|
Jerry's Journal
Entry - April 22, 2008
Before I post more of your responses I need to share some things with you. The sheer volume of your responses has told me this is a major issue with lots of people. It also is a much broader and deeper issue than I had first believed. You have brought up some truly valid issues. Here are some of the questions and concerns you have raised.
1. P&W is singing to the choir because only those who have a personal relationship with God can praise and worship Him. Salvation comes first then praise and worship. The great commission is to SPEAD the Gospel. It appears some are putting the cart before the horse.
2. Evangelistic songs bring people to the point of seeking God, whereby the Holy Spirit can then take over.
3. Are we using the P&W and bringing in young people concept as an excuse to update a timeless truth? The Gospel Of Jesus Christ does not change for us, we as newborn saints do all the changing. You can't update or modernize this truth, you just teach it.
4. Who is running the church? Has music become more important than teaching the Word?
5. Did your church as a body vote on switching from hymns to P&W or was the decision made without membership input?
6. Is not the practice of a non-believer singing P&W to a God they do not know and maybe do not even believe in, the same as them partaking of the Lord's Supper?
And there are many, many more valid issues that I believe each church should take a hard look at. This I do know: this issue is divisive in the body of Christ and divisive is NOT scriptural.
I also believe this issue can be solved with communicating within the church body. Most writers agree we should use every means possible to bring in new people, young and old, but not at the expense of either.
I have found a very strong underlying resentment of those who feel left out and betrayed. Both are unacceptable in the body of Christ. In our haste to reach out we have overlooked the feelings and needs of fulfillment of the saints.
Any issue within the church which is so powerful it leads members to seek a new church home MUST be addressed. I have numerous responses from those who left their church to find one they could receive the spiritual fulfillment the needed. In each case it was the music that drove them off. We must remember the powerful importance Gospel music has in the daily life of a believer. As all have stated, "Gospel Music is next to the Bible in their Christian walk." It's much more than a Sunday music it is the sustaining music of their everyday life, just like reading the Bible.
I beg each pastor and music minister to readdress this issue and to seek a balance which will feed the saints and invite the lost.
Just jumping on the current popular bandwagon is not a good idea until we know for sure whose band wagon were jumping on.
Nothing scriptural can come from dividing the body of Christ nor trying to update the timeless truth. Jesus Christ is Lord and the way is narrow - it is those who choose the narrow path who must do the changing.
Now it's your turn to be heard.
"Why does this have to be a choice of P&W or Hymns? I like some of the P&W songs we sing but it causes me pain that there usually are no hymns included in the services. I can understand that some people like the newer styles, but I have attended my church for MANY years and I like the hymns we grew up on. I feel like the current worship leader does not care that I exist and that only I need to adapt, not the people who enjoy P&W. The attitude seems to be if you don't like it, either lump it or leave!"
========================================
"Jerry, I just read with interest and some amusement the blog writer who thinks Southern Gospel music is for people over the age of 60, etc. Well, I'm 46 and have enjoyed this music since I came to know what it really was. I was raised in church that sang from the 1951 model of the red-backed Church Hymnal. I recently went back to that church after spending 1.5 years in a church that sang the same kind of songs as my home church, but then changed pastors who personally told me "Southern Gospel doesn't reach people anymore." I felt myself drying up and dying on the vine. The music that supposedly reaches everyone (P&W) wasn't reaching me and so I went back to my old home church and as one of those old songs says, "It's Differnet Now". I'm back singing songs that mean something!
The songs in the hymnal, along with good Bible preaching, were the ones who first got me thinking about the condition of my soul and my desperate need for a Savior. I sang those songs all of my life, up until Holy Ghost conviction set in and I wanted no part of those songs. Why? Because they convicted me! But after the Lord saved my soul, I wanted to sing those songs about the Lord and how much He loves me and what he has in store for me when I leave this world.
As for the "old folks" dying and leaving nothing behind as the writer stated, It sounds like he should come to our place! The sacrifice and standards left behind by those old warriors of the cross is responsible for many, many other people coming to know the Lord each and every service.
I am one of them! When we start singing these old songs, the Lord starts blessing, tears begin flowing and the power of God starts falling! I'm so sorry the other writer hasn't experienced that. I'm sure if he had, he would not have written what he did.
It sounds to me as if the writer likes praise and worship music for the "awesome complexity" of the music. He never once mentioned liking it because of the words in the song speaking of our Savior's love, saving grace or our home in Heaven.
I've experienced both kinds of music and I guess I'll stick with real deal, Southern Gospel music, the music "a six-year-old could play."
========================================
"I would like to address the person that is soooooo sick of people downing contemporary music. Yes, the hymns are old but they are anointed & have been around for many many years. There is a song that Joel Hemphill sings "The Song Book & The Bible." If you would listen to that you will know why we love these "old" songs sooooo much. They, like the Bible, have been around so long because they have substance & meaning in the words & every song does not sound alike. With contemporary music every chorus, & that's all you can call them, sounds alike. They are here today & gone tomorrow, you never hear them again.
Gospel music is here to stay or it wouldn't have been around so long, unlike contemporary. It is not only "people over the age of 60" that like gospel but some of every age. The only reason the younger generation doesn't like gospel songs is because they don't know them & are too lazy to learn them. All they want to do is get upon stage & sing a chorus over & over & over & over & over with "musicians" that don't know how to play a hymn. They are just up there strumming on a guitar or beating on a keyboard with no tune whatsoever. The "young people" want to dance around to a chorus with absolutely no meaning. They mostly are just keeping time with the music.
A good song service is a prelude to the Pastor's sermon whatever day it might be. And yes, when the older generation dies the legacy we can leave behind is the hymns of gospel music by having taught it to our children and grandchildren. You know all you want to talk about is the "older" generation, well let me tell you something, tell me where we fit in. If it were not for the older generation, you wouldn't be here!!!!!
I am so tired of seeing these young people jumping around with nothing in mind but keeping time with the music. Gives them the opportunity to dance in church. To quote the writer "nothing I do on Sunday morning with "MY" band". You aren't glorifying God with "YOUR" band. You are suppose to be a tool to be used by God, volunteering, just like the rest of us or do you get paid for "YOUR" band. In Heaven there will be a new song, one that the angels have never heard. I just wonder what it will be like. Will they too leave out the "old people over 60" in Heaven? I can tell you NO. Yes, a 6 year old could play a southern gospel song because it has music they can read, not something with no tune."
========================================
"Our church does that contemporary music & have had many many people to leave because of the "music". They are going to other churches now. A new church could be started with the people that have left our church. Visitors come & visitors go because of the music. The head of the church sees the decline of the people & tithing but refuse to change to what most of the people want to hear, GOSPEL!! There are 2 sides to every story you know, not just the contemporary side.
I have heard it said "we must pass the baton to the younger generation". If we pass the baton to the younger generation & they do to the Bible what they have done to the music, I feel sorry for the generations they will leave a legacy for because the ones carrying the baton will want to change the Bible too. You think about the "contemporary" & the "Southern Gospel" & weigh the words & music. Gospel will still be around when we are all gone."
Until Next Time,
I love you,
Posted by Jerry Kirksey at 3:49 PM - Send Comments -   Email This Post
|
|
