"What is Church/Gospel Music Supposed To Sound Like"

This is a great debate in a lot of churches and among Christians around the world especially in the US. This debate is not a new one. The great Thomas Dorsey,  whom we revere in all of music, was ridiculed for emulating a blues sound in church with his piano playing and singing. Edwin Hawkins was slammed for his hit song "Oh Happy Day" which was initially rejected by church audiences for sounding to secular or what about The Saint's in Praise Vol 1 which was spearheaded by the West Angeles COGIC in 1992 and was initially rejected by its own church members and mainstream black gospel radio for sounding too white.  I remember when "Stomp" by Kirk Franklin was released to radio and many Christians and Clergy went completely bananas over theology of the song. Now we have Holy Hip Hop which is being completely ignored on mainstream Gospel Radio due to the fear of rejection by mainstream church audiences. We also have Christian Rock, Neo Soul Gospel and and many other sub- genres of Gospel music that is out there right now being embraced by some and rejected by others.

We all have our ideas about what Gospel Music/Church music is supposed to sound like. All of us need to consider the fact that our ideas have been shaped by someone or something else. If you grew up in church then most of your thinking and opinion is rooted in what you heard in church as a child or what you were taught. Because many of us have our own ideas,  its important to define what church music is then to verbally assault or reject a modern day sound that you or I may or may not understand. Church music is defined as "music intended for performance as part of services of worship"(The Free Dictionary). Its a broad definition with little specifics. I would define it as "music rooted in scripture or personal experience to be performed in worship or other venues for the purpose of edifying the body of Christ".

Church music has evolved from the Gregorian Chant to Holy Hip-Hop. If society and its music were not allowed to evolve then we all would still be chanting in service with cloaks on. Its important that we do not judge the sound of the new wave of music but rather the content. I can name many songs from Negro Spirituals to some of Gospel Musics current hits that were not rooted in scripture but it had the so called "Church Sound". One example is the song 'Down By The Riverside" which has no biblical meaning but rather a cultural meaning instead. When slaves needed to converse with one another or arrange meetings they would say words and catch phrases that the slave master could not understand in order to meet up such as "I'm gonna lay down my burdens down by the riverside" which  means meet me at the river, I got something to tell you. Now that song is considered a church son by many and some of us shout over it but it has no spiritual significance. It's important to remember, appreciate and pass down our heritage as African Americans but it shouldn't be mistaken for a church song.  Just recently there were major questions over the hit song "Back To Eden" by Donald Lawrence and its biblical meaning. Does God really want us to go "Back To Eden"? That's for you to decide. I never sung it in church because I could never understand why I needed to go back. I prefer to go forward to Heaven.

We are more opinionated about the sound of something then its content. We tend to shun what we do not understand. Some of the deepest, scriptural based lyrical content I have ever heard has come from the Holy Hip-Hop generation and its music. On the other hand, I have also been blessed by the poetic scriptural lessons that have been placed in Hymns. Any song that blesses God and edifies the believer can be a "Church Song" or can be sung or spoken in church. It's fine to have your preferences about the kind of song or style you like but it's not ok to ridicule others for theirs. In many of our churches today our youth and young adults are shut out from expressing themselves in their modern day vernacular with music. Many of us who are older were treated the same way when we were young yet we do not extend the grace, that we wish we had, to our younger generation. Let's get over our narrow mindedness about what Church or Gospel music is supposed to sound like and lets embrace what, I believe, God is doing through the new sounds that are out their today. All music comes from God. It's what man does to it that makes the difference.


Peace,
Phillip Carter