The New Traditional Church: Music
A couple of months ago, I wrote about “The New Traditional Church.” That particular post focused on the discipleship strategy. I thought I’d pick up where I left off and share a few more characteristics of the new traditional church. Today, I’m going to focus on music.
Remember the days when the only worship music was hymns? We were stuck there because that was clearly the “sacred” style of worship music. Then the 80s hit and Willow Creek made it possible for us to use current music styles in worship services to connect with the unchurched.
Only it’s as if we got stuck in the 80s. While the church still leans on a mix of rock and pop music as the preferred worship genre, our culture has shifted once again. Now, according to iTunes, 1 in 3 of the top 100 songs in the country is either hip-hop/rap or R&B/soul. My guess, though, is that you can’t name a church in the country that’s using these genres of music for worship. Why is that?
Now, before you let your “it’s-not-our-culture” bias set in, consider this. Most of the hip-hop and R&B music has been recorded by black artists. 14% of the U.S. population is black. But, remember, nearly one-third of the music purchased on iTunes is one of these two genres. You do the math. White people like hip-hop.
What’s amazing, though, is that exactly 0% of the churches that responded to this survey indicated that they’re using hip-hop music in their worship services. I’m guessing there are several reasons for this:
- The people making decisions about music choices in services don’t prefer this style of music. And, don’t we all know, preferences drive decisions in churches.
- Churches are not hiring worship leaders (or raising up volunteers) who can authentically lead worship with these genres of music.
- Christian artists aren’t recording music that reflects what our culture is listening to.
- Churches don’t know the culture they’re trying to reach. If a third of the country is buying hip-hop or R&B music, you’d think at least one church would be trying to use that style of music to reach those people for Jesus.
Aside from all of that, I think the number one reason why rock and pop is the predominant genre of music in churches is this: our worship music has become the new “hymns” of the new traditional church. In other words, we grew up listening to that kind of worship music. Frankly, we’d rather play our “hymns” in our services than consider what style of music might more effectively connect with people who need Jesus.
So, the bottom line is this. Playing hip-hop or R&B music in our services would make us uncomfortable, and that’s another reason why we are “the new traditional church.”
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Ouch.
I’ve been talking about the need to start a service using these styles, but who’s writing Christian worship music in the styles? (Not being rhetorical, where can you find this stuff?)
Wow…great post! I’m not a R&B Hip-Hop fan but man, your post makes me want to tune in more just to be aware of the culture. In my town, Columbus, OH, the top radio stations according to Arbitron are the country stations ( i know, you’re not a fan of country). But a close second most of the time are the pop/R&B stations. I think what’s true is that we, as a church, are still very much stuck in a music bubble when it comes to what we play for worship services. One church, that I think is on the right track is Granger, as you know they do services openers with “covers” of pop and R&B artists.
The question in your poll seems to refer to the general musical style used and doesn’t account for variety. There are a lot more churches out there who are using hip-hop and rap, including Willow Creek – it’s just not the main style used at those churches.
Again, your right on. I see so many churches not only using that style of music but the same songs all over again. Makes me think of when we were using the hymn books and singing the same songs over and over. I have to admit, I’m of the older generation, and don’t really get some of the rap, but I can appreciate the spirit and music.
Good questions. I think part of the issue is also that some white people don’t readily make it known they like hip hop music. Buying it on iTunes is easy and anonymous.
I think your 3rd point is huge as well.
I did notice Access Church did “Anxiety” recently. Video here:
http://sojax.org/2009/05/why-worry-concludes-with-anxiety.html
True… you still have to know the community you are serving. A local church isn’t reaching the universe represented by iTunes (unless they are doing an online campus like Lifechurch.tv). There are communities where the demographics of unbelievers won’t match the national stats, and the church leadership should take that into account. That being said, your point is well taken… what was once revolutionary can become institutional before you know it… and that applies to more than just music styles. And where does God factor into this… shouldn’t he have a voice in the discussion? What is He inspiring and blessing and using? Awesome topic! Thanks for writing about it! swm
Very thought-provoking post Tony. “..preferences drive decisions in church.” Whose preferences? Specifically and traditionally it’s the elders. So it’s a generational gap that we trying to bridge. That’s hard. Just shooting from the hip here. Thanks for this post and your tweet that made me come read it :).
I’ve had this conversation in several different ways and the conclusion I come to is that the numbers need to be interpreted a little more deeply. Not saying your point is off or anything. Just saying that I think the numbers don’t add up.
Allow me to generalize
Take a look at 10 average black teenagers’ record collections and you will find they are quite similar.
Take a look at 10 average suburban white kids’ record collections and you will see they are quite different.
You will see that the white suburban kids will have some of the artists that the black kids have, but the black kids are not likely to have the rock/alt/pop stuff.
Fact is, and I am being very general here, the black population is very focused in its music taste. When they invest in an artist, they do it in mass.
Where as the suburban white kids are split into a hundred affinity based sub populations that buy different artists. Not to mention they are more tech savvy and steal a lot more.
So… record sales are, at best, a skewed misrepresentation of reality.
That was long. my bad.
Maybe the ones buying the hip hop /R&B jut simply buy more music. In my teens and 20′s I spent way more on music than I do now. I’m not convinced that these numbers aren’t skewed for that reason. I’m not saying that your conclusion is wrong, just not a complete synopsis.
I’m assuming they didn’t fill out the survey but I know there is at least one church in Tampa that is like none other around here. Check out Croosover Church at http://www.crossoverchurch.org. There’s many times that I feel church music and church in general takes the safe route, worrying too much if we might offend the saved vs. saving the lost. There’s a Derek Webb song called “I repent” that has a line that says it best, “in our suburb where we’re safe and white” Powerful song, it’s on your favorite Lala, http://www.lala.com/song/504684655013425882
Very good points to keep us thinking about “why we do what we do” – this is something I’m passionate about.
However, I believe one of the reasons Hip-Hop, specifically, is not used as a genre in church is that most of this style of music is purely solo work and does not translate well into communal singing. If the point of a church service is to gather together for corporate worship (which is EVERYTHING from the moment you enter and NOT just music) is the joyful energy created by singing together, then trying to pull off ‘solo songs’ in this manner. Hip-Hop would be great in a performance piece by the band on stage, but not so much sung by everyone.
There even some CCM songs done today that really don’t feel right when done corporately. For those not as talented as those on stage leading the music, the timings, amount of words and other things are hard to follow.
Part of this is the lack of ability to read sheet music (on stage or off) or the ability of the people putting the slides together for the congregation to follow, to effectively arrange the words to communicate the flow of the words with the music.
Christian hiphop seems to be just hitting its stride. It used to be really bad and corny but it seems like there are lot more people doing it now and the quality has really been upped. I know a Christian hiphop artist is one of the church planters here http://www.blueprintchurch.org Should be interesting to see what they do for worship. I think there are churches doing it, just not that have hit the mainstream. Didn’t you catch the rap at Crosspoint the other day? Video is up on WithoutWax.
From my perspective, you are so right on with these two post’s about the traditional church. I help lead worship at a church that meets in a local community center. Though on the outside we can be masked as an outreach church, the inside is quite traditional in worship style. I can see how simply changing our worship would be so much more inviting to the community we are hoping to reach.
I’m already envisioning some college students at our church that would know a lot about the genre you are talking about and they may be the key to unlocking the door to so many people outside the door.
dont know if you have checked it out yet but lecrae and desiring god ministry have joined together. I never thought I would see the day john piper, matt chandler and joshua harris were all linked with rap music but it is a beautiful picture of diversity. can the church even handle the idea that when we worship god in heaven rap music may very well be a part of the worship service. lecrae and others are calling this new rap music lyrical theology. what a beautiful picture to actually use music to communicate the gospel to a generation that is not hearing it through the same ol’ preferred style
As long as the band has a black drummer and a funky bass player I don’t care what kind of music they play!
A young girl at Willow Creek has been taking hip hop breaks in the middle of new “Hymns” that are awesome. She is in this piece on Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YiNBmNl88Pk
Cheers,
Luke
It’s late and I am tired so hopefully this will make sense in the morning…
My first though looking at this is you claim 1/3 are that genre, while I don’t dispute that I question what are the other, larger, 2/3? Because if it is some mix of Pop/Rock then it does take away some of the wind in your sail.
Not saying we should ignore the 1 of 3 but we are (depending on results for the other 2/3) targeting the larger core audience probably for our areas.
Your posts are always great and spur people to think, and it made me think I would like to see the results of the remaining 2/3 and get the full picture. :)
Tony,
I can’t lay off this post. WOW. I serve as Executive Pastor in an African-American church. Two months ago I asked some young adult black men if they thought Hip Hop was the missing form of music in the church. They said yes. But, the negative connotation with Hip Hop “culture” is where the rub is found. As an anglo looking in from the inside angle, and I’m not a Hip Hop guy, Hip Hop is the missing form. But it can’t be done in the traditional or even contemporary church. But it will happen in alternative churches. And that may be the future to some extent. Great post man.
I think an issue to consider that has a huge influence in this whole matter is who you have on stage. I can’t remember the exact quote, I think it was TD Jakes a few years ago at C3, but the idea is that if you don’t have mix of racial diversity on stage (ie worship leaders, band, pastors, etc.) then it is not going to happen in our congregations. We’ve seen this played out in our own church. We have a growing mix of diversity in our worship bands and leaders, and it has been a factor in a growing diversity of people coming to our church. Think about it: how many of our worship leaders, bands and staff are all “white”? I think that diversity on the stage, in particular in your worship bands and leaders, will and can be a factor in connecting with culture and more diverse musical stylings…..
just some rambling thoughts
TONY! THANK you for writing on this. As 20-something leader in a progressive 8k member predominately black church, the hardest element to forge ahead in innovation”relevant/ not too- lyrical/hype & passion annoited ” is the fusion of hip-hop & worship.
I’m not a worship leader or musician but back in the 80′s, U-2 paved the way for the sound on a mainstream level, that most CCM artist (sick guitar riffs and delays) old (MW Smith, SCurtis) & the latest worship movements (Hillsong, Passion etc) have since incorporated into their sound.
Since HH mainstream takeover there has yet to be someone, a group of people to incorporate HH into the main stream of the CCM/ Gospel industry.
I personally know most of the guys that anyone would say “Hey, what about Truth or Lecrae” I love those guys but we’ve yet to see the creativity of say a Kanye in that industry, that moves people (young, old, white, black, asian, latino) give incredible authentic-brutally honesty worship-styled music.
Hopefully as black churches and our leaders, as well as my peers of millenial-next genleaders, white & other main-line denom & non denom/ progressive “CATALYST-going” leader begin to embrace positions like “Creative Directors” and find value in “Creative Service Programming”, multi-site, video/internet church programming/formats etc. versus just “singing (“praise dance”/”skit”) then preaching, the intentionality of the sound/style and vehicle of the music, Hip-Hop will have a permanent home in our churches on a mainstream level, cross-culturally, because it’s already happening outside of —– Community Church, “cool-verb” church etc; just check the ipods!
Huge point is U2 like most artist started indie/underground. If we’re wise we need to stay connected to the indie hip-hop/ alt hip hop scene. There are so many guys who are believer’s who are killin’ it down there; cool to see mags like Relevant putting light on Flynn Adams & Pigeon John but there’s way more guys/gals out there who are making incredibly great music in a scene that is much more embracing of all ethnicities.
Final Thought, Tony, do you think racism plays into any of this?
Hmmm – just a thought here, but this post resurrects for me the dichotomy of thought between worship being “for” God and “toward” God as opposed to worship being crafted in a way that appeals to me because it fits my preferences.
Obviously I will always be drawn to a certain music style within which to express my worship to God, but do we really want to have such a sophisticated consumer-driven church that we poll the “latest and greatest” and then tailor our worship styles so that we can move people emotionally (which is what we expect in other musical settings)and tell them that it’s the “anointing”?
Celebration Church in Jacksonville Florida has included hip-hop music and rap into their worship services more than a year ago. They have two rap singers and a DJ as part of their worship team. Their music it’s awesome. They are a multicultural church and that’s why they have included different genres of music. You can check them at http://www.celebration.org
Wow I love this phrase “The New Traditional Church” its a great way to put it. Although I do find it a little strange that I was just talking about this topic less than 5 minutes before I looked at, and read, this post.
We have always had an unwritten “policy” of utilising all the talents of our worship team…which currently includes a couple of Asian R&B dudes, an Aboriginal didjeridu-playing rapper, a Fijian soul queen, a choir boy (me), and … a bunch of white guys and gals who are poppers or rockers mainly. It makes for a diverse worship experience…and thus reflects our church, our community, our God. Surely this is part of being Church – reflecting the beautiful diversity of our communities.
I like how you used information to back your statements up. Great post Mr. Morgan!
I’m still reading your “Killing Cockroaches” book. I love your teachings on leadership.
Maybe it’s the same reason you don’t hear a lot of people that aren’t in the Hip Hop culture using the “language” of that culture – because when you do it comes off as forced and fake. Thinking a bunch of white suburbanites trying to do “rap” in church will somehow reach that culture is mis-guided.
All around good post Tony. I do have to agree with some and say that leaders really need to check the demographics in their area. In our community for example, R&B/rap fall behind pop/rock in preferred music.
The real question is, if that ever changes, will we be able to change with it.
I struggled with this when I was in church. I think Alan Stoddard’s point (above) is where I keep hanging up. And it’s not only the connotations of hip-hop culture. The very style seems to demand a certain “hey, look at ME” quality in order to succeed. It’s the narcissism inherent to the genre that makes it so tough.
I’m not against hip-hop music in the church. I just don’t have enough imagination to see it work. I think if I heard a good example of hip-hop/rap done well, I’d hop right on that bandwagon, so to speak. But PLEASE, for the love of all that is good, do NOT allow your white suburban worship leader to attempt this under any circumstances!
It doesn’t help that rap is so often badly, badly caricatured by white guys in church to advertise youth events, etc.
I am not sure about the Ouch factor here and here is why. Just because a third of the culture is into a particular genre the church should use that to reach them to me does not make sense. Why? The number one hit on the web is “sex” and “porn” so should the church have porn-sites to reach the culture? No, of course not. Then why do supposed gurus of church planting and church health try to lead the sheep to believing that we need to smell, sound, and act like to world to reach them? I’m Not buying it!
Never thought of it that way but that happens often when I read your blog. We are making our past trend the norm and telling others that the norm is the standard.
I currently pastor in a transitioning churhc in a rural area. Hip hop is not in our culture but country is very much. We’ve taken some liberty with popular songs and placed them into the services with much prayer and a little worry over how people would respond. The responses have been great because the music was God honoring not trendy.
I would love to see more resources in this manner. My denomination doesn’t have anything to help and there aren’t alot of resources to help a growing church and a church without a lot of instrument talent to play this. If anyone hears about this, pass it on.
What’s the big deal with music?
If music was as big a deal during the most ancient church as it is today don’t you think we would have seen “worship leader” in one of the gift lists? Or . . . maybe a new testament equivalent of the psalms?
Why has music become some core to what we “do” when we get together? Why is “alt pop rock” the only music that is “worship”?
Rich
Interesting post. Enjoyed reading the comments too.
I do know this: using hip-hop in our small town, traditional, Southern Baptist church would not work.
Doing something different is always scary and sometimes a risk no matter what song(s) are selcted. Some people will connect to particular songs, that others won’t and vise-versa. Regardless of the song, or genre of the song, if the congregation can’t follow the song we lose the essence of worship. But if a song works in your church, sing it loud!!!! You have to at least try.
in case you’re curious, here are some of the other stats from the iTunes top 100:
> pop 27%
> country 14%
> rock 13%
> alternative 9%
again, it would be wrong, in my opinion, for a church to use hip-hop/r&b music if that’s not the culture they’re trying to reach. it just strikes me as odd that almost no one is trying to reach that culture given the fact that it’s probably the most popular music being sold right now.
racist? no. i still think it’s just preference getting in the way of reaching the unchurched.
tony
oh, one more thing… read these verses from I Corinthians 14 in light of this conversation:
23 Even so, if unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your church meeting and hear everyone speaking in an unknown language, they will think you are crazy. 24 But if all of you are prophesying, and unbelievers or people who don’t understand these things come into your meeting, they will be convicted of sin and judged by what you say. 25 As they listen, their secret thoughts will be exposed, and they will fall to their knees and worship God, declaring, “God is truly here among you.”
i’m convinced our traditions are the “unknown language” in today’s culture. we speak the language that we prefer and that is familiar to us, but it gets in the way of sharing the Gospel with people who need Jesus.
tony
If the church’s primary purpose in corporate worship were evangelism, it would be a no-brainer – use the music they like. But I would argue that corporate worship meetings are not primarily for unbelievers, but for the church. Thus we should be using music that most easily engages the broadest number of people within our churches in our worship meetings.
Don’t get me wrong, evangelism is one of the primary purposes of the church. But corporate worship is another, and evangelism is not its (corporate worship’s) highest end. I think you should have put this as one of the reasons churches don’t use hip-hop: Many churches believe evangelism is not the main goal of corporate worship.
Tony, do you have data on how many African-American churches use hip hop music in their services?
Anecdotes are not social science, so my experience visiting African-American churches doesn’t count, but it does make me wonder what survey research on African-American worship services reveals.
If many/most African American churches are using hip hop music, I think that would enhance your point. But if many/most are not, what does that mean?
Now you need to write an article offering resources to find Hip Hop and R&B resources to use in worship.
All things to all men right?
We have been experimenting with some rock/hip hop mixes…however, I am not sure encouraging white church people to try to pull off rap or hip hop is a good idea – ha ha
Do you have any answers. Being a pastor who is white but likes hip hop I’ve wanted to add it to the church. The truth is though that besides the occassional special, worship music is hard to do via rap. It would not fit to have white people trying to rap for Jesus.
Excellent post. Though it could be that any movement toward hip-hop or R&B worship genres (and away from today’s “classics”) will be limited to smaller urban and inner-city churches, considering that Latinos and Hispanics are now the second largest ethnic/racial minority in the US, we’ll certainly soon see Travy Joe (or other Christian reggaeton) added to the worship genre, too.
check this out
I would add that often we choose music that is “easy” for corporate singing. I know that there are even “pop” worship songs that we don’t use because they are too wordy, or hard to follow along with. The hip-hop that i have heard would be difficult to lead the masses in corporate worship. I do think that we could implement various musical elements of that style into our worship settings, though.
Good one Tony. Love the Reggie Joiner line from his talk on the prodigal generation that you can either be preoccupied with those you’re trying to reach…or those you’re trying to keep. Although there may be churches in areas where the downloads are all pop all the time, that’s simply not the reality in most places. It is the reality however, for “those we’re trying to keep.”
Tony,
You read my mind. I have been a Hip Hop DJ for over ten years and just about a year and half ago gave my life to Christ. since then I have been in search of Christian Hip Hop artist who are good and bring a the message of Christ. I have been saying for a while I would like to see these kind of genres brought to the table of worship because that is what the younger generation is listening to. I am right now involved in a church plant in Greenville, SC and am hoping to have an impact on the kind of stuff we put out. Here are a few current artists that I have found lately that really get me going.
Lecrae
R-Swift
Toby Mac(of course)
Kirk Franklin(of course)
Tye Tribbet
Grits
KJ-52
John Rueben
There are many more but I don’t want to take up your space.
I must say I really look up to someone who can spot this kind of stuff and has the stage that you do and still put this out there. Much props.
Josh Wyatt (DJ ACRIS)
PS If you ever need a DJ….
It would be interesting to see the age demographics for iTunes downloads. Maybe I am being stereotypical, but I would be willing to bet that most of the hip hop downloads are from people under the age of 18 (i.e youth).
Also, I would be willing to bet that people over the age of 25 do not listen to that much hip hop.
If most of your congregation (or potential congration) is over 25 yrs old, then why would a church play music they do not like (hip hop)?
On the other hand, youth services should probably tap into hip hop.
It just seems somewhat scary that we would ever focus our worship to a Holy God based off of the latest download trends on iTunes. Why is cultural relavance so important? See James 4:4
In His Presence church in Woodland Hills, CA (a predominantly Anglo community in the San Fernando Valley) has a weekly Hip Hop service. Here’s their website: http://www.ihpunderground.com/
Well one problem is there simply isn’t (much) (good) hip hop worship music.
So the church with less than 1k doesn’t have the resources/talent to write good songs (in general)
And the church over 1k is going to have a tough time embracing such a huge stylistic change.
I’m sure there are tons of leaders all over who would love too, but are locked into circumstances that simply won’t allow it.
Interesting article. I enjoy listening to rap/hip-hop and r&b music, especially Christian artists like Lecrae, Flame, Da TRUTH, Trip Lee, Ambassador, etc. Because of what I’m used to experiencing during a worship service, I can’t currently imagine how rap/hip-hop and r&b could be incorporated into a worship service. I can see how these genres could be used during praise (Tye Tribbett’s “Victory” is a good example). My roommates attend a church that brought Ambassador for a Friday night concert. I’d be interested in seeing how a church would incorporate these genres into a worship service.
Tony, when you are right you are right… and you are right…
My wife and I have been asking ourselves where there is a church that has a “hip hop club” feel to it. Not an an orchestrated music change or a music emphasis, but a church that creates a complete environment that would make people in the “hip hop” culture feel comfortable as soon as they walked through the doors.
Efrem Smith at http://www.sanctuarycovenant.org spoke at Willow’s Leadership Summit last year. I believe he is going after the hip hop culture.
I’m proud to say we have a hip-hop ministry at the Rock Church in San Diego (Rock Steady). I’m also trying to see if there is video of our worship online. We had a rapper recently that was amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qEEEf1TKuJ4
Tony, this confirms that you need to pay us a visit next time you’re out here!
True. But, the rap music that predominantly floods the air waves, is not conducive to a Christians relationship with Christ. I think that your may be a little off on this one, instead of making accusations that the church isn’t “relevant” you may want to talk to some worship leaders on this one. If we were to blare KJ-52 before the service started people would go nuts because they wouldn’t immediately hear the actual worship in his music. I’m not saying I’m an expert just speaking my peace, but the guy above me put it a lot better.
Actually – here is something they did in a Sunday service…
The Northwest Campus of LifeChurch.tv uses hip-hop for worship I’d say about 6 times a year. At least with that audience it doesn’t seem to connect. But I think that’s mostly because they’re just caught off guard by the very different music.
I’m proud to say we have a hip-hop ministry at the Rock Church in San Diego (Rock Steady). I’m also trying to see if there is video of our worship online. We had a rapper recently that was amazing!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2FThTabZFRY
Tony, this confirms that you need to pay the Rock a visit next time you’re out here!
Tony, Are you really convinced that our traditions are the “unknown language”? That’s just weird. I think your reference to 1Corinthians 14 is a little off. I think its that thing called tongues in Acts 2. By the way, letting the numbers and stats lead you is ok to a certain degree. What style of music will we worship with in Heaven? Maybe there will be some hip hop… Maybe we should all sincerely encourage people to learn to worship God with or without they’re preferences. Signs of a spoiled society: We have to have what we like before we will worship. Being sensitive to style is obviously very important and should be considered within the gifting of your people but, letting the passing styles dictate what you do could easily become cheesy and futile unless you can do it WELL! Maybe we should all try to worship without music one sunday and see what happens……..Priorities.
Listen to this!
http://www.zshare.net/download/57292944d34ebb78/#
Wouldn’t it be awesome if we started letting the Creator of the Universe help us lead the wave of emerging music rather than follow what’s current? (btw what is “current” now has taken at least 1 -2 yrs to get to us – songwriting, pitching to artist, recording,etc.) Where is God leading each of our congregations? Are we willing to ask Him to shape and direct all of our ministries – not just music…are we seeking to follow His direction and agenda?
BooYah T-Mo… that’s a great conversation… let’s not stop there w/ just music… how about the New Traditional Dress…
i mean… everyone can shop @ buckle… and hook up the graphic t’s and designer jeans…. but pretty soon we have to be honest w/ ourselves and recognize that we can pick @ “coat & ties” and judge them… but reality is… IF YOU HAVENT HAD A HEART CHANGE… and only a WARDROBE CHANGE… your standing under God’s Wrath…
anyway— love you T-Mo… great challenge-
DUDE! this is an amazing! GREAT post. Keep challenging the status quo. Over 70% of all urban music is purchased by white people! Thanks for posting this!
I don’t know if they are using any of these artists in their worship services, but here is a web site devoted to Catholic Hip-Hop/Rap artists. http://www.phatmass.com/hiphop/
There used to be a rapping Fr, complete w/ the brown robe, that would incorporate huge theological words into his rap, and it WORKED!
Check them out and do with what you will.
Tony,
Would doing “Highway to Hell” as an Easter intro fall into your traditional category? Old white duds doing music THEY love but that the 20s crowd doesn’t fully relate to? (Just kidding, seriously)
In the late 90s we did some services with go-go as the primary musical style at my church in Washington, DC. Go-go is a local genre similar to hip-hop. We were flooded with kids (ages 10-25) but couldn’t sustain what we were doing because lack of adult support.
Someone made the point that Hip-Hop is largely a solo genre and is hard to translate to a “group sing”. True. But Hip-Hop concerts are very interactive. Right now I’ve got a local DJ coming to services on Sunday nights in BKK. I wonder what would happen if he led worship by DJing?
Great post Tony!
I go to a predominantly white, middle-class church. Our band is predominantly 80′s rockers. But we throw down some rap from time to time. We partner with a local rapper who brings in dancers and everything.
The Church loves it! We need to do it more often…
Right on! I’m white and I’ve been listening to rap since the 80′s. That’s just giving you a clue to how old I am. Let’s get with the program. I’ve been told that people don’t “connect” with urban, latin, r&b music and that just isn’t true. I go to a multicultural, multiracial church and we incorporate all types of music. The music is out there and people are worshipping!
I’d love to hear me some Grits on Sundays.
I am a white gospel vocalist. Gospel is my first choice and of course I do wish there was more variety in praise and worship….But I love all music so I will sing Whatever is on the agenda.
Well said Tony… There are pockets churches around the country doing this, although they may not be the Big Names or The Big Boys if you will.
Let’s all keep talkin’, keep listenin’ and keep learnin’!
Tony,
Great post! It’s a great eye-opener. It also forces many to confront some issues that they might be unwilling to talk about.
I read your post this morning and have been thinking about it all day. Still I am trying to get my mind around the concept. The demographics you speak of are so foreign to my lifestyle, but there is no doubt that God can move in a willing heart, hip hop or not.
Louie Giglio asked a great question to the crowd at Hillsong Conference a couple of years ago – “Are we people who are consumers of worship or people who are consumed by worship?”
Creating a place and an atmosphere and a vibe where people are welcomed and validated is awesome – especially for some of the distinct subcultures of our world… but at the end of the day worship is meant to connect us to The Most High God, and be a vehicle for us to be consumed by his Presence, not just another “product” that we consume in order to feed our need for stimulation and enjoyment
I was at a Foo Fighters concert a couple of months ago and I had tickets on the floor right in front of the stage (awesome, BTW). The crowd moshing with hands raised as they bounced to the beat wasn’t all that different from a lot of “worship” services I’ve been to. Just made me think about the vast difference…
Nailed It!
BAM!
Your previous article on this was much better and hitting on an area of real issue in the western / American church. I’m over the music issue. It’s a means to an end – the worship of God. How that happens is in many ways irrelevant. Musical tastes are like pizza toppings – we all have our favorites – you like mushrooms and I like anchovies. That being said – I don’t think we should be opposed to incorporating different styles in our worship and we’d all be the better for it. I personally enjoy gospel / RnB gospel music and would love to use in worship, but if the church I’m a part of doesn’t do that, I’m not going to be hindered in worship. That ultimately a state of the heart, not the style of the music.
I’m an African-American pastor who regularly reads your blog and this is my first post. Frankly, I’m surprised that you had to courage to touch on a very sensitive subject. Why? You’re considered a leader in the church and you have influence.
There are hundreds of black churches throughout the country who use hip-hop, Jazz, R&B, Rap, & Neo-Soul every week to reach people. Personally, I know at least 10 churches here in Chicago that incorporate hip-hop in their worship services. There’s even a place here in Chicago where twenty-somethings hang out called the “Joshua Joint.”
The problem is that it’s happening in black churches which whites rarely attend. Also, many pastors/worship leaders who know how to incorporate hip-hop are not regularly invited to speak at Catalyst, The Sticks, Innovate Church Conference, Unleashed, etc. The only conference that embraced different cultures & genres of music (that I know of) was the Purpose Driven Church & Worship Conference.
Allow me to cut across the yard and say this: Music has a way of bypassing the intellect and piercing the very core of the soul. To incorporate hip-hop, white churches will need to add black staff. Herein lies the problem: some whites have difficulty with blacks in leadership…
very good post. while a large percentage of white people listen to hip-hop, isn’t most recorded and produced by african-americans? and i would agree that age factors heavily into the demographics.
when white people try to pull off hip-hop music, it could come across as not being authentic. trying to hard to be cool or relevant.
just thinking out loud…
Tony…you are killing it. Dude i would love to pick your brain for an hour. I’m sure your price range is out of my budget. Awesome stuff. God has blessed you. Keep bringin’ it!
I know we have the great commission, but church is also about corporate worship and are we simply to forget that ALL ages attend church? I know youth are the future of the church, but we need the wisdom from the older church population. Is there not a way to be sensitive to all? I undertand better than most because my own mother and father, at the time in their late 70′s, attended the very first Friday night(aka contemporary) service our church had. Yes, they were OLD, but they were still open to change. Whatever would bring more to Christ. The worship leader approached them that night, kinda concerned that the music would be to LOUD! My Dad asked were they preaching and singing about Jesus and when told yes, replied then I’m here to support them. This wasn’t their particular stlye of worship but they went until their health no longer permitted them to. We need all age church members and still must not leave their desired form of worship out completely. Iwould prefer the style “I” like the best, but for “Christ’s” sake can’t we have more than one style of worship in the same place???
I’m with Micheal a few comments up.
One of the most embarrassing eras of Christian music was 80s faux reggae worship performed by white people (like me). I doubt I’d survive a new era of faux R&B, much less faux hip hop. If it’s not authentic it’s just patronizing.
To follow the stats logic, if all the predominately black churches (14%) started doing R&B/hip-hop worship then one third of everyone would love to attend those churches for worship. And THAT would be legit. Black culture has contributed some of the most meaningful, soulful music to the world. We all love some real Gospel.
But, please people, let’s have no nonsense about predominately white, middle-aged, middle-class worship teams attempting hip-hop. You might hurt yourself. :)
Sam,
I don’t think it’s really about “predominately white, middle-aged, middle-class worship teams attempting hip-hop”. If they just wouldn’t pull it off very well, as you’re suggesting, then that wouldn’t be a proper use of their talents. That would be a step back.
I think it may be about replacing them with people who are actually gifted and talented at pulling off hip hop or R&B (which has nothing to do with race btw). That would be a step forward.
Great insight! But I have to inform you that there are a good handful of churches that ARE using hip-hop and R&B in their services. The LA dream center’s Angelus Temple has included rap in services since the early 2000′s. Phoenix First Assembly of God uses hip-hop as well. And my home church, Church on the Rock in St Louis (cotr.org) has not only used hip-hop, R&B, and soul music – but has also used mainstream rap beats or music clips for inservice hip-hop dance routines. And when we do, our congregation goes nuts! (in a good way)
I think the real issue here is the church not thinking a) multi-generational or b) multi-cultural. IF we plan and execute services geared towards ourselves and/or only the likes of our current congregation, then we’ll never see growth. Do something new and you’ll see something new!
Hey, I´m from Latin America, Costa Rica actually..
And we do worship with different genres of music, mostly saturdays with the youth group but we are changing the stereotype of what´s “real worship”.
One thing that helps is that we have a christian radio station for young people.
We play dancehall, reggae, R&B, Hip Hop, Rock, Pop and obviously the occasional worship.
We are not talking about copying other songs and styles. Bottom line is we have to compete with the world! If we don´t give something entertaining and fun they´ll feel that there´s something they´re missing and it´s “out there”…
Yes, we have good music. But the world has good music, good artists, good concerts, good clothes, good parties, etc!
I´m not leaving out the fact that we are giving out the message of truth and salvation. It´s just that if our message is not as effective as the world´s, who would people choose? who would they like? what would they rather do on a Friday night?
There may be good reasons that mainstream Christianity doesn’t naturally lean into hip hop to express our worship, or heavy metal for that matter. From what little I’ve read and experienced, authentic hip-hop is centered around anguish, pain, and social injustice, as is also the case with many traditional hymns, however, a key difference is that hymns (or any songs expressing praise for that matter) typically contain elements of hope and aspiration, while hip-hop revels in abject rage, confusion and sheer hopelessness. It would take some imagination to successfully create a church setting which adopts a musical language of rage and hopelessness to express not only the anguish of our sinful human experience but also the hope and aspiration unique to the Christian faith. Would the result remain authentic as hip-hop and authentic to faith, or would it ring hollow as a cheap effort to emulate a pop culture with little to recommend itself? An authentic response to those conditions which create and drive the culture of hip-hop would perhaps be of greater interest and import than the acquisition of an authentic(?) hip-hop worship language.
Hey Tony! Angelus Temple (The Dream Center) in LA is using hip hop music in worship and has been since I was out there in high school (about 6 years ago). I saw some of the comments above asking for places where you can find this kind of music, so I thought I’d respond. Their band Press Play has recorded a newer album that features a lot of hip hop style praise songs. I was at the NYC Dream Center’s 1 year anniversary celebration service back in August and Press Play came and lead with several of these songs.
And in response to Todd’s comment just above, I would tend to agree with you that hip hop and rap have traditionally been born out of social injustice and anger–they also are often full of sexual overtones. But people who have come from that situation and have been given the hope of Christ just might be able to take the same creativity and emotion put into negative hip hop songs and turn out some powerful worship. I’d love to see what they might create.
I am a 41-year old white stay at home mom who loves Christian Hip Hop. Our family listen to KJ-52, John Reuben, Legacy, LeCrae, as well as Jesus Culture, Hillsong, etc. There are plenty of Christian Hip Hop choices out there. http://www.christian-hiphop.net has great on-line listening. Turn up the bass, dance around, and have fun praising Jesus.
We can splinter further and find that age is really the deciding factor, Tony. The Boomer generation is the most Caucasian born in history. They do not buy as much on iTunes, by the way.
So, the younger you get the more diverse the culture gets and this is what we see in the music industry and in politics and of course in church work–why many mega/giga churches are Boomer-homogeneous and aging.
You should also mention that Spanish is the most spoken language in the world right now, so why not Latin lyric and culture? In just about 5 years we will be so Latin we will not know the difference if we watch demographics.
The danger here is that worship music has 5 things to be effective in my opinion and the #1 is the “truth” quotient. Truth–1)we can truly sing it since it is an expression of who we are right now in style, tone and heart 2)objective theological since it transcends culture and is about things we believe that are older, bigger and beyond us.
That danger is we lose truth even in the style: To make Hip Hop work you need SUBS to actually be turned up loud! I fear that will not happen in most churches so younger folks attending there will run hearing watered down Hip Hop by white people who cannot dance. ;)
This discussion is long already. But I want to point out the Christian hip-hop (a culture) and rap (art form within a culture)has been around for years. And although most of Christian radio and media focuses on John Rueben, Grits and other so-so artists, there is and has been an entire world of Christian rap that has been ignored. Here are some website that focus on Christian Rap:
http://www.rapzilla.com
http://www.holyculture.net
http://www.sphereofhiphop.com
Additionally, here are some books written on the subject.
The Hip Hop Church
Un.orthodox: Church. Hip-Hop. Culture.
The Gospel Remix: Reaching the Hip Hop Generation
Disciples of the Street: The Promise of a Hip Hop Church
you make some interesting points tony…yet it is only 1/3 meaning the 2/3 do listen to other styles of music…along those lines i agree with what one of the comments above said regarding the community that we are serving and what styles may be high on the charts where one serves…ultimately music styles and church will be a debate that i believe will exist until Jesus comes to some extent…one should just pray that it doesn’t hurt the mission of the church instead of help it…