Ross Cobb, the incredible musician behind the Sydney Anglican Cathedral’s various groups, has an interesting article in the latest Southern Cross. (Click here to read the original)

One of his big points is that classical and contemporary church music teams both need to work together to reach the community:

Neither should look down their noses at the other. If we are going to reach 10 per cent of Sydney, then it is inevitable that we are going to have to make ‘horses for courses’ decisions and incorporate as many styles of music as there are people. The gospel is bigger than any musical style, be it old or recent.

It’s a very interesting article. Particularly relevant for us is his indictment on much contemporary music:

[Visitors] are just flummoxed by some of our contemporary Christian songs. They are tricky to pick up and the musical backing we are providing is quite thin.

This is a very real concern - although to be fair it is a criticism we need to consider whatever the style we choose. The melodies of hymns and choruses alike can be inaccessible to outsiders, depending on their musical background and cultural exposure. It is true that many people (whether through their parent’s record players, private school education or ABC Classic FM) have a familiarity with great hymns. Anyone who has been to the rugby knows at least the melody to “I Vow To Thee”. Cobb is right that we must reach these people.

But equally true is that the landscape of Australia’s cultural heritage is getting more and more diverse. You can expect some age and ethnic sub groups will never have heard an organ — my parents’ generation was the one that on the whole stopped sending their kids to Sunday school. The team at Mars Hill Church in Seattle have been openly critical of a Christian music market which assumes that what works in Nashville should work in any continent. I think there is something in that - we need to be asking who is in our neighbourhood and our culture that we can reach out to, and how can music help us do that?

So Cobb is at his strongest, I think, when he calls for excellence and mission-mindedness no matter what the style.

Now, what you do with that hymn is very much up to you. People have a very diverse taste and God has an even broader one. Jazz the hymn up if that’s you. Sing it with a guitar, a didgeridoo, a pipe organ- whatever. But make sure you sing them – the tunes are good and the words are tried and tested and full of gospel truth.

Amen.

Last week was Catholic World Youth Day here in Sydney. It was surreal to walk down a deserted George St in the heart of the CBD hearing visitors from Angola to Zambia sing “We Love Jesus” at the top of their lungs. Garage Hymnal decided not to play at any official WYD events, but I did make an effort to get out and see our good friends Judy Bailey and band perform at the Opera House Forecourt. The whole circular quay area was full of people from all over the world, waving flags and asking “do you love Jesus??! … Me too!!!”. An incredible atmosphere.

Judy is a wonderful German Caribbean artist (www.judybailey.de) who was kind enough to lend us “Call For Mercy” on the last album. It was great to catch up with her and her husband Patrick.

Also out for WYD was UK worship pastor Tim Hughes, who has written a bunch of songs which are sung in Australian churches – songs like “Here I Am To Worship”, “Happy Day” and “Clinging to the Cross”. I was blessed to be invited to have lunch together with him and 20 other worship music leaders from all walks of life: I had great conversations with my new friends Steve and Tim from Crows Nest Baptist, Dan from Christian City Church, a bunch of people from AOG churches in Melbourne, Sue (who called herself a “Bible Catholic”) from Pymble and many others.

Obviously we had a lot of differences in perspective. But it was a joy to share our different perspectives over a meal, with new friends, and hear about the challenges and joys of people trying to serve Jesus as best they can in very different churches across Australia. The informal lunch was the first step in setting up an Australian limb of a network Tim Hughes runs called “Worship Central” (www.worshipcentral.org), which is all about networking people involved in church singing all over the world. I hope it’s not the last!

Speaking to Tim about our challenges here in Sydney raised a number of interesting questions in my mind. One thing he said, in particular, has been on my mind. He said that no matter how hard we plan, how great the songs we write are, whether we turn the amps up to 11 – whatever we do – nothing will come of it, nobody’s heart will be moved, unless God by his grace chooses to work in and through our meetings.

I need to continually repent of the folly of thinking otherwise. But in particular I think I also need to repent of the narrow way I’ve been thinking about the work of God in our meetings. As I read through Acts afterwards I was struck by the way the Holy Spirit was involved in the corporate life of the church.

Now I’m not meaning to start here a discussion about Pentecost, or the role of tongues in the post-Acts church. But what I am reminded of is that our God is one in three persons. Not two persons and an impersonal force which works magic behind the scenes. The early church was spoken to by the Spirit over and over again (Acts 10:19, for instance). It was encouraged by the Spirit (Acts 9:31), who after all is the Counsellor Jesus promised would come and be with us in his absence (John 14-16). The church had a living relationship with the Counsellor.

So what difference does it make when we start thinking of life as the church with such a companion? What does it change about the way we conduct our public meetings, or our time of singing?