Clement on the music wars (an excerpt)

The battle over music in the church is an old, old battle. Calvin R. Stapert writes about it in his book, A New Song for an Old World. We publish an excerpt here: “Clement [of Alexandria] affirms music that he describes as sober, pure, decorous, modest, temperate, grave, and soothing, over against music he describes…

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Ministering in Music or Just Singing a Song?

Bonnie Oberg When I was 11 years old, the pastor of our very small church asked me to sing a solo for the evening service. I’m not sure why he took that chance on an 11- year-old girl, but he did. I squeaked through the song and started to sit down, feeling totally embarrassed. He…

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Music and Missions

Doug Bachorik an excerpt from the new book, New Heart, New Spirit, New Song One of the temporal pleasures of being a missionary in a country and culture different from one’s own is the chance to experience the unique products of that place: exciting foods, new clothes, interesting architecture, fascinating music. I will never forget…

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What About Country-Western, Southern Gospel, and Bluegrass Music?

Tim Fisher Historic musical art forms are known to us in these familiar terms: classical, folk, and popular (pop). An understanding of these terms is essential to grasp the full picture of what is happening in our culture today. The first term, classical, refers to music or art that has intrinsic value or worthiness based…

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Why Cling to a Conservative Music Standard?

by Paul Downey Ministries need a Biblical and philosophical basis for rejecting popular music in favor of conservative, traditional music. The music used in our churches and schools should provide a high-quality, meaningful alternative to the high-pressure worldly influence of popular music. While the text is important, it is by no means the only criterion…

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The Center of Our Music

by Brad McKenzie Recently, while preparing the walls and ceilings of our house for painting and papering, I have gained additional experience with an electric sander. In fact, one of three sanders I have used literally fell apart through frequent use. This enabled me for the first time to look at the mechanism, normally hidden…

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What Is at Stake in the Music Debate?

by John Vaughn Nothing seems to provoke dogmatic statements like dogmatic statements. Solomon said in Proverbs 15:1, “A soft answer turneth away wrath: but grievous words stir up anger.” The thoughts in this column are a sincere attempt at a soft answer, but they may still touch a nerve. Most of our controversies involve three…

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