On the Performance of Music in the Church

Colossians 3:16-17 "Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom; teaching and admonishing one another in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs, singing with grace in your hearts to the Lord. And whatsoever ye do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God and the Father by Him."
So often we hear songs sung proclaiming the glory of God, announcing a desire to give Him the glory, yet sung in such a manner as to exalt the performer. The audience often responds with applause, saluting the performer. Much of this may be due to the fact that most of our concepts of performance styles come from worldly performers concerned with promoting themselves. Rather than follow this model, we ought to seek to emphasize the message, not the messenger. Rather than seek applause for sounding great, let us seek the silence of a message sinking in. Rather than seek the plaudits of being a great singer, let us seek to be invisible, that the message may be heard more clearly. Our goal and method of performing music in the church ought not to be the entertainment of the crowd but rather the preparation of hearts for the message.