Terry Storch had an interesting post called "Secular Music in Church". I jumped in the conversation a bit and had an interesting back and forth with a fella who just disagreed with the premise of secular music in worship services.
There's an interesting article from Barna regarding the "Worship Wars" that many churches face within their congregations. A bit of a read but interesting. Click here to read. While it isn't specifically addressing the issue of secular music in church, it is an interesting read about worship in today's church.
I'll state my opinion as this: Music is neither "secular" or "Christian". Lyrics can either be about God, to God, or just about life in general (good or bad).
To sing songs that are not about God or to God in a worship service, is not in and of itself "bad" in my opinion. Some songs can engage a congregation to worship God or reflect on God and his nature while a song that is considered "secular" could be sung as a way to either illustrate a point or draw people into the message and service itself. There is NO outline on doing a worship service in the New Testament that I've seen. There is in 1 Corinthians 14 a way to NOT do a worship service. As Paul preached on Mars Hill quoting an inscription on an altar he saw "To the Unkown God" (sounds like a top 40 song to me) one could do the same in a service. Much like quoting a poet or philospher in those Biblical times, we do the same in quoting authors, actors, musicians, poets and politicians of today illustrating the fact that all are seeking something. We can use those things to direct the answer to God.
These are just my thoughts on the subject. I know there are many that disagree with this thought, which is fine, but to say it's against scripture is a stretch. As a matter of fact, I struggled a LOT with doing any type of secular music in a service and have arrived at this conclusion. It's not my preference to do it, but here and there I can see how it could be used. See this post about our first experience playing a secular song at Grace.
So, what do you all think?
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