Contemporary Worship Music and the Adventist Philosophy for Music Ministry

Music in human experience

The importance of music in human life is widely documented. Arshik notes that “music acts as a stimulant and soothes the nerves.” Sanjeev similarly observes that music “can be a very good mode for mood conversion, bringing out the hidden emotions and a sense of relief,” while also acknowledging that some music “may create noise pollution and are hazardous to life.” Researchers have also found music helpful “in concentration, meditation.” People of all ages are drawn to its pleasant sound.

Music plays significant roles across all human endeavors, and its place in Christian worship is especially evident. Segler and Bradley state that because music is universally accepted for “communicating human emotions . . . it should play important role in public worship.” Leonard elaborates:

Music has a powerful effect on human experience. Students of religious phenomena have long recognized that music transcends our understanding and appeals to our intuitive nature. It is not surprising, then, that music played an important part in the worship of biblical communities, as a way of approaching the mystery of God and of expressing the joy of his presence.

Ellen G. White also emphasized the significance of songs in worship:

Music is one of the most effective means of impressing the heart with spiritual truth. How often to the soul hard-pressed and ready to despair, memory recalls some word of God’s,—the long-forgotten burden of a childhood song,—and temptations lose their power, life takes on new meaning and new purpose, and courage and gladness are imparted to other souls! . . . As a part of religious service, singing is as much an act of worship as is prayer. Indeed, many a song is prayer.

The Bible provides numerous principles for composing, choosing, and performing music in worship. Yet, in seeking the experience music offers, many styles have been adopted, and some have sparked controversy throughout Christian history. The global nature of this issue and its impact on Seventh-day Adventist worship in Africa call for a re-examination. This chapter focuses on contemporary worship music (CWM) and its implications for Adventist music ministry, covering four areas: a survey of the scriptural role of worship, contemporary worship music practices, the Adventist philosophy of music, and recommendations for Adventist music ministry.

Survey of biblical role of worship music

Music was central to biblical cultic practices, both individual (Ps 42:8; Jas 5:13) and congregational (Ps 149:1; Col 3:16; Eph 5:19). Scripture yields at least five core roles of worship music in the life of biblical Israel and the Early Christian Church.

Worship and praise to God

The primary role of worship music in Scripture is worshipping and praising God (Ps 27:6; 150:3-4; Acts 16:25; Rom 15:9; Rev 4:11; 5:13; 7:10). Musical expression of worship reaches its climax in the New Testament hymns of Revelation. In John’s vision, acts of praise before God’s throne accompany dramatic events on earth. These hymns glorify the Creator (4:11), proclaim the worth of the Lamb (5:9-10; 5:12), extol both the Father and the Son (5:13; 7:10; 7:12), celebrate God’s triumph over his people’s enemies (11:16; 11:17-18; 12:10-12; 19:1-3; 19:6-8), and proclaim his justice (15:3-4; 16:5-7). Making music was one of the best ways to eulogize God, celebrate his attributes, and acknowledge his intervention on behalf of humankind.

Lift the emotions of the heart

Worship music also lifts emotions in two ways. First, it can serve as a means of celebration (Exod 15, cf. Ps 113-118), as when Moses and Miriam rejoiced in the victory granted Israel over Egypt. Mitchell argues that celebration involves remembering “who God is and what he has done. It is the remembrance of his mighty acts and the fresh awareness of their meaning for today.” Second, songs can lift emotions by lightening the despondent and afflicted, as James counsels: “Is anyone among you suffering? Let him pray. Is anyone cheerful? Let him sing” (Jas 5:13). Music as therapy is well illustrated in Saul’s experience (1 Sam 16:14-23).

Teach and reinforce spiritual truths

Songs in the Bible also serve to learn and reinforce spiritual truths, such as God’s intervention in human affairs. This seems to be the purpose of God in Deut 31:19-32:43, where he instructed Moses to write a song and teach it to Israel to remind future generations of God’s acts in history and guide them against apostasy. The Psalmist writes: “Thou dost surround me with songs of deliverance. I will instruct you and teach you in the way which you should go” (Ps 32:7-8).

Encourage one another with biblical truth

Music was a means of teaching and transmitting spiritual communication (Eph 5:19; Col 3:16). Paul’s counsel in Ephesians 5:18-19 for Ephesian Christians to “be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord” is clear in this direction.

Music as a prayer

The Bible implies that music also functions as prayer (Ps 42:8). James’s admonition for the afflicted to sing (Jas 5:13) can be understood as prayer from a despondent heart. John Calvin viewed singing the psalms as prayer. Jones argues: “If we truly comprehend that many of our hymns are prayers, might we approach them (and sing them) differently.” This awareness would shape contemporary composition, choice, and performance of music.

Contemporary worship music

Definitions

Contemporary Worship Music (CWM) is a loosely defined variety of Christian music used in contemporary worship. Developed over the past sixty years, it is stylistically similar to pop music. Songs are often called “praise songs” or “worship songs” and are typically led by a “worship band” or “praise team,” with either a guitarist or pianist leading. It is a common genre in Western churches, particularly Protestant denominations and nondenominational congregations.

Origins

CWM’s origin traces to the 1950s and 1960s when the Church began emphasizing outreach to youth. Christian unions established presence in universities, hosted evangelistic talks, and provided biblical teaching. Christian cafes opened with evangelistic aims, and churches began forming youth groups. Amateur musicians from these groups started playing Christian music using popular idioms. Some Christians advocated that the Church needed to break from its traditional structure, which some considered formal and dull, to appeal to the younger generation.

According to Frame, CWM’s first appeal was to young people in the late 1960s who professed belief in Jesus because of “the bareness of a lifestyle based on drugs, free sex, and radical politics.” CWM began as essentially hippie-style music with biblical lyrics, gradually gliding into Christian rock. Churches began adopting these songs and styles for corporate worship. Early Western CWMs included Youth Praise, edited by Michael Baughen and published in 1966 by the Jubilate Group. Important propagators of CWM today include Hillsong, the Vineyard, and Soul Survivor.

Theology and lyrics

Frame identifies three virtues of CWM: God-centeredness, scripturality, freshness, and communication.

God-centeredness

CWM is said to be God-centered. It draws the singer’s focus to God and seeks to make him the ultimate authority to be admired, adored, and worshipped. The attributes and characteristics of God are emphasized, and the singer enters into and experiences the awesome nature of God. Examples of songs in this category include:

• “All hail King Jesus! All hail Emmanuel, King of kings, Lord of lords, Bright Morning Star. And throughout eternity I’ll sing your praise, And I’ll reign with You throughout eternity” (Dave Moody)
• “Be exalted, O God, above the heavens, Let Thy glory be over all the earth” (Brent Chambers)

Scripturality

CWM is also scriptural in nature. It intends to communicate biblical teachings. Many wordings are very close to scriptural passages, encouraging memorization of Bible passages. Many CWM songs are repetitions of biblical texts. Examples include:

• “I am the Lord, that healeth thee, I am the Lord, thy healer, You sent thy word and they heal my diseases, I am thy Lord, thy healer” (Don Meon) — the phrase “I am the Lord that healeth thee” is from Exod 15:26.
• “O Lord, our God how majestic is Your name in all the earth O Lord, we praise Your name. O Lord, we magnify Your name, Prince of Peace, mighty God, O Lord God Almighty” (Michael W. Smith) — partly taken from Psalm 8:1 and Isaiah 9:6.

Freshness and communication

CWM brings life and communicates with young Christians and un-churched people through vividness in singing and appeal to emotions such as joy, sadness, victory, and assurance in uncertainty. Personal encounter and relationship with God are emphasized, and sometimes CWM uses lyrics similar to popular romantic songs. “I’m desperate for You,” “Hungry I come to You for I know You satisfy, I am empty but I know Your love does not run dry” exemplify this similarity. Slang is used on occasion (e.g., “We wanna see Jesus lifted high”) and imperatives (“Open the eyes of my heart, Lord, I want to see You”), demonstrating the friendly, informal terms that charismatic theology encourages for relating to God personally. CWM sometimes encourages a physical response. Lyrics such as “So we raise up holy hands” “I will dance, I will sing, to be mad for my king,” along with the use of drums and popular rhythm, encourage full body worship.

Criticism of CWM

Worshipper centeredness

Some argue CWM is less God-centered and centers more on the worshipper and his or her feelings. The experience of the worshippers is placed above the place of God in worship and encounter with him. It also places a high premium on individualism rather than collective experience. According to Martin Percy, the emphasis on an intimate relationship with God through terms like ‘I’ and ‘you’ instead of ‘we’ and ‘God’ is passionate, and the focus on emotion can promote “hype and a need to create an atmosphere which evokes a sense of encounter with God, rather than allowing God to do so.”

CWM creates an atmosphere of religious euphoria by emphasizing the worshipper’s feelings, experience, and expectation, which detracts from the sovereignty of God. It seems to focus on a ‘god’ who exists to meet human needs rather than one worshipped for who He essentially is.

Anti-intellectualism

Some critics see CWM as anti-intellectual because it is simpler compared to traditional Christian hymns and classics. It comes mostly in contemporary languages and often involves repetition of few words, making less intellectual demand.

Performance centeredness

The volume of CWM often drowns out congregational participation, making it a performance. Gary Parrett, quoting Eph 5:19 where Paul tells the church in Ephesus to be “speaking to one another with psalms, hymns and songs from the Spirit,” suggests that the worship band, often amplified and playing like a rock band, may have replaced rather than enabled the congregation’s praise. If worship becomes worshipper-centered and advances to performance-centeredness, it becomes theatrical, reflecting the ‘Hip up’, ‘Fuji’, ‘Macossa’, and cyber culture prevalent in contemporary society. God, the object of worship, is sidelined and self-gratification is exalted.

Consumerism and professionalism

CWM also seems consumer-oriented, seeking to satisfy worshippers by giving them what they desire rather than what they ought to have. Popular music culture such as pop, rock, reggae, and fuji are employed, lowering the standard. The focus is to get people to come to church, feel ‘good’, and feel like coming again. This may account for some secular musicians adapting their tunes to religious music.

Writing on the use of popular music like rock, Samuele Bacchiocchi argues that since music communicates on a subconscious level, the often revolutionary, nihilistic ethos of rock stands against Christian culture. He observes:

the capacity of rock music to alter the mind and to cause several physical reactions, including sexual arousal, should be of great concern to Christians. After all, Christianity entails a holistic response to God through the consecration of our mind, body, and soul to Him (1 Cor 6:19; 1 Thess 5:23; Rom 12:2). It is through the mind that we offer to God “a rational service” (Rom 12:1; in Greek logike) and make moral, responsible decisions. Scripture summons us to abstain from anything that impairs our mind (1 Pet 1:13; 4:7; Eph 5:18), because through the daily “renewal of the mind,” we “put on the new nature, created after the image of God in true righteousness and holiness” (Eph 4:24; cf. Col 3:10; Rom 12:2).

Emphasis on praise

Some critics argue that CWM tends “to exclude systematic use of the psalms in weekly worship, sidelining lament from regular worship practice.” The prominence of praise and an understanding of ‘worship’ as tremendously positive can lead to avoidance of the psalms of lament. Michael Vasey writes: “Scripture is, of course, full of lament – and devotes its finest literary creation to warning the godly against quick and easy answers.” It is important to reflect such themes in Christian music.

Adventist philosophy of music

This chapter has focused on CWM and the Adventist music ministry. The Adventist philosophy of music is predicated on the fact that not all sacred or religious music supposedly composed for worship services, evangelistic meetings, or private devotion “may be acceptable for an Adventist. Sacred music should not evoke secular associations or invite conformity to worldly behavioral patterns of thinking or acting.”

The Seventh-day Adventist Church’s philosophy of sacred music may be summed up in two basic principles:

1. All music for God’s glory: All music the Christian listens to, performs, or composes, whether sacred or secular, will glorify God: “So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God” (1 Cor 10:31). This is the overriding biblical principle. Anything that cannot meet this high standard weakens our experience with the Lord.
2. Music of the noblest and best: All music the Christian listens to, performs, or composes, whether sacred or secular, should be of the noblest and the best. As followers of Jesus Christ who hope and expect to join the heavenly choirs, we view life on this earth as a preparation for and foretaste of the life to come.

Specifically, Adventist philosophy of sacred music seeks quality, balance, appropriateness, authenticity, and the fostering of spiritual, psychological, and social sensitivity and intellectual growth. It should also appeal to the intellect and emotions in a positive manner, promote positive biblical moral values, and reflect sound biblical theology. The relevance of culture in the composition, selection, and performance of sacred music should also be considered and must be in harmony with these principles.

These principles become imperative because the justification for CWM, even in Adventist worship, is often to accommodate the musical taste of the younger generation and make worship more contemporary and appealing. In this vein, Ellen White warns:

Just before the close of probation, there will be shouting, with drums, music, and dancing. The senses of rational beings will become so confused that they cannot be trusted to make right decisions. And this is called the moving of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit never reveals itself in such methods, in such a bedlam of noise. This is an invention of Satan to cover up his ingenious methods for making of none effect the pure, sincere, elevating, ennobling, sanctifying truth for this time.

Recommendations for Adventist ministry

Music in the Bible was meant to worship and praise God, with his person and attributes dictating wordings, tempo, and rhythm. It was meant to celebrate God’s nature, works, and goodness, and to awaken humanity to his nature and dependence on God. The Adventist philosophy of sacred music seeks to enable Christian character and balance feelings with biblical theology and morality. Yet, to a large extent, CWM seems to deviate from these principles. The principle behind compositions and the choice of music for worship seems defined more by emotional appeal and less by harmony with sound biblical principles. Therefore, recommendations for Adventist music ministry include the need for music educators and education. Music composers, leaders, and singers in Adventist Churches in Nigeria, for example, often lack sound knowledge of the role and principles of music in the Bible.

Most ministers appear to draw on their personal talents but show limited understanding of the principles and mechanics of worship. It remains uncertain whether they are familiar with the Adventist philosophy of music. To protect the Adventist Church from the pervasive influence of CWM and the resulting identity crises in sacred music, we might endorse the observation of Pope John Paul II:

Today, as yesterday, musicians, composers, liturgical chapel cantors, church organists and instrumentalists must feel the necessity of serious and rigorous professional training. They should be especially conscious of the fact that each of their creations or interpretations cannot escape the requirement of being a work that is inspired, appropriate and attentive to aesthetic dignity, transformed into a prayer of worship when, in the course of the liturgy, it expresses the mystery of faith in sound.

Consequently, our institutions—whether secondary or tertiary—need to prioritize music education adequately. At present, it is questionable whether any Adventist school provides sufficient—or any—focus on music training. This situation foretells further difficulties ahead, likely worsening worship music identity confusion. Indeed, ministerial education should demand that pastors become competent in music fundamentals and matters affecting church music. Adventist ministers ought to be capable of asking pertinent questions and supplying suitable answers regarding church music.

Identification of Appropriate CWM

We do not consider all contemporary worship music entirely detrimental. Some pieces may be perfectly suitable for Adventist worship if their melody, harmony, rhythm, and theology align with accepted Christian music standards. Therefore, we also

recommend that music experts within the Adventist Church identify and compile CWMs that could be used appropriately in Adventist services.

Indigenizing Worship Music

The expression of joy and the communication of gratitude and devotion to God—essential components of Christian music—can be best realized and appreciated when people clearly grasp the concepts conveyed in song. Thus, this work strongly advocates that the vocal approach and character of songs used by Seventh-day Adventists in West Africa should actively reflect the cultural heritage and experience of the people. This can be accomplished through the wording, harmony, and melodies employed. Hence, we recommend that sustainable attention be given to active ministry of song composition by Adventists, along with concerted efforts to circulate such works. Nevertheless, deliberate effort must be made to distance these compositions from popular local melodies, harmonies, and rhythms that do not adhere to scriptural principles.

Conclusion

Contemporary worship music—both foreign and indigenous—continues to increase and has permeated Adventist worship across Africa. In light of biblical principles concerning the role of music in worship and the Adventist philosophy of sacred music, it is therefore essential for Adventist music ministry to develop a clearer understanding of these principles in order to guard against aspects of current contemporary worship music that could hinder appropriate worship to God.