*We will not seek to have music simply for music’s sake.

The purpose of secular music is to entertain, attract attention to itself or the performer, and/or influence mood or emotions through the vehicle of music alone.  The words are secondary, and many times they are absent, incomprehensible, or irrelevant.   We must be careful not to mix the purpose of secular music with the purpose of sacred.  While our goal is not to develop a hopelessly culturally irrelevant music program, we are also not seeking to attract people primarily through our music programs.  We have no desire to simply “entertain” people with our music and its performance. Additionally, it is invalid to seek to manipulate people’s emotions through our music.  While it is appropriate to utilize music to prepare people for the message, our focus should be to accomplish this through the words and not the music alone.

It should also be stated that music is only one vehicle for the purpose of worship.  It is a misunderstanding of what worship is to refer to the musical portion of the service as the “worship time” followed by the “preaching time.”  The title “worship leader” given to those who lead the body in music or drama implies that the communication of God’s Word through the preaching and the individual’s response to that preaching is somehow not “worship.”  Worship involves the accurate exaltation of God’s name and person from a heart which has been impacted by the truth of God through the ministry of the Holy Spirit.  We must never confuse a “good” feeling for worship as, often, true worship is the result of “a broken and humbled spirit” when confronted by the person and perfections of God.

*We will avoid a performance mentality in our music.

A performance mentality can be understood as a primary focus on the individual performing the music and their technique or abilities rather than a focus on the content of the music being performed.   The current music video and concert emphasis has produced an environment in which the average musician must either meet the “standard” or be left out.  Often the result is that those in the audience cannot (or sometimes refuse to) be blessed by the musician unless they are polished performers who sing or play like the current star on the stage or video.  Performance orientation can reveal itself as an overemphasis on the musician’s style, technique or ability, clapping for the performance or the performer, or discounting the ministry of the music on the basis of the performance alone.  The goal of the musician should never be to have people notice him/her, but rather to point people to Christ and to have caused them to understand God better.

At the same time it is important to understand that the above statements are not an excuse for shabby or poorly performed music.  This communicates the other extreme--that the message and purpose of the music are unimportant and that we  simply include music in the services for “traditional” purposes, to fill time, or to provide transitions from one point in the service to another.  Both of these extremes distract and detract from the purpose for which we would have music in the church services at all.

*We will avoid worldliness in our music and its performance.

The most clear definition of worldliness is found in 1 John 2:17 where John describes the World’s system and philosophy as characterized by three primary areas – lust through visual stimulation, lust through physical stimulation, and illegitimate pride in what one has or is.  We, as representatives and communicators of God, must be constantly on guard to protect our music and its performance from the infiltration of worldly philosophy.  Our performance of music must guard against illicit visual or vocal stimulation in the listener.  We must guard our motives to ensure that our communication does not suggest pride in the abilities which God has given to glorify Him.

*We will promote an environment that protects all consciences and promotes unity

 Romans 14 speaks to a problem very relevant to today’s music debate.  Within the church at Rome were two groups of believers described as “weak” brothers and “strong” brothers.  While many have described the weaker brother as spiritually immature, a closer look tells us that these individuals knew their Bibles well and were probably mature believers.  Their problem was that they believed God still expected them to keep the law, and their past practices dictated what was acceptable before God in their lives.  The other group, the stronger brothers, knew that the law was not required for acceptance with God and felt free to engage in practices that the weaker brothers forbade.  Obviously, this created an environment where unity was difficult to achieve. 

Current wisdom argues that the stronger brother should feel free to exercise his liberty and that the weaker brother should just “get over it.”  Often, if the weaker will not participate, he is left out, shunned, and encouraged to find others like him.  At the same time, the reaction of the weaker brother is to judge the godliness of the stronger on issues of conscience, label them as disobedient, and go off with a “holier than thou” attitude. 

While it is understood that no individual is perfect or has arrived, we must ensure that those who minister through the vehicle of music to our body are striving to live obediently for God.  The Bible makes it clear that unbelievers, however moral, are hostile to God and His work.  For this reason, it is inappropriate to have unbelievers participate in the ministry of worshiping our God.  We will not offer participation in our music ministry as a method to encourage unbelievers, or clearly disobedient believers, to be in our services.  We will seek to involve individuals who, to the best of our knowledge, have a desire to be obedient to Christ.  In determining this, we will be guided by an emphasis on the direction of life and heart, not necessarily the perfections of life.