M
aybe you’re part of a contemporary Christian band in your church. You might simply enjoy listening to the music sitting in the pew or in your car. But perhaps you can relate to this post from a guitar player on the Christian Guitar Forum who wrote, “I play guitar and sing in my church’s youth worship band and I really enjoy it. But I have a little problem. As much as I love worshipping the Lord and leading the people in worship, I find I don’t really enjoy playing those songs. Honestly, I don’t even really listen to very much Christian music simply because I find it boring! The same words, expressions, and chord progressions are repeated throughout most contemporary Christian music.” The writer goes on to ask, “Am I just weird? Or are there other people out there like me?” Sadly, there are probably people who feel like they shouldn’t listen to secular music and want to turn to today’s Christian music but find it “boring.” In an article for ABC News, Andrew Beaujon delved into that very issue. He writes, “For many years, the Christian music industry responded to any innovations in pop music with a “diet” version of whatever had become popular. Like Toto or Air Supply? Check out WhiteHeart or Petra. Like Aerosmith or Bon Jovi? Actually, you could check out WhiteHeart and Petra again—they changed their sound with pretty much every album.” Is contemporary Christian music simply diet versions of mainstream genres? Lisa Robinson of Credo House Ministries says, “It was familiar criticism because the same words have left my lips in relation to CCM offerings: lacks substance, too simple, boring, not theologically sophisticated. Basically, the gist of such criticism is that such music is
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not worthy of time or attention, with an indirect implication that God cannot be honored with such banal worship nor can the worshipper be enriched because of it. This sentiment comes with the notion that only music packed with doctrinal significance and consistent theological articulation is pleasing to the Lord.” There are countless stories of people who have had their lives impacted by today’s Christian music. Recording artist Johnny Diaz recounted a story of a woman who had been struggling with depression and self-esteem issues. She was sitting in her car when his song “More Beautiful You” came on the radio. She said the song and message behind it changed her life. Can the lyrics of that song compare to some of our beloved hymns? Maybe not. But the end result was a life changed because of the simple message conveyed that Jesus loves us just as we are. Christian rapper Lecrae says, “Sometimes I’m too churchy for the world. I’m too worldly for the church and so I exist in this weird dichotomy, but there are a lot of people like me and a lot of people who resonate with that.” When we look at today’s CCM, we need to keep in mind that it’s still relatively young compared to many music genres and it’s still developing. Based on recent sales, it’s also still growing in popularity. In a story for Religion News Service, Kim Lawton writes about TobyMac’s latest album Eye on It, which was the first Christian album since 1997 to debut at No. 1 on Billboard’s all-genre chart and the only Christian album to do that. “I definitely have my ear to the ground as far as sonically what is happening,” TobyMac said. “I’ve always been a pop artist, you know. I rap, I sing, I scream, whatever gets the point across.”
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