The necessity of having a thought out philosophy of music is a subject I briefly touched on in my last post and would like to discuss in further detail now. Why is it important that we have a philosophy regarding music ministry? Is it something we can do without? I believe that much of the confusion regarding music standards in the church could be solved if every pastor, musician, and church were to take the time to develop their philosophy regarding music and the church. It of course would not result in all churches and pastors agreeing on music standards, but I do believe it would help all of us to understand exactly where we stand and why, thereby giving us a way to communicate clearly and effectively our views in this area. Unfortunately today most churches today (and most pastors) have not given this issue the time or thought it needs. This leads to the following problems.
- A church without a philosophy of music ministry will base their music standards and choose music to be used in church based on personal preference; not on biblical precept or principle.
- Without a philosophy of music, music standards will not make sense and will either be abandoned or cause many to leave the church in frustration.*
- Without a philosophy of music our worship services will be haphazard and lack any clear purpose.
- Without a philosophy of music it will be hard to create a standard that makes sense. This often leads to different people in the church/ministry applying the music standards in completely different ways. **
But not only are there problems with not having a philosophy of music, there are also many benefits of having one.
- When we have a philosophy of music for the church it gives us a solid foundation upon which to build our music standards.
- This means when we are asked why we do or do not use a particular song or style in our services we will have a coherent answer to give the questioner based on our philosophy (which hopefully is based on biblical precepts and principles)
- It will help us give a purpose and unity to our service.
- It will help get everyone in the ministry on the same page regarding our music standards.
- It will help (not completely fix) us to not allow our personal preferences in music to dictate the standards that we set. (i.e. No CCM allowed, but all Southern Gospel is A-OK)
How then can a person/ministry develop a philosophy of ministry? First, one must be ready and willing to put a lot of thought and effort into the process, it will not be a quick five minute problem, it will most likely take weeks, months, or even years to develop fully. (And one should always be seeking to refine and better their philosophy, it is not something that once accomplished will never need to be thought about again.) Secondly it requires an open mind. We need to be willing to abandon our "pet" standards if we find they do not hold up to scriptural precept or principal. (I am not implying that they will not hold up, just that we need to be open minded enough that we are willing to change our views if necessary). Thirdly we need to do a careful study through scripture on music, worship, Christian liberty (with a focus on the needs of the "weaker" brethren), for principles and precepts that we can use to shape our philosophy.
One of the reasons I began writing this blog was to help me shape and develop my own philosophy of music. I have not yet figured it all out. Part of my purpose for this blog is to force myself to do what I am advocating here. In that vein of thought, sometime in the near future, I am going to be posting the results of some scriptural studies I am beginning on worship and music in both the NT and the OT to help us as we begin to develop a scriptural philosophy of music.As with all philosophies we develop for use in the church (i.e. philosophy of minstry, philosophy of youth ministry, philosophy of counseling, etc. etc.) we need to start at the source, the Bible, and work our way out from there.
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* I think this is one of many areas in which a general unwillingness within IFB circles to truly explain the why's of our doctrines and practices is leading to the abandonment of our churches by youth today. Too often the answer is simply "because the Bible says so!" when we should be explaining how and where the Bible says so. I worry that the source of this reluctance is that many of us don't know why either, but do not want to find out why for fear of finding out we are wrong. Or, perhaps because we are too lazy to find out why and are content to accept "because the Bible says so" without actually looking to see if the Bible does say so. As I look back in the history of the fundamentalist movement I see that many of the "fathers" of the movement were very intellectual and knew why they believed what they believed. However over the past generations, while the beliefs have been retained (although many times mutated) the reasons have been lost and our beliefs are based on what our predecessors believed, not on our own careful study.
** The College I attended had very strict music standards. However, not everyone who "checked" the music applied the standards in the same way. It was common knowledge which Resident Managers to take your music to and which ones not to. A CD that wouldn't pass according to Miss. A, was considered perfectly fine by Mr. C, or Mrs. Q. I had a friend who was not allowed to sing specials in Sunday School for quite a while because his "style" did not pass. However, one day a certain person heard him sing (who had a good deal of influence in the music department) and suddenly he was one of the "favorites" for church and Sunday School specials. He didn't change his style, he merely was heard by someone who interpreted the "standards" differently.
