Today’s post at Internet Monk featured some classic quotes from Michael Spencer on evangelicalism. This one was on music in the church.
Music is part of Christian worship and Christian art. We’re interested- as we ought to be—in how music participates in the life and worship of the church. But there is simply no way- in normal circumstances—to justify music as the deciding factor in church selection. To do so is to betray a consumerist mentality rather than a Biblical worldview.
Theology? The implication is that the Holy Spirit is leading in such a choice. Even more importantly, the message is that music is the important factor in Christian growth and discipleship. My Christian consumerist friends are quite certain that it’s what happens during the 45 minutes of music at their church that will make the greatest different in the life they lead during the following week.
That’s outrageously wrong, and I can’t imagine why evangelicals are tolerating it. The demotion of preaching and the elevation of music is an invasion of the church by a culture that wants less content, less authority and more experience and feeling. Post-modern apologists may make the case that preaching is passe’ (and some forms of it always will be) but preaching as a divinely sanctioned methodology has Biblical theology on its side.