades had instantly
been pushed aside. The established music minister, who emerged from a formal background,
could not contend with this new stuff. He had no skills in contemporary music and, like
his organ, began to slip into the background. The Holy War had found its way into another
church body.
In the name of progress our
congregations are now filled with bitterness as many have been led to wonder, “What
is happening in the music life of the church today?” And the question looms,
“What is contemporary praise music all about?” and “What happened to the
hymns?” Some see the new simplistic worship form as an affront to traditional hymn
singing and view it with contempt. Others embrace it as the only music worth doing while
viewing hymn singing as too complex and old fashion to achieve their worship goals.
Regardless of what their congregation thinks, most pastors see the development of this new
contemporary worship style in their churches as the only possible manner in which to
survive in our society today. And yet the resultant push towards the future is fueling war
and tearing many traditional congregations in half.
Controversy regarding the introduction
of new church music does not only reside within church walls. There are also critics on
the outside who look at this style of music that can be found in many megachurches
throughout the country with a scathing eye. They see what is going on in these
congregations with contemporary music as nothing more than commercialization, producing
overly simplistic music that appeals to the masses and thus renders church music middle of
the road and never too daring. They suggest these mammoth churches are marketing music,
and religion, like Taco Bell markets food that tastes good to everyone.
With this in mind Jeff Sharlet
lambasted a successful megachurch in the May 2005 issue of the liberal Harper's Magazine article, Soldiers of Christ when he wrote: “(The
musicians) were all young and pretty, dressed in the kind of quality-cotton-punk clothing
one buys at the Gap. Male singers. . . are almost always tenors, their voices clean and
indistinguishable, R&B inflected one moment, New Country the next, with a little bit
of early ‘90s grunge at the beginning and the end . . .The worship style is . . .designed for total
accessibility, with the illusion of choice between strikingly similar brands . . .The
drummers all stick to cymbals and beats anyone can handle; the guitarists deploy effects
like artillery but condense them, so the highs and lows never stretch too wide. Lyrics
tend to be rhythmic and pronunciation perfect, the better to sing along when the words are
projected onto movie screens. Breathy or wailing vocalists drench their lines with
emotion, but only within strict confines. There are no sad songs in the megachurch, and
there are no angry songs. There are songs about desperation, but none about despair; songs
convey longing only if it has already been fulfilled.”
The point Sharlet sought
to make in his critique is that the church of today is busily applying market economics to
its growth scheme in order to become larger-and larger. And all of this is done at the
expense of artistry, creativity and honesty. In the example of music, according to
Sharlet, only marketable “worship and praise” styles suits the likes of the
megachurch today. The inference was that the church has sold out in order to become
popular and music has taken the biggest hit as it has been rendered middle of the road in
order to appeal to all. A lot of pastors do see contemporary music as a marketing tool,
and it seems to be a necessity to have it in churches these days. And many sincere pastors
contend that it has to be presented a certain way to get the growth results they are
seeking after . . . You have to have drums and guitars, etc. to be successful.
This growth philosophy leads many to wonder where this new marvel
of religious marketing is headed. Thus the question arises, “Could there be something
important in Sharlet’s article that the church needs to hear?” As we look into
the background of the Church Growth religious marketing movement, its history, its
philosophies and how it has expanded and has been implemented over the years, various
answers to that question become apparent.
Stay Tuned for
More!!!!
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"I might not be a religious
man myself but I know good music when I hear it, and this is very good! . . . I don’t think that I have ever given such high
ratings to so many songs before. But the fact is that they are well deserved
because the music is amazing. Simply wonderful religious ballads and they
really get to your heart. . .everytime." Fredrik Cole: Trax In Space
was formed as a service to the body of Christ to
encourage scriptural worship. To accomplish this goal Wigtune Company offers free praise
and worship chords, new and old worship songs, free mp3 downloads, Christian music videos
on YouTube, hymn lyrics, contemporary praise music and hymn mp3 and chart material along
with a free on-line worship study book for personal devotions, Bible study groups, Sunday
schools, pastors, music ministers and ministry training. In order to bridge the gap
between the old and the new the worship study book gives solid theological and
historical support to the use of traditional Christian hymn-singing in conjunction with
praise chorus singing.
Click on one of the links below for
praise and worship chords, worship songs, free mp3 downloads, Christian music videos, hymn
lyrics and more to enter into the area of the Wigtune site that interests you !
was formed as a service to the body of Christ to
encourage scriptural worship. To accomplish this goal Wigtune Company offers free praise
and worship chords, new and old worship songs, free mp3 downloads, Christian music videos
on YouTube, hymn lyrics, contemporary praise music and hymn mp3 and chart material along
with a free on-line worship study book for personal devotions, Bible study groups, Sunday
schools, pastors, music ministers and ministry training. In order to bridge the gap
between the old and the new the worship study book gives solid theological and
historical support to the use of traditional Christian hymn-singing in conjunction with
praise chorus singing. 
Vision Statement 
Wigtune Story 
to the back of the bus. He
then dug up the faithful but inexperienced guitarist who had been leading worship and
praise in the youth group. As a result of his promotion to the front of the congregation,
the novice musician put together a makeshift band that literally took over the Sunday
morning music program.
Check out this powerful Southern Cross song! 
