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As you will hear us say, we do not judge others for the styles of music they personally prefer or other churches for the styles of music they employ in worship. The Bible does not include any sheet music. Melodies, chord progressions, percussion beats, etc are all absent from the Law of God. Choices in this area are considered by us as a matter of personal conviction. However, we as church leaders do have definite convictions in this area. Thus, although we do not judge those of a different opinion, we do, in practice, follow our heartfelt convictions when planning our praise and worship. We feel that it is a vital responsibility of the leadership of this church to oversee that the convictions we do have in this area are faithfully and consistently employed by the musicians who lead worship in all of our church meetings. What follows is a description of those convictions and some practical ways we seek to remain true to them in our services and cell groups.
Worship is basically vertical (man to God). The songs are intended to minister to God. It is constantly in our minds that He is the one we desire to please. He is the only One who is intended as the audience of our worship. We seek to keep the focus of all our worship activities on Him. This does not mean that we do not recognize that music has a valid horizontal application (person to person) as well - even, at times, in a church service. But worship is different. We lift our praises heavenward with all of our hearts as we lift up our Savior. Our goal, quite naturally then, is to follow this very simple rule when choosing music for worship: We ask ourselves, "Does God like it? Is this what God wants to hear right now?". This is in stark contrast to a program that asks the questions "What kinds of music do I like?" or "What kinds of music do the people in our church like?" or "Can we attract people to our services with popular music styles?". God's preferences rule.
I know you may be asking how we could know what God's music preference is. We, as leaders, must seek God with all our hearts and know that He will answer us. We must discern that answer as best we can. In this, though, we believe God gives us a valuable clue to knowing the answer. He tells us that He inhabits the praises of His people. Therefore, if a certain song performed in a certain way causes a discernable sense of His manifest presence to descend on His people, we know that He considers what we are doing to be the "praises of His people". Once again, a right discernment of His presence by our leaders is key to finding the answer. The more of His glory is present, the better. The practical side of this is that we remain open to trying a variety of songs in worship and choose to continue using those that we feel are inviting His manifest presence. We further discern, with prayerful consideration, when is the right time to use a song or when is the right time to continue repeating a song.
Another question we ask when considering a potential worship song is "Does this sound we are making 'fit' in the place of God's throne? Would it be appropriate in the atmosphere of heaven?". Of course, we know that this is an ideal standard, but it is good to have something to point us in the right direction. If a song would better fit in a pop performance, a concert hall or even in a bar, then we have an idea that we may not quite be on target. Christian songs that sound identical musically to worldly styles such as rock music or country music, for example, would not be our first choice. Music is spiritual. How likely is it that the Holy Spirit could have been involved in the creation of a music style that was originated by worldly, non-believing individuals?
Again, we are open to seeking His presence with a variety of musical expressions. Here, though, we list some further guidelines that seem to serve us well in this pursuit. These are only guidelines and are somewhat fluid. Music is undeniably emotional. Music that is beautiful, harmonious and evokes positive feelings such as joy, peace, love, hope, encouragement, victory, strength and repentance would be preferred to sounds that create an atmosphere of despair, gloom, defeat, discord, pain, darkness, depravity or arrogance. We use instruments on many occasions. We use choirs as well. We generally prefer the vocal component (congregational participation and the choir) to be stronger and we try to avoid drowning them out with the instruments. Percussion (drums, tambourines, etc.) are used frequently, as well. We like to also keep the percussion volume from drowning out the other elements. Recordings can be used when live instruments may not be available (such as in cell meetings). Lyrics, naturally, must be consistent with Biblical truth and/or scriptural patterns of praise. We indeed seek to worship Him in Spirit and truth.
The final area to address when it comes to worship has to do with what is the range of allowed (and encouraged!) modes of expression. The New Testament does not give a long discourse on this subject. However, there is such a discourse in the Bible and the New Testament does refer us to it. In fact, we are commanded to teach this text! I refer, of course, to the Psalms. Colossians 3:16 plainly says "teaching and admonishing one another in Psalms and hymns and spiritual songs". Thus, we are, in a real sense, commanded to follow the teaching of the Psalms when it comes to understanding how to praise and worship. This means when we worship, we will sing, clap hands, kneel/bow down, use instruments, shout to the Lord, pray and yes, dance. By dance, we refer to a holy display that is not tainted, again, with worldly styles. Jumping and twirling in a rejoicing manner are what seem to by referred to by the word in the original language. We highly encourage our people to broaden their horizons to using all of these forms, at various times, both in their personal worship and in the congregation.