Music—What We Do and Why
Most people would describe our music at Friendship Baptist Church as “traditional.” That is fair and understandable but probably not totally accurate. The style of the music is fairly “traditional.” And yes, we do sing many of the time-honored, great hymns of the Christian faith, as well. However, we also sing many new songs. What you will not find is a “Pop-styling” in any of our music. Why is that?
Well first, it may be better to ask why we do what we do, rather than why we don’t do what we don’t do.
A very fair description of our music ministry would be “congregation-oriented and God-focused.” At least that’s the description we’re shooting for. We have a vibrant and skilled choir program, as well as a fine orchestra. Our pianists and organists are gifted and sacrificial servants. In many services, we schedule people to sing “specials:” solos, duets, etc. However, the emphasis in our music is the congregational singing, and we think our congregation sings well! The reason we emphasize this is simple: God does. Scripture commands us to sing in the Old Testament and in the New. The emphasis of these commands is group or corporate music participation, to sing together as one voice to the Lord, not merely to listen as others do this for you. Nothing wrong with listening to others, but the Bible commands us all to sing to the Lord…AND to each other (Eph. 5:19-20). So we try to keep the emphasis where we believe God placed it—on corporate singing.
We love to sing the great hymns of the church, because time has tested them. Not all old hymns are great or even doctrinally sound, and we do not believe that something is better just because it’s old. But many old hymns bear well the weight of careful scrutiny, and shine more beautifully as the years wear on. We love to sing new songs because everyone should like to learn new things. We learn new texts to old tunes, new tunes to old texts, and totally new texts and tunes, and these things freshen and enhance our worship.
Ultimately, we strive for a God-focused approach to all our music. Does the text and music explicitly reveal truth about God in what it says? Does it point to the Gospel as the only hope for man? Does it accurately proclaim truth? Does the music further implicitly reflect God’s goodness, order, beauty, holiness, and righteousness? Well then, why do we not do “pop” music? Simply, we do not believe that “pop” music is the best way to try to reflect the character of God in corporate worship. That is for a variety of carefully considered reasons. However, there is not room to discuss them in this post. Maybe some other time.
We hope you will come, worship with us!
Written by Brent Brondyke, Music Pastor