David Peterson writes in his wonderful book, Engaging with God:

Those who regularly measure the value of what takes place in church in terms of its impact on their own spiritual growth and development need to recover Paul’s perspective. (p221)

Peterson goes on to explain Paul’s perspective: the goal of a church meeting is not just teaching, encouraging each other, and building each other up. Those things are crucial. But church meetings are also about engaging with God, together, through the ministry of the word, the sacraments, prayer, and (yes) through singing.

I wonder whether a critical spirit, where we measure the value of church in terms of what ‘I’ get out of it, is a danger for a view of church which focuses on church as edification and forgets about worship?

It is a bizarre accident of history that ‘a capella’ music means ‘played without instruments’.

Actually ‘a capella’ is Italian for ‘in the chapel style’… in other words, church music, sacred music. So how did we get to the point where ‘church music’ and ‘without instruments’ are synonymous?

It all began in the early church. While the Old Testament is full of instruments (lyres, horns, tambourines, etc), and Jewish temple worship used all sorts of instruments (though not their synagogues), from the day dot most Christians rejected instruments in their worship.

Why?

Well, because the Pagans used instruments in their gatherings - and so instruments reminded the early Church of unbridled lust and sensuality. Never mind that the Psalms enjoin us to praise God with skillful lyre playing (see Psalm 33). To guard life and doctrine, Christian worship must be separated unambiguously from pagan rites.

Clement of Alexandria (115–c216) told believers not to ‘employ the ancient psaltery, trumpet, timbrel, or flute’, which ‘inflame desire, stir up lust, or arouse anger’ (he did, out of respect for the Psalms, make concession for using cithara and lyre at agape meals).

Likewise, John Chrysostom (347-407) dismissed the musical instruments in the Psalms as, like cultic sacrifice, an accommodation to Israel’s ‘dull temperament’.

And so began a long tradition of defining our music practices negatively - by rejecting the practices of groups we don’t want to be like. I wonder whether we’re still prone to this kind of negative thinking?

In my last blog post I spoke about how deeply moved Augustine was by Christian worship in music.

But we can also learn from Augustine that fine feelings are not all there is to acceptable worship. He writes in his Confessions (probably his most famous work):

when it happens to me that the song moves me more than the thing which is sung, I confess that I have sinned blamefully and then prefer not to hear the singer. (Augustine, Confessiones X, xxxiii, 49-50 in McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature, 154.)

I love powerful music. But one risk for us as musicians is that we might inspire powerful emotions based on nothing but music. When we do that we sell ourselves tragically short.

May the word about Christ dwell richly amongst you, as you teach and warn one another in all wisdom, singing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs, with gratitude, in your hearts, to God.” (Col 3:16, my translation)

Our songs should engage our hearts. But it is the message about Christ - the word of Christ - which must be centre stage. It is fitting for powerful music to carrying that message, but never to overtake it.

St Augustine is one of my favourite theologians of all times. He was a deep thinker, but more importantly he went deep in to scripture.

In one of his more famous works he tells about a really moving experience he had with church music – he wasn’t a Christian at the time, but hearing the songs sung by Christians in church deeply moved him:

“I wept at your [God’s] hymns and canticles, deeply moved by the voices of your sweetly singing church. Those voices flowed into my ears, and the truth was poured out in my heart, whence a feeling of piety surged up and my tears ran down. And these things were good for me.” [Augustine, Confessiones IX, vi, 14 in James McKinnon, Music in Early Christian Literature (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1989), 154.]

Wouldn’t it be wonderful if that experience was repeated time and time again in our churches – people walking in and hear an amazing sound?

Recently at our church we’ve moved our band from being in a pit at the side of the stage to being on the stage itself. Also, at the KYCK conferences Garage Hymnal played at this month, we spanned the entire width of the stage – you couldn’t help but notice us. But surely having the band on stage necessarily means that the band is performing, doesn’t it? Even if the band doesn’t appear to be performing, isn’t their presence on stage just an unwanted distraction that gets in the way of praising God and encouraging one another through song?

Well, the answer to both these questions is ‘no’. Although aware of the dangers inherent in placing a band on the stage, leaders who bring about changes as substantial as placing a band centre stage are unlikely to make them in order to generate a negative experience for congregations. So why would you put a band on the stage during a Christian church service or conference?

Well, here are some thoughts that have guided us:

- Firstly, it is helpful to understand that the line between ‘serving’ and ‘performing’ is a very fine one. Where it is drawn is highly subjective. It is an issue that every Christian musician has to consider constantly, regardless of where they are placed in a building. For whether a ‘performance’ is occurring is ultimately less an issue of placement, appearance, and aesthetics than it is an issue of the heart within the musician.

Accordingly, our perceptions of ‘performance’ need to be carefully discussed with the person concerned before we jump to conclusions. What may appear to someone in the congregation to be a performance may simply be the result of a singer’s deep desire to passionately sing about our Lord and Saviour (let’s not forget just how amazing the news we’re singing about really is!). Such a scenario differs greatly from a genuine performance (as we know it in theatre or rock concerts) where an individual moves and sings in certain ways purely for the purpose of drawing attention to themselves, often with little interest in involving the audience. Although it may be done with passion, congregational musicianship must set itself apart from attention-seeking performance in this regard. That is, congregational song leading and musicianship must seek to involve everyone in the room, rather than merely imposing ideas on the congregation. So a church musician should be free to express their enthusiasm for what they are singing about or playing, but only to the extent that such expression is not a hindrance to the congregation.

- Music ministry is ultimately a Word ministry – as we sing, we are to let the word of Christ dwell in us richly (Colossians 3:16). Accordingly, it is right that congregational singing is given emphasis during a gathering in the same way that a Bible reading is, for example. Far too often, singing can be viewed merely as a leg-stretching exercise. Placing the musicians on stage (just as Bible readers are on the stage) is one way to communicate the significance of singing within a gathering.

- Singing at church is intended to be a highly relational, rather than individual, experience – see, for example, Ephesians 5:19: “Speak to one another with psalms, hymns and spiritual songs” and Colossians 3:16: “Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in your hearts to God.” Placing the musicians on the stage is aimed at increasing the relational aspect of what is occurring during the singing. Rather than the band being off to the side and visible (and sometimes audible) by only one half of the congregation, their presence on stage means there is a much clearer relational interaction occurring between the musicians and the congregation. From the stage, the band can far more easily carry out its function of leading the congregation in singing.

Speaking personally from a musician’s perspective, it is always hugely encouraging when I can actually make eye-contact with those I am serving. The hope is that the congregation would also feel more clearly led by being able to make eye-contact with the singers and the band.

- Although it may seem counter-intuitive, it is usually the case that increasing the prominence of the musicians in terms of their placement and sound quality (as occurs when the musicians are on the stage, see below) actually boosts the strength of the congregation’s singing. The hope is that this boosts the extent to which there is a relational dimension to the singing within the congregation.

- From a sonic/audio perspective, it is often the case that having the band in a setting other than on the stage will result in a less desirable sound overall. With a band pushed off to one side, for example, it is very difficult for the sound engineer to get a decent front of house mix. Having the musicians on stage allows for a much more balanced mix throughout the entire room, which in turn assists the congregation in their singing.

If you have moved your band onto the stage or are considering doing so, be aware that it will take some time for both the musicians (remember it’s often new for us too!) and the congregation to get used to the new set up. Continuing dialogue between the pastor, the congregation, and the musicians will be required. It will be a continuing process of refinement and readjustment, but one that will have great potential to enhance the quality and relational richness of congregational singing.