Music has rarely ever rightly belonged to Christians. Coming from a Christian this seems like an odd statement. Let me explain: you know those old, boring songs in hymnals? Believe it or not, most of those songs weren’t written by Christian songwriters; in fact, most of those songs were folk songs, drinking songs, popular songs of the time. When Christianity was in its beginning years, it was (to put it lightly) not popular to be Christian. To put it correctly, you would be killed if you professed that Christ was the son of God and savior of the world. Considering this downside to Christianity, early Christians had to find ways to attract new followers to the faith. An excellent way to do this was to sing songs heard in secular plays (inns, taverns, the fields), but with words of praise instead of the original lyrics. Then, anyone who did not believe in Christ who heard them worshipping might be more interested. “What the heck? They’re singing the song I heard in the bar the other night? Well…might be worth a shot to check it out…I mean, it’s a catchy tune.”
Once Christianity was made legal, the religious arts began to flourish; through all of the middle ages, religion primarily dominated, not only in music, but in all of the arts. Fast forward past medieval counterpoint and you reach what we call classical music. While classical music was used in the form of worship, it also branched into other purposes, such as the nationalistic movement, and absolute art (music for the sake of music).
Somewhere in there, Christianity got left behind. Jesus seems to have missed most of the musical influences of the 20’s, 30’s, 40’s, 50’s and 60’s. Only recently has Christianity gone full circle, and taken the style of popular songs and applied it to worship. This trend of borrowing puts Christian music in a tight spot…how do we create instead of copying? Can we? Certainly our message hasn’t changed in the last ~2000 years; the medium, however, has. I have heard some people say that Christians should stay out of rock and other music genres because we can’t do it right. Well, what can we do right? How can we reinvent Christian music so that it is fresh, appealing, and similar enough to be part of this world while different enough to not be of this world? I can’t say I know the answer (I would say David Crowder is the answer…but I guess that would be a bit biased), but as a performer, it’s important to understand and appeal to your audience. A preacher is only as useful as long as he has a congregation. What is music if no one hears it because no one is interested? I’m calling for a serious revolution in Christian music, in style, in appeal, and in originality! Will you rise to the challenge?