Topic > Reading Response - 793

Understanding music in the church is important for every believer. In order for worship, through music, to be what God intended it to be, you need to understand the important role of music and how to biblically apply it to a service. The Bible, however, does not give precise indications in this regard. Therefore, the church must interrupt what the Bible says about worship in its routine. The issues discussed in the following chapters represent the author's position regarding problems within the church. This belief will then be examined from the Bible and discussed. The third part of the book discusses modern issues churches face regarding worship. Chapter sixteen highlights the issue of musicians' compensation. The author provides illustrations of both paid and unpaid music leaders. Most churches don't have the luxury of having a full-time musician. The book raises an excellent aspect of how God structured Israel in the Old Testament. The Levites did not have to pay anything because their role was to spiritually guide the nation. The other eleven tribes were to support the Levites. This would allow the Levites to focus solely on leading the nation. The problem within churches today is that the congregation does not always have faithful tithes and offerings. This puts churches in a difficult position, forcing them to be unable to pay full-time staff. Both the Bible and the author provide a good defense in support of more “professional” musicians. In chapter 20 the issue of the organ was discussed. Paul Jones has discussed the decline in the use of the real pipe organ and other real instruments. They are being replaced by electronic keyboards that are much less expensive for churches, but one can sense that Jones is not in favor. He gave... half of the paper... act, these topics were also suitable for small churches to structure the subsequent musical program. The problem I see with this, though, is that every church is different and each has different needs. He said a part-time director should be hired, but even that may not be affordable for many churches. Some churches may be able to do this, but others may not and it is important to understand what your church needs.` These topics are good things to review within a church. I believe it is important to continue to review them to ensure that the Church continues to carry out its mission. Whenever the church examines these issues, it should seek to make appropriate adjustments where necessary. Jones has written an interesting book about music within the church and its role. From an overall perspective these practices are biblical and have a good structure for the music department.