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            Last week something happened I rarely ever see, something for which I am thankful to God at this season.  On a recent trip to South Carolina, I had the privilege of enjoying lunch with a former student.  He with me the joys and struggles of the church he currently serves as pastor. He noted one area of controversy—music (surprise, surprise). He had recently installed a projection system to put the words on a screen. One prominent church member promptly threatened to “blow the whole thing up.”

            I love hymns and hope the church never loses them. Hymns teach a level of theology most contemporary songs lack, although there are some healthy theological songs being written (In Christ Alone, for example). After all, the second place most people get their theology from is the songs they sing in church, so this matters. Hymns also tie us to a larger, deeper heritage that reminds us the movement of God called Christianity is about a lot more than us in this present place and time. 

            At the same time, God gives every generation a new song (Psalm 40:3).  We witness this particularly in times of spiritual awakening, for every major movement, whether a reformation or an awakening, changes the liturgy of the church.  From Luther in the Reformation, to the Wesley’s and Isaac Watts in the 18^th century, to the rise of contemporary worship with its fountainhead in the Jesus Movement, one can hardly study the history of revivals without seeing the history of hymnody as well.

            So what was the thing I saw last week?  I spoke at a youth event with a focus on worship.  Saturday night I made the statement, paraphrased from my friend Ed Stetzer, that people my age and older are in danger of sacrificing their children and grandchildren’s spiritual future on the altar of their preferences.  Too many adults who should be more mature tend to miss the difference between one’s personal preference and biblical truth.  For example, some love Southern Gospel but loathe more recent worship music. My preference is the latter, but I appreciate the fact that the former has been a blessing and encouragement to many as well. And there is more to it than the style. Southern Gospel music tends to focus a lot on heaven.  Contemporary worship today tends hardly ever to focus on eternity. The pendulum swings often include substance as well as style. 

            The thing I saw last week that so blessed me was this. As I was speaking, and about to enjoy a serious time of fairly cranking worship through music (my personal preference for corporate worship includes a nice dose of the subwoofer), I challenged the older folks in the room not to miss the fact that many youth today long to worship God, and to know Him. But their preference in music may be different than that of their grandparents.  Then it happened: a dear, sweet, great-grandmother sitting in the back with her friends (all in rocking chairs, no less), raised her hand in support of what I said. So I continued railing on the subject as I am wont to do.  Afterward I spoke to this sweet, senior saint. She gets it. She understands that it has less to do with style and more to do with meeting God.  I wish she were the rule not the exception. As I finished preaching and we moved through the invitation into the time of lengthy corporate worship, I was so blessed to see her stand up and move up to stand not far behind the youth who stood in the front worshiping fervently.

            My point has little to do with style. It has to do with perspective. This lady understood that the musical instrumentation has less to do with corporate worship than the attitude of the hearts of those gathered.  She blessed me. In my travels, she is far too rare to see in her generation.

            But her example also made me think.  What might God be doing in our time?  Could it be that worship now, from Crowder to Hillsong United, from praise bands to Christian rock (an oxymoron for many, no doubt!), demonstrates nothing more than a spoiled generation of youth who only want worship done their way? It could be, but if so it is because they have watched a generation of spoiled adults who want the same thing!  But what if there is more?

            In the Evangelical Awakening in England in the 1700s, God moved mightily through people like John and Charles Wesley and George Whitefield, all preachers who also all wrote hymns.  Hymns became a major tool in the spread of the Spirit in that day. Hymnbooks existed earlier, but with Charles Wesley the hymnbook became a tool of evangelism.  Charles penned over 6,000 hymns, while John wrote many also. Sallee notes that the hymn-writing of the Wesley’s was influenced by another spiritual awakening known as the Moravian movement:

The Wesleys’ association with the Moravians …had an important influence on what was to become Wesleyan hymnody.  Its immediate effect was to introduce to congregations an enthusiastic type of hymn singing quite foreign to the sober singing of the metrical psalms.  It also revealed the spiritual possibilities of the hymn.1

            Singing truth with passion, what a novel thought. Youth today do not reject hymns; they reject the hymnal, and they reject singing in church so devoid of passion that it would make one think “Amazing Grace”is anything but amazing. The impact of Wesley’s songs would be hard to overestimate.  To a largely illiterate population the hymns taught doctrine and, due to their application-oriented messages, Christian experience.  Thus the music became a means to further the awakening.  As McElrath noted, their hymns “combined the revivalist’s fervor with the cooling elements of disciplined poetry and biblical theology.”2  Note what I said: the hymns taught doctrine.  To an illiterate population the hymns taught doctrine.  Perhaps that is what contemporary songs should do as well.  We have an amazingly illiterate population theologically in the youth culture.  What if those of us who have influence in the youth culture both inside and outside the church thought more about the place of communicating truth to worshipers when we sing and write the songs we do?

            Sadly, the sweet encouragement of this dear lady only accented a sad sign I saw at a church in Louisiana a couple of weeks earlier.  I am not a fan of church signs anyway since most are so very cheesy.  This one said: “Just Say No to Contemporary.”  Interesting.  First of all, “just say no”is a contemporary expression.  So they used a contemporary expression to complain about something contemporary.  Duh.  Second, “contemporary” means “with the times.”  Every church is contemporary: some are contemporary to the 1950s, others the 1970s (where “Because He Lives” by the Gaithers is off the hook), and some to other eras.  The issue has little to do with whether one may be “contemporary,” but whether all the church does, from corporate worship to living out the faith in the culture, contextualizes the message in the language of the day. It has less to do with being relevant and more to do with being significant. The dear senior saint got that; this church sign did not.

            Have you confused your preferences with truth? Have you given thought to the matrix of communicating doctrine in our songs in a way that both ties us to a greater movement while speaking to our given context?  I am praying for God to give the church a number of young Charles Wesley’s who get that.

Adapted from my book Firefall.

1James Sallee, A History of Evangelistic Hymnody (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1978), 13.

2Hugh McElrath, “Music in the History of the Church,” Review and Expositor 69 (Spring 1972), 156.

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