How is important is the music?

On a scale of 1 to 10 - about a 2.

 

Okay, maybe a 3. Make it 2.5.

 

On a scale of 1 (not important at all) to 10 (very important):

Lyrical content - 10

Style - 1

 

On a scale of 1 to 10. It is a 10! I'm the church organist

 

I will say a 9 out of 10. There is always room for improvement.
When the music is bad, it can really bring you down and make it harder to sing to the Lord.

 

Is my satisfaction with a Church really that important?

Joseph Botwinick

 

Only if you are concerned that God's name be hallowed and that His kingdom come and that His will be done, and your church is not.

 

HMMMMMMMMMM. It would seem to me that it is God whom we should be more concerned about when it comes to satisfaction level.

Joseph Botwinick

 

There is a lovely Baptist church here in town which we were seriously considering when we first moved here. The doctrine is straight on and the people seemed warm and real. But the music was about a thousand decibels more than we could handle! I thought maybe it was only that first time, so we went a second time. Same thing. I wrote a note to the music director asking about it and was basically told that it was too bad if I didn't like it, it attracted the teenagers.

We didn't continue there.

The music is very important, and not just the decibel level. Music is one of the main ways of praise in a church; one in which everyone can join in vocally. So it is really very, very important. There was a death in the family this summer, and the Sunday after when we were in church, one of the songs was "It is well with my soul." I sang, and found the tears streaming down my cheeks as God started a process of healing through the music itself.

I remember a Sunday many years ago when one of the praise choruses was sung -- the one in which some of the words are "You are the potter, I am the clay; mold me and make me -- this is what I pray. Change my heart, O God...." and on that day I found myself pouring my whole heart into that song, praying it while I was singing it. Someone else's words, my heart's plea. And God heard. Yes, I could have prayed similar, but I don't know if I would have chosen those words and that particular plea. But that is what I needed to pray that day, and the music was the method.

There's a magnificence in some of the older hymns, too. And they teach and encourage at the same time: "When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of Glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride." I have needed those words. I've needed to sing them myself and not just listen to them.

Or "Amazing love, how can it be, that Thou, my Lord, should die for me?" No one is telling me those words from a pulpit. I am singing them myself, and therefore thinking about them even more.

The music is very, very important. I am reminded, encouraged, reprimanded, and I have a chance to praise, to think, to join with others in loving the Lord. No sermon, no matter how inspired and well-presented, can do the same. A good church has a balance between the music and the sermon. The music is us to the Lord and with each other. The sermon is the pastor to us.

 

Music is very important to me, but it is not the major thing. I do not care all that much for southern gospel, but that's most of what you find in my neck of the woods.

To me, the message brought forth is the major thing. I've had all the "just draw back and let it fly" style of preaching (very loosely defined to include this in the word). But I have found that expository preaching is a bit of a rare bird.

In Christ,
Trotter

 

Music...the joy of my existence, the blessing that God gave me to get me through the hard times.

Music is so important to me. Personally, music is about 9 on the richter scale of life.

For my church? General congregational singing is so important, it sets the heart in the right direction for worship. Specials? It is extremely distracing for me if the special music is not good. I have analyzed this, and I decided that satan does this to get my mind off of the message, so I am praying and seeking God's guidance in this matter.

 

I think music is very important, too.

and Brother Boswinick, aren't we supposed to have some discretion towards which church we choose? Especially in these days!

 

Battles were won with misic and praise. Just look at what these singers helped to do.

2Ch 20:21-22~ And when he had consulted with the people, he appointed singers unto the LORD, and that should praise the beauty of holiness, as they went out before the army, and to say, Praise the LORD; for his mercy endureth for ever.
22 And when they began to sing and to praise, the LORD set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and mount Seir, which were come against Judah; and they were smitten. [/b]

I don't know if it was sung if they sung that in 4 quarter harmony, sothern gospel, contemprary...
...but I like to think it was in rock and roll! You know... since it was out in the battle field and there was alot of talk in the bible about stoning people and slings!

 

As Helen said so eloquently, there must be a balance.

I do not think music and the preaching of God's Word should be given equal time. By that I mean there should be more of the Word than anything else in the service. I believe we may have taken a turn in some churches where the preaching of God's Word has taken a back seat to the music program and actually is much less of the total service time. For example, if the song service/music is 50% of the service, that doesn't leave much time for greeting one another, taking the offering, recognizing visitors, invitation, etc. People want to fed by the Word, but everything must be over by 12:00. In my church, I think we have shifted over to people wanting more music and less Word.

Before you break out your keyboards, I love music and the Word. I play first trumpet in our orchestra and praise band and I'm a preacher. If I had my way, I'd rather preach, but love to play my horn.

Just to add something else to the mix, I listen to a lot more music while I'm driving than I do to preaching tapes. That's one of the reasons I think we may need to tone down the music issue. There's a lot of opportunity to worship the Lord through music, but not as many to worship Him through His Word. Perhaps we should start a poll on how much time people spend in the Word each day. That is a wonderful opportunity to worship.

Helen, I appreciate your response to the music in your church.

We must remember what true worship is: it is response to Truth.