Alternative Use Of Music And The Arts Among Pentecostal/Charismatic Churches

Music continues to be the most important element in Pentecostal worship. In congregations such as one described here, musicians have been challenged to serve as primary teachers and theologians in the church. Thus, they are composing music that addresses an increasingly wide range of topics. This concern for theological growth is also an important aspect of renewal of the other arts.

Music Pentecostals are a musical people. If one were to survey the artists of popular American music, secular and religious, country, rock, and rap, one would find that an extraordinary percentage come from Pentecostal origins. American Pentecostalism has two central points of origin: the black church and Appalachian/frontier Methodism. Both of these people groups are noted for their love of music and their ability to pour strong emotion through it. "Soul" music was a standard feature of Pentecostal worship long before Motown ever brought it to the American public. Pentecostals have traditionally used the frontier hymns of the Holiness movement, southern quartet styles, and black gospel. They learned to put their own twist on it all, and in the last twenty years this "twist" has been arguably the strongest central influence on gospel music, which in turn has had a large impact in certain quarters of the broader evangelical world. Christ Church in Nashville, Tennessee, stands in the center of the gospel music world. Dozens of the most well-known gospeland country artists and song writers make it their church home, as well as many who are involved in the related publishing and recording industry that supports their distribution. The church is noted for its two hundred voice choir, which was nominated for a Grammy in 1992 in the black gospel choir category, even though the choir is predominately white. To attend a service at Christ Church is to witness a powerful music experience involving everything from Bach to rap. Although the church is unique, it only moves what is already a long Pentecostal musical tradition to a new level. The church is also involved in liturgical renewal. Several years ago it introduced a catechism to its members that continues to be used, with hundreds having taken the course. The leaders of the church noticed, however, that even though many had taken the course, more did not. They also noticed that it was music which continued to define church life. They decided that for new generations of Americans, information was not primarily communicated through the written word. The new catechists of American evangelicals were gospel songwriters. That was alarming because by and large gospel music is theologically shallow. Christ Church decided to do something. The writers of the church were encouraged to write new music. Several began to use the Book of Common Prayer and other liturgical sources in their writing. The choir began to perform many of these songs. We Believe, for example, is a modern gospel adaptation of the Apostles' Creed that is sung especially for Communion and ordination services. Steve Green, popular gospel artist, released the song on his album under the same name. Church choirs across the evangelical world have picked it up and are using it in their services. (Petra, a Nashville-based rock group, released This is My Creed, the same creed set to driving rock.) Christ Church choir now has a collection of songs to fit every part of the liturgy, using styles of music already familiar to the people. (The music can be obtained from Steve W. Mauldin Productions, 1905 Stratford Avenue, Nashville, Tennessee, 37216.) Visual Arts Christ Church uses the visual arts as well, though this is in its infancy. The seasons of the church year are announced visually through flower arrangements, sculpture, and banners. There are two very striking permanent pieces of art in the smaller chapel, where Communion is served weekly, on either side of the central cross behind the altar. The subject of one is the lamb with the triumphant cross, the other depicts a eucharistic theme: hands erupt from the bottom of the piece reaching for a piece of bread; a chalice is in the upper left corner, and the entire work has a border that reads "for the life of the world." Christ Church hosts each spring an annual conference, the Word and Spirit Celebration, that brings together church leaders from the North American continent. This meeting has created quite a network of independent churches, which are mostly but not entirely from Pentecostal roots. Most of these assemblies are sympathetic to the worship and artistic renewal going on at Christ Church, and many of them are doing similar things. It is safe to predict a growing use of the arts in worship among Pentecostals. In the next few years they are likely to be studying the heritage of Christian art, determining their own theological parameters for the use of the arts in the church, and continuing to build on their own artistic tradition, especially as it relates to music.