Responding to the Critics

In the second article, I listed three frequent criticisms of contemporary worship, and, by extension, musical artists and their organizations.  I can only respond to them from the perspective of someone who is still a neophyte in this area.

Contemporary Worship Uses Commercial Music

This point would be impossible to argue with since, by definition, CCM is distinguished as something new.  The music is more commercial than the worship music we all grew up with.  But the music we grew up with was the contemporary music of its day and replaced something viewed as traditional.  We have already noted that before Charles Wesley came on the scene in the Anglican Church, there were no hymns as we know them.

Today’s Contemporary Christian Music is more commercial and aligned with secular music in style, but for a younger audience, it is also more relatable.  Today’s CCM will someday be the music of the old, and something else will come forward to replace it.  The Contemporary Christian Music of today in no way rivals the theology within Charles Wesley’s hymns, but what does?  The audience is not leaving the service and immersing themselves in Clarke’s Commentary or Biblical Archaeology Review.  In the way someone who is compelled to preach on a street corner is taking the gospel to others, CCM is traveling that same road.

Contemporary Worship Has Given Us Christian Superstars

There are definitely CCM artists within this genre of music who are “superstars.”  What taints them, if at all, is that the origin of their recognition comes from churches with some “baggage.”  Hillsong Church has some serious problems that have hopefully been addressed. They set out to make music one of the core strengths within the church, and they succeeded.  Their success led to the abuse of trust with church members, but they are not alone in that failure. 

Other churches with large followings preach “Word of Faith” philosophies, which are problematic for me.  However, I believe those ministries are separate from contemporary music because CCM has no denominational boundaries.  People of any faith or denomination can enjoy it without hearing a “prosperity-based” sermon.  Our local Methodist Church has a contemporary service, where I am sure a few of the HIllsong songs made it into the service.  For sure, our local pastor is not a Word of Faith minister, and I am unaware of any congregates who were injured by singing along to one of the songs originating from Hillsong or Elevation.

My wife has made an excellent point concerning artists who become or want to become superstars. Often, fame leads to compromise when an artist begins to fade in popularity.  At this point, some begin to compromise their principles to remain popular.  With CCM artists, this can be particularly problematic because you are dealing with an audience of vulnerable children and adults.  When faith is broken in faith-based organizations, bad things happen to many people.  However, I consider this cautionary, directed toward individual failings, different from CCM as a genre.  For this reason, I have added a fifth installment to this discussion concerning the success and wealth of these popular artists.

Contemporary Worship is Ruining Preaching

I cannot understand this line of reasoning because preaching can be largely based on the skill of the person delivering the message and the congregation’s wishes.  If this means trivializing the faith, I can only say that I did not find it in my brief exploration of CCM.  I did not listen to accompanying sermons when the music was used in formal worship services only because that was not my intent.  I also focused on music with wide audience appeal for reasons I will discuss in my next article.

Because of its use in many denominations, the music must stand alone for either criticism or admiration.  In my time, I have heard great preachers and really awful preachers.  Music was always an accompaniment, not the core message.  Music may get people into the church’s doors, but if the message is wrong, they will not listen and will not return.

If we were all alike in our thinking and interpretation of religion, there would only be one denomination.  In that world, there would only be an Ancient Greek, Latin, or King James Version of the Bible and no debate as to interpretation or meaning.  That limitation in worship faded centuries ago.