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Written by Rex M. Rogers

Published: 07 March 2020

My service in the past 40+ years has taken me into many churches--and I grew up the son of a church pianist/organist who is still playing for our home church. Some churches position their music as strictly "contemporary," which may be OK but denies the fellowship the opportunity for edification and enjoyment drawn from the rich, diverse, and beautiful music developed throughout the history of the Christian Church. In fact, this can perpetuate a certain ignorance among young believers re the musical heritage of the Church. On the other hand, some churches position their music as strictly non-contemporary or "traditional," whatever that might mean, which may be OK as far as it goes but can signal lack of dynamism in the worship experience and fails to tap the incredible wealth of developing music in the Church universal.

I say all this to express appreciation for First Baptist Church of Middleville's music worship approach, which seems to me to embrace "newer" and "older" music, presents music with lyrical depth expressing sound theology, and attempts to identify music that the fellowship can learn and actually sing. Recent music worship suggested all this to me.

I'm old enough to remember "singing from a songbook" and confess that at times I miss this. But that short-range cultural memory is less important than the quality of what I am able to engage in a service and I like the idea that I can sing a Christian song written in the past year, or I can sing one written a few centuries ago, which is to say connect with the Body of Christ that knows no or demographic boundaries. So kudos to pastors Nate Archer Nick Boonstra and worship leader Adam Bradt.

© Rex M. Rogers – All Rights Reserved, 2020

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