Solutions to the Church Music Controversy Essay -- Music

Solutions to the Church Music Controversy There are many different approaches churches are taking to solve the controversial issue of the use of instrumental accompaniment to singing and contemporary ways of worshiping in churches. Contemporary churches are encouraging the use, whereas traditional churches are preaching against the use and are educating the people of their churches with what God and the Bible say about music. Some churches that use instruments in their services are holding different services for different types of audiences, like one for the elderly that will use the more traditional songs and hymns, and then another for the youth, or divorced, or the single people, or the married. Then there are those who say that this should not be something churches should even be arguing about, and that there are worse things happening in the church that should be focused on eliminating. In the article, â€Å"Churches Use Hip-Hop to Draw Teens† of the Rockford Register Star, reporter Edith Webster writes from an interview with minister Ralph Hawthorne, director of Let’s Talk It Out; which was part of the ‘Summer Showcase 2003’ program in Rockford, Illinois, â€Å" ‘Summer Showcase 2003’ includes free food, giveaways, a puppet show and a variety of gospel music for the entire family, but the young people will most likely be all into the gospel rap. ‘There is a generation of people who are unreached,’ said minister Ralph Hawthorne,’ † and to justify his actions he claims, â€Å" ‘To get the gospel out and to be relevant, we need to not change the message but maybe change the method’ † (Webster). Assuming that this is how God wants His message to be taught, I think there exists a tremendous amount of wrong in this way of think... ...Works Cited Deville, Nancy. "Gospel Singing at Mass is Break from Tradition." The Tennessee [Nashville, TN] 24 Jul. 2003: M1. InfoTrac Custom Newspapers. TexShare. Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. 29 Oct. 2003. Furr, Joe E. "Working Around Tradition."17 Nov. 2003. Christian Homesite. 29 Oct. 2003 . Smith, James B. Rich Mullins His Life and Legacy: an Arrow Pointing to Heaven. Nashville: Broadman & Holman, 2000. Webster, Edith C. "Churches Use Hip-Hop to Draw Teens." Rockford Register Star 2 Aug. 2003: 6C. InfoTrac Custom Newspapers. TexShare. Mary and Jeff Bell Library, Texas A&M University-Corpus Christi. 29 Oct.2003. Zondervan Study Bible: New International Version. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1985, 1999, 2002.