Bill Brandenstein (photo to the right below), assistant minister of music, and Clayton Erb, minister of music, introduced themselves as they commenced the seminar on Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs: The Changing Sound of Corporate Worship Music.

General purposes of music (Clayton Erb)

Dr. Erb then started by presenting the important foundation: a theology of worship. Quoting various authors/pastors, he presented some definitions. Worship ascribes eternal worth to God alone. Here are some comparisons of worship in Old vs. New Testament:

Old Testament	New Testament
God’s revealed presence	God’s indwelling presence
Priests only, Levites only	All are priests, all sing
Highly skilled	Edify regardless of skill
Grand processions	Meeting in synagogues, house churches, etc.
Centrality of the temple location	Many congregations in many locations
One central tabernacle	Many churches
Sacrifices specified by law	Sacrifices of praise, attitudes and actions
Full of the Word	Full of the Word
Outward and visual	Inward, at times unseen
National	Congregational
Worship system points forward to redemption	Worship celebrates redemption
Unfinished, bloody	Finished, blood shed once for all
Strict under law	Freely under grace

Music by divine mandate: Psalms & musical poetry is the only condition for doing music in the church. Be aware that after this life, all evangelism, preaching will be over. But we will continue to use music in the hereafter. So musicians we have a little longer ministry ahead of us. God’s eternal truths need to be in our music of course, i.e. in our lyrics, needing to be Biblical and meaningful.

Erb has pages & pages of Scriptures in the back of his music book talking about music (searched on “song,” “music” on biblegateway.com). Scriptural purposes for music evident from the Bible:

Ps. 27:6 – for vocal music

Ps. 150:3-4 – instrumental music

When he started almost no instruments were used except piano & organ. But he’s since used orchestra for many years.

Eph 5:18-19 – We can encourage one another through the singing & music that we have.

Col. 3:15-17 – Aids us in being thankful, amidst an especially self-centered thankless generation

Ps. 32:7-8 – Instruction, learning spiritual truths through music

Is. 55:11 – If our lyrics are excellent (Scriptural) it brings this verse into play

James 5:13 – Lifts the emotions of the heart

Ps. 43 – Even evangelism can be accomplished through the music

Spiritual music comes through spiritual people. The Levites, for example, were consecrated to God for service. They were set apart to be leaders in worship. OT priestly musicians were very skilled. Congregationally everyone can sing; but if they’re going to be put aside & presented to the congregation so the enjoyment of their music is not clouded by poor musicianship. There were many musicians in OT worship (4000+ musicians for King David). The greatness of many people worshiping God together; they were sanctified & unified. Be aware, though, that music offended God Himself on occasion (Amos 2:3) if their hearts were far from Him. Often when pastors join a church, the music ministry is utterly interested in being under the pastoral oversight of the church.

Every activity in Scripture that is pertinent to NT church for corporate worship (Bill B)

1. Praise and adoration based on the nature and work of God revealed in His Word (Ps 33). Praise is to reveal the attributes of God & doctrines of the Word (Ps 59, 89:1, 119)
2. Thanksgiving is commanded, to give thanks in all things (1 Th 5:18, Heb 13:15). Offering a sacrifice of praise.
3. Confession (Neh 9:12, Acts 19:18).
4. Public prayer (Acts 6:4; Mt 21:13; Col 4:2).
5. Intercession on behalf of each other (2 Cor. 1:11; 1 Th 5:25; Ja 5:14-16)
6. Ordinance of baptism (Matthew 19; Acts 2; Eph. 4)
7. Communion (1 Cor 11:23-26; Acts 2:42)
8. Giving (Acts 2:45; 1 Cor. 16:2; 2 Cor 9:5-7): don’t minimize that giving is an act of worship
9. Public reading of Scripture. Do not neglect reading it outside of the sermon time. (Neh. 8; 1 Tim 4:13)
10. Instruct in the Word (Acts 6:1-4; 1 Tim 4:14ff)
11. Application of the Word (Neh. 8:8)
12. Fellowship. Not fellowship hall dinner, but the exercise of spiritual gifts, where 1-1 we’re interacting & exhorting & encouraging one another (Acts 2:42; 1 Cor 12:7)
13. Church discipline. It’s necessary for the purifying of the body of Christ, for those who are claiming to be Christian but unrepentant of sin, with a view toward restoration (1 Cor 5:13)

Note that singing isn’t on our list. This is because many of these things can be accomplished through singing. We can praise, adore, and even confess through music. But we have all these things that are unchanging.

There are important things to apply as we consider the changing sound of corporate music. What are some unchanging Scriptural principles that apply to music in any age, any culture?

• Content-driven worship (Col. 3; Eph. 5). Our music is to be informed by a rich knowledge of the Word. The greatest value in music should be found in what it says. Equipping, so the flock can sing to one another in psalms, hymns & spiritual songs.
• The skillful example of the artisans of the OT. We are under grace, and though all are to edify, does that mean there’s no credibility to the OT example? No. There’s a respect and honor shown to him by careful craftmanship. We do the best we can, and the greatly skilled perhaps should have a place of ministry. There’s something to be said for “good art” that ministers at a deep level. At Grace, we have both participatory for everyone, and music of a higher complexity, e.g., for the choir. We hope the congregation participates by listening to the choir and thinking about what’s said, otherwise it’s just a performance. Pastors spend time & years preparing to preach, shouldn’t we aim for excellence in our corporate music as well? Some churches can offer musical training. One more note: extremely skillful music making transcends style in many instances. Not everyone loves classical music, but skillful music transcends the style.
• Let all be done to edify (1 Cor 14:26). At a musical level, personal preference is pushed aside to a certain extent. Things are to be done in order (not like some supposed religious services seen on TV that are utter bedlam).
• Do not use “worldly music.” Can’t define that, cuz the Bible doesn’t tell us. But you must define for your church in your community in your time what is worldly and what is appropriate. From a group perspective, there is a conflict of interest if they confuse what we do on Sunday with what they see in the world. If our brother hears in music that from which he was delivered in this age, how does it edify? When he was growing up there were popular music forms that represented everything raised up against God (society, stability, morality, etc.) and now those forms are all over the church. Perceptions can vary widely, so you have to lead wisely; there are some for whom, for example, rock music holds no worldly connotations whatsoever because that’s what they grew up with in a Christian home!
• Do not offend your brother/sister. Romans 14, “destroy with your food he for whom Christ died.” We are to be known by our love for one another. In many cases, music is a discipleship issue; you may need to work with a weaker brother to teach them were the Scripture delineates these issues.
• Include the mature & elderly in the life of the church (1 Jn 2:12-14, greetings of 2Jn and 3Jn). It’s important to have seasoned believers mentoring & discipling younger believers. If a church caters only to young people, how can that happen? So we feel a “balanced” music ministry with multiple musical styles is appropriate.
• Show reverence and awe in corporate worship. He appreciated Dr. MacArthur’s explanation of why he wears a tie & coat. We feel the same about the music. We often prefer hymns & traditional symphonic sounds, it’s an easy way to differentiate ourselves from the world to show awe. You may do it differently, but that’s how we’ve done it in our main morning services. Heb. 12:28-29 are not directly concerned with corporate worship, but personal; yet if personal doesn’t affect corporate, then what are we worshiping. Also consider Is. 6 and Rev. 5, what do you see there? Emphasis on God’s holiness & loftiness that is so profound. Our worship should be conceived not to dumb down the loftiness/transcendence of God. We see a lot of emphasis on personal intimacy with god in a lot of the choruses, which is good; but it should be balanced.

How do you deal with choosing contemporary music? When you evaluate the music, ask these questions:

• Is it memorable and singable? If you are able to examine the structure… is it sophisticated enough that it creates interest, but accessible enough that everyone can sing it. Songs that stick tend to be substantial and interesting. A lot of music today is uninteresting melodically.
• Is the music well-crafted? Is it a short idea repeated many ideas with few chords, or is there some measure of skill that creates interest, taking you somewhere?
• Does the sound & style of the music appropriately support the lyrics? If it doesn’t, the music will fight or obscure the message of the song.
• Is the style of music able to be appreciated by many in the church family? Or is it transient, resulting in fleeting interest.
• Is it crafted well so it doesn’t sound trite or cheap?

How do you evaluate the lyrics? A bit easier cuz you can look at theology. Examine the content of every lyric in your service, so the whole package presents a sound theology.

• Use lyrics that say something unique.
• Check the lyrics for charismatic and experience-driven theology, e.g., “Holy Spirit rain down on us,” “more of your presence,” etc. Feelings have a place but there are more important things.
• Look for a balance between subjective and objective realities.
• Pursue emotion-filled worship instead of emotion-driven worship. Psalms are full of emotions (”shout for joy to the Lord”) but we are responding to the truths of God, not just coming to “get an experience” we are coming to give Him reverence. A right understanding of the word shows emotions is a response to Biblical truth.
• Have a right understanding of God’s presence. Getting good music, experience doesn’t mean suddenly God was present (1 Cor 2:12; John 3:34), He was always there!
• Avoid misrepresentation of spiritual warfare
• Avoid materials created for seeker services. We don’t want vague songs that don’t talk in details about God, about Christ.
• Avoid vain repetition. Someone has coined “7-11″ (seven words repeated eleven times). We can’t really use those songs a whole lot.

How to Fill Your Services with Meaningful Things (Clayton Erb)

If you’re working with children, teaching them songs, make sure they’re Biblically correct. Don’t give them metaphors, give them direct “God is love,” “Jesus is our Savior.” Don’t use songs like “Deep and wide” unless you’re going to spend time explaining what you’re talking about!

Creative worship services:

• Pre-service options: live music or CDs. Silent prayer, meditation
• Call to worship: if you don’t have a choir, have a Scripture or other call to worship
• Special music: choirs, solos, duets, quartets, instrumentals
• Never call them “announcements,” call them ministry opportunities. Only announce things that are relevant for everyone, other things people can read
• Giving
• Message time: multimedia, whatever
• Close of service: sing a hymn, say a prayer, have an invitation (not aisle, but availability of prayer room)
• Instrumental postlude: live or pre-recorded

The whole concept of special music needs to go away. Does that mean the congregation isn’t special? No we call it an anthem, a trio, etc. It’s a musical offering. To demean the rest of the ministry is not our intent, but we probably do.

Erb went to a church nearby for a few weeks and they sang a bunch of songs he didn’t know. Then they sang “Great Is They Faithfulness” and everyone sang, then returned to songs where no one sang!

The changing sound of corporate worship involves transitioning different instrumental combinations & styles of music. You’ve heard acoustic & classical, and that’s good. What’s interesting is that the way that music is produced is rather different. Traditional music has to be careful scored out; contemporary music is much more improvisatory which is a tremendous advantage for a smaller church.

Make sure you have one excellent accompanist, even a high schooler who can play well. You should have one skilled accompanist who can play piano or synthesizer. Then you can add an electric bass. Then add an acoustic guitar. Finally, you can add drums. But you don’t do everything with the same instrumentation. If you do a lead sheet, have it come and go, piano only, a cappella, etc. Why not a pianist & a drummer? It’s a bad sound, you need an electric bass for the bottom. Don’t put instruments together that don’t work well.

You need to have a sanctified drummer. If not available, it’s all over. If volume is so loud that it covers up everything else, there’s no point to it. We now have dummy (electric) drums, which are a blessing, but no drummer likes to use them. Plexiglass cage can also help (and can shield them from the bullets, ha ha).

Q&A

Points made during Q&A:

• The use of unbelieving musicians is an issue for the elders. They’ve seen it work — though not those who are leaders/vocalists, but instrumentalists, etc.
• It’s better to have group singing than an individual. Also, choirs are a good thing.
• My job as a music minister is to protect the congregation from bad musicians (slight joke).
• Ill qualified musicians? Implement change slowly. Encourage folks to get training in singing, etc. What about choir members who can’t sing? A tone-deaf person is like someone who’s color blind, we suggest they not go on to the bomb squad for their job; so if you can’t sing, don’t join the choir.
• Introducing a new song: make sure it’s singable, have it sung by a group, or instrumentally. Words are in the handout. Maybe a week later have the congregation sing it.
• Is music moral or amoral? You can’t compare it that way. Does it directly connote something with moral meaning? Not usually. But over a certain volume, adrenaline kicks in, there are physiological responses to sound, we can use it, but don’t abuse it.
• Regarding practice of music. Is it mandatory? Can I sing on Sunday if I miss it? We send MP3 files to our musicians; we’ll use original CD or bang out their part & email them their music. We can do it for the first time and nail it, because they practiced by themselves. If you can send out original CD tracks, you need copyright permissions.
• Regarding improvisation, it seems counterintuitive to corporate music? Bill supports improvisation from a lead sheet (reading chords, figuring out the lines from the sheet, fill in, etc.); in contrast to detailed instrumentation. But that’s not the same as soloing off, if it’s too wild, we draw that in. Bill doesn’t like long instrumental breaks.