From the very beginning of time music and words together have been shaping cultures and individuals. Music moves the heart: words inform the mind.
It is no surprise, therefore, that the singing of psalms and scripture and then later hymns and songs inspired by scripture, has been a feature of church life from the very beginning. Louis F Benson, an American hymn writer, said this, “Hymns do more to form religious thinking than anything else except the Bible”. Charles and John Wesley began their ministry in 1730 - John was the teacher and Charles the writer of hymns and they worked in a partnership where John’s great teaching was complimented by amazing hymns. In a culture where many people did not read or write and Charles’ hymns contained a wealth of biblical theology and sound doctrine. They saw music as a way to bring biblical teaching and doctrine, yet they also realised that the music was an outlet of praise to God.
Just as this has been true of times gone by there is no doubt that what has been happening in church life in the United Kingdom since 1969 has been shaped by the modern chorus hymn writers of today – be it Graham Kendrick, Matt Redman, Martin Smith and countless others. They have not just created a worship experience, not just a ‘sound’ of what God is doing, but have also given doctrine and teaching.
In the 1960s the music of rock and roll shaped a generation. It created a new morality and influenced the arts, the clothes we wore… music was a profound and powerful shaping force. So we the church must continue to think about the significance of music and the words that we sing. We need to keep looking to songwriters, not only to understand the scripture, not only to have our hearts moved in terms of poetry but also to understand our culture. The music and the words associated to it need to be relevant and prophetic for the day.
So what do we need today? In a sense it might be true to say that every ten or twenty years the culture changes, groups of young people are different and that each generation needs songwriters who can understand what is happening ‘today’ and write music that carries faith for the moment. Matt Redman says this, “Take the age old truths of a God of love, mercy and power and help them resound through music in a culturally relevant and still biblical way”. And this is the challenge of today. If you are a 19 year old reading this maybe the challenge for you is to think what music, what words could carry those truths for your generation, for your people. We have sometimes made the mistake as church leaders to think there is one music, one genre, that if we could get it right it would last forever. But that plainly is not the case. So we want to understand that words inform the head, music moves the heart and it will always be the case. So let us hope for new generations of music and words that are culturally relevant for the church and that prophetically challenge us.
