I've been all over the last few weeks, from kayaking in West Virginia with my family to teaching and participating at the ZOE Worship Conference in Nashville, TN. My last stop was Washington D.C. where several people from the Rochester Church and Rochester College participated in the Northern Uganda Lobby Day sponsored by Africa Faith and Justice Network (http://www.ugandalobbyday.com/).

If you are not aware of the genocide taking place in Northern Uganda (related but different than the genocide in Darfur), check out these kingdom leaders (http://www.invisiblechildren.com/)

Apparently, there was interesting but rather sad gathering at Freed-Hardeman University (http://www.christianchronicle.org/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=495).

Here’s an excerpt from the gathering that is tackling and cutting edge issue of “instrumental music versus acapella”—I can’t believe some institutions of higher learning can still defend this element of their Christian faith considering the current religious/philosophical climate in the West. What does it say about a version of the Christian faith where instrumental/acapella is as important as the resurrection of Jesus? It’s fundamentalism in sheep’s clothing (i.e. “we are after the truth.”)

AN ISSUE OF FELLOWSHIP?

While describing Faust as his brother in Christ, Gilmore told the crowd, “We are not in fellowship because of one big, obvious thing.”

That one, big obvious thing — the use of instrumental music in worship — dominated the discussion.

But Faust rejected the idea of dividing fellowship over music.

“I may not agree on some points, but because we’re brothers and sisters in Christ, we do have fellowship,” he said.

Gilmore begged Faust to “lay aside the instrument” for the sake of unity.

But Faust said that would require Christian Church members to give up convictions and freedom in Christ. He likened the request to asking a cappella churches to give up multiple communion cups or Sunday school classes because some congregations object to them.

Faust highlighted similarities between the two groups that a 1906 federal census first reported as separate bodies.

Both groups — with a combined 2.5 million baptized members in the U.S. — believe that Jesus is Lord, baptize for remission of sins and offer the Lord’s Supper each Sunday.

“Instrumental music is not the focus of my faith,” Faust said. “Christ is.”

Appealing for unity and a deeper love for lost people, he said, “Often, we are like two lifeguards who get in a fistfight on the beach while a swimmer is drowning.”

Gilmore agreed that the Bible requires Christian unity. But he said, “There can be no genuine unity without truth.”

The issue boils down to how one understands God when he’s silent about something, Gilmore said. Ephesians 5:19 calls for “singing and making melody in one’s heart to the Lord.”

That verse “tells you where you’re supposed to pluck the string — in your heart,” Gilmore said. “It’s a purely vocal reference.”
The same logic that allows a piano in worship could lead to doughnuts and coffee in the Lord’s Supper, he said.

Gilmore said the Bible does allow “expedients,” such as songbooks, to help carry out specified actions, so long as the tool does not change the action or “involve swapping something in the category specified with something else.”

ISLAND READING

Using what he called the “desert island principle,” Faust suggested that a person reading the Bible with no presuppositions would learn God commanded and blessed the use of instrumental music in the Old Testament.

“Since I read this in the Old Testament, where would I find in the New Testament that God now frowns on this?” Faust asked.

Gilmore responded: “If you’re on that desert island, chances are you’re not going to have an organ or piano with you. But you’re going to have your voice, and you can always worship God.”

If the New Testament is silent on instrumental music, it’s equally silent on four-part harmony and pitch pipes, Faust said. “If it’s permissible to use a pitch pipe to get the song started on the right key, why is a guitar or a piano not allowed to keep it on the right key?” he asked.

Gilmore countered that a pitch pipe “just tells you where you’re going to start your singing. It is not your first note.” As for four-part harmony, Gilmore asked, “Where does that expedient change the idea of a cappella singing?”

Freed-Hardeman President Milton Sewell said the university hosted the discussion as an educational opportunity for church members. “I would love to see us all back together again,” Sewell told The Christian Chronicle, “but we’re not going to worship with the instrument, and we’re not going to promote it here.”


85 percent of the United States is not engaged in a church body, and some people are still rearranging furniture on the Titanic.

God help us.