Break Out of the
Box: A Call to Christian Musicians
When I researched Contemporary Christian Music (CCM), the results were staggering. For the past thirteen years (2003-2014) the Billboard Charts have been dominated by the same eight artists year after year with little to no exceptions. The pattern I saw while analyzing the data was that the number of artists that made the chart increased; in 2011 and 2012, there were ten artists that made the charts each year. However, there were two years in particular which seemed like CCM was having a dry spell. In 2003 there were three artists that made the list, while now, in 2014, there is only one artist. Are we now witnessing the death of CCM? The death of genres is not a new thing; especially in the realm of Christian Music. The important thing for musicians to understand is that their audience changes, at the very least, once every decade, sometimes more. Musicians should not allow their creativity to be put in a box dictated by tradition or fear of controversy for trying something new. Most of all, Christian musicians need to realize that God is not going to strike them down for finding a new way to worship Him.
In 1956, Larry Norman became a legend in
Christian Music. He burst his way into a brand new genre; Christian Rock Music.
That is when controversy arose. Norman is quoted as saying, at Creation Fest in
1999, “A lot of white people found it
hard to believe that I was a Christian if I was singing these songs because
they thought this kind of sound was satanic.” In response he wrote the
lyrics to “Why Should the Devil Have All the Good Music?” (Tashet, 2008) Shortly
after the composition of this song, a new Christian generation arose, known as
The Jesus Movement of the 60s and 70s. Tradition would tell us that we should
stick to the hymns and psalms of the bible, however, with this example alone,
it can be concluded that writing music outside the norms set for us by
traditionalists, we can kick start revolutions in Christian thinking.
The 1960s was an interesting era to live
in. The dream of integration of blacks into white society was new. The world
was witnessing a rise in progressive thinking; of course secular music would
follow suit. Sadly, Christian music, is still segregated into two groups;
Contemporary Christian (White) and Gospel (Black). (Lamont, 2010) It would be
thought that, with so much forward thinking, we would know better by now. More
and more people are realizing that this is not right. Since Segregation ended, over
time we have seen a rise in inter-racial marriages and children. Our current
generation is fused. Most people can no longer classify themselves as just white
or black. When writing music there needs to be a consideration of this fact. As
a Christian
musician, the goal of writing is not only to worship the God we love,
but to communicate the good news of our savior. If we are only writing for one
demographic, we are not doing our job.
Many Christian Musicians may be afraid to
try something new, because they are afraid to come up against controversy
surrounding the idea, and with good reason. Martin Luther tried something new.
He decided to translate the bible from Latin to English so that the common
person could read the Bible on their own. Doing this, Martin Luther came into
direct opposition with the Catholic Church. In the view of the Catholic Church,
this would mean that their power over the people would be greatly diminished.
The Clergy wanted him dead. Rather than fear the outcome of his actions, he
continued to translate the bible. As a result of this, we all (at least in the
U.S.A.), are free to read the bible and come to our own conclusions about what
we read.
As a Christian musician, I am all too
familiar with each of these issues. Let’s not be discouraged by the trends that
we are seeing within our genre. If it is fear of God being upset for your
creative worship you are experiencing, meditate on this verse: “So God created man in his own image; in the
image of God he created him; male and female he created them.” (Genesis
1:27 English Standard Version) Dear brother or sister in Christ, our God is a
creative God and He created us in His image. God will not be offended if you
find a new creative way to worship and give glory to Him. There is nothing to
fear. In the words of Christian Musician, Chris Tomlin, “...if our God is with us, then what could stand against?” (2010)
References:
Billboard.
(2014). Billboard Chart Archive. Years 2003-2014. Retrieved from
http://www.billboard.com/archive/charts/2014/christian-songs
Lamont,
M. (2010). Lip-synch gospel: Christian music and the ethnopoetics of identity
in Kenya. Africa
(Edinburgh University Press), 80(3),
473-496. doi:10.3366/afr.2010.0006. Retrieved from Academic Search Complete.
Moberg,
M. (2011). The 'double controversy' of Christian metal. Popular Music
History, 6(1/2), 85-99.
doi:10.1558/pomh.v6i1/2.85. Retrieved
from Academic Search Complete.
Tashet.
(2008). Larry Norman - Why Should The Devil Have All The Good Music?. Retrieved
from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GQfJoyrsccM.
Tomlin,
C. (2010). Our God. Retrieved from https://worshipartistry.com/songs/chris-tomlin/passion-
awakening/our-god
