music for the christian

There is a lot of discussion these days about the right kind of music that is acceptable in church worship. Music plays an important part in churches and whether it is a valid reason or not, people choose a church many times based on the type of music used in the worship service. Speaking from personal experience, when we moved to Georgia we found several churches with excellent preaching, but we felt the music did not back up the preaching. More today than ever before, young people feel that music is neutral and it does not matter what style the music is as long as the words are biblical. The common saying goes, "the style of music doesn't affect me." With that thought in mind, our pastor attended a two-day "music summit" at the Wilds Conference in January. He was one of three or four pastors invited to participate in this summit, along with music professors and/or representatives from most of the well-known fundamental Christian colleges, and several composers and musicologists. Pastor Sweatt shared with our church this final three-point statement on music for the church and Christians that was agreed upon by all at the summit:

• The Word of God prayerfully studied and rightly divided provides an infallible standard for music.
• Music has an influence both for good and evil, and cannot be considered neutral in its effect on believers and unbelievers alike.
• The effect of music is not always observed. Every person can consciously filter out the negative music. The effect of music may not show up soon, but over time it will show up.