Are you a Christian or Mainstream Music Artist
My recent post about my thoughts on Collective Soul and reading some articles discussed on Christianity Today I thought I’d propose a question to you the readers.
Does a Christian who sings have to be promoted as a “Christian” artist? Are they less of a Christian if they sing in a secular group? Why do we have to have these labels? Do the labels mean anything more than the difference between a blues genre and jazz? Am I less of a Christian because I enjoy listening to music and albums sold in the “New Age” section of music stores? I know my mother didn’t really like me listening to Yanni or Enya because of that.
Be sure and let me know your thoughts in the comments or in the new poll over there to the right.
Here’s some more reading for you to start to get you thinking about the topic
- Church and State: Mute Math fights the machine at Warner Bros
- How to Fix CCM
- Rock Un-Solid: When Christian bands bite the hands that praised them
Related Stories
POSTED IN: Christian Mainstream Music, Christian Music Artists, Christian Music News, Contemporary Christian Music, Emerging Christian Artists
18 opinions for Are you a Christian or Mainstream Music Artist
Bald Man
Jul 27, 2006 at 10:04 am
Does a Christian who sings have to be promoted as a “Christian” artist?
Only if they want to be put in that marketing box.
Are they less of a Christian if they sing in a secular group?
Only if you think a person is less of a Christian b/c they don’t work at a church.
Why do we have to have these labels?
Marketing. Marketing. Marketing.
Do the labels mean anything more than the difference between a blues genre and jazz?
The labels are worthless for finding musical genres. It’s on par with classifying songs as Love, Breakup, Party. Has nothing to do with the musical genre.
Am I less of a Christian because I enjoy listening to music and albums sold in the “New Age” section of music stores?
Hell no! And I’m no less one for having said that.
Nice questions!
Jul 30, 2006 at 7:24 pm
Dear Bald Man,
The main question, “Does a Christian who sings have to be promoted as a “Christian” artist?” is really important. Why? Because wouldn’t you think that if you are a true Christian it would be your PLEASURE to be “labled” as a Christian artist? Being a Christian means that your goal is to glorify God and you would definately be doing that in a Christian band. I’m not saying you can not minister to others because you are in a non-Christian band but, it brings up too many questions as to why you are in a non-Christian band in the first place!
Think about it…
Nice questions!
Jul 30, 2006 at 7:30 pm
Dear Bald Man,
Don’t you think as Christians it is out pleasure to glorify God? And what a better way than to be in a Christian band! Why settle for a non-Christian one when you could have a full force Christian one?!?
Bald Man
Jul 31, 2006 at 7:42 am
Nice questions,
First of all, how about a name? I enjoy a conversation, but I’d like to know with whom I’m speaking. Unless I find out otherwise, I’ll assume you left both #2 & #3.
When it comes to music, the label “Christian” is an outlier. It describes the vocabulary of the lyrics, whereas everything else is classified according to style of music. Only in “Christian” music would you find P.O.D., Petra, Amy Grant and Michael Card under the same genre. I’ve enjoyed all four (Well, not so much Amy Grant.), but they have no business being in the same genre. The description is musically useless.
CCM and its myriad sub-genres, an attempt to address the above problem, are part of what’s wrong with mainstream Christianity in the USA. It’s all backwards. By creating an independent sub-culture (”Christian” music; “Christian” bookstores; “Christian” clothing; etc.) members have managed to be of the world but not in it. “Christian” in these contexts is by and large a marketing gimmick designed to separate church-attenders from their cash.
My turn to ask you questions: Why do you assume a musician would definitely be glorifying God because they weren’t marketed as a Christian artist? What questions should a member of a non-Christian band be desperately trying to avoid? Finally, can you elaborate on “full force?”
Nice Questions
Jul 31, 2006 at 2:47 pm
Dear Bald Man, Seeing how “Bald Man” is not a name either and sharing names on blogs isn’t really safe, I will stick to being Nice Questions.
Yes, I left both #3 and 4, my computer got all messed up and I thought it didn’t post my first one.
Sure “Christian Music” is under a huge label but once you are in that department there are thousands of different varieties that ARE listed as such. And the description isn’t useless at all it is making sure you aren’t buying something that you don’t want to hear!
How can you say that we Christians aren’t “in” the world?? It is our responsibility to be involved in it, we all live together. The only difference is that we have a different purpose to fulfill than most people, to glorify God. Having stores that sell our type of stuff is not at all odd; think of all the different religions that sell their stuff! Are they separated from the world? I think not.
As to your question “Why do you assume a musician would definitely be glorifying God because they weren’t marketed as a Christian artist?” I am assuming you meant why would they NOT be glorifying God if they weren’t in a Christian band. And although they probably would be living a life for God, being in a non-Christian band would be restricting. Why? Because not being in one would mean that they could never play a Christian song that REALLY said something definite about God. And what if fellow band members wanted to play a song that contained, shall we say, “objectionable content”? And although I have no doubt they could stand up to the pleasure, it would be frustrating to be so outnumbered. Although, aren’t we all? :)
I’m afraid I don’t understand your question “What questions should a member of a non-Christian band be desperately trying to avoid?” Could you explain?
And finally, what I meant by “full force” was just a nice adjective, to be honest! You know, a full force, all out there, rocking for Jesus Christian Band!!
Now, I hope you will respond and no hard feelings, OK?
Bald Man
Jul 31, 2006 at 8:56 pm
NQ,
Sorry. Perhaps I over-reacted, but that name, “Nice Questions!” with no site link struck me as a sock puppet. I understand aliases and don’t have a problem with them (obviously.) But this one just seems unique to this post, and that makes it hard to know who your talking to from post to post and (preferably) site to site, as well. Again, sorry if I’m being paranoid.
Now, I’ll try to stay calm, but you’ve caught me in a rant. I can say that Christians aren’t “in” the world, because that’s what I see. Christians have formed their own little subculture: Christian daycare, Christian school, Christian university, Christian clothes, Christian coffee shop, Christian bookstore stocked books from Christian publishing houses and music from Christian labels and junk from Christian junk-makers, Christian music blogs ;) , Christian nursing homes… It’s cradle to grave subculture. A church has “made it” when they’ve got a mega-acreage, mega-campus where their members can live out their days at a safe distance from the world. That’s what I mean when I say “of” the world, but not “in” it. All the trappings of the real world, but “sanitized” for your Christian consumption.
I agree, that’s not how it’s supposed to be; but that’s how it is for too much of US Christianity.
My first question did have a typo. (I meant the affirmative vs. the negative that you responded to, but the result is probably the same.) Now I can hear the “unequally yoked” sermons going thru my head, but that’s beside the point. The whole “Christian band” schema is a marketing gimmick. If an artist wants to ensure they spend their days preaching to the choir at youth rallies and the annual summer festival, they should go ahead and be a “Christian band.” I can’t think of a single “Christian band” who has escaped that label. There are a few who have had songs break out (e.g. Mercy Me/I Can Only Imagine), but those are the exceptions.
My second question referred back to your remark that being a Christian in a non-Christian band “brings up too many questions.”
Rantz Grotto
Aug 1, 2006 at 3:26 pm
Jason,
I am not a Christian so please consider this in my answer.
We all identify ourselves in our own ways for our own reasons. I did above because I wanted you and the other readers to know my perspective might be different than yours on this issue because of my beliefs. There are times when a musician wants to identify him/herself as a Christian because they want to attract that audience. There are those people who will only listen to Christian music (I am guessing that your mother is one of them). There are others who listen to all kinds of music. I don’t really believe that Christian should be the main category under which a band should be filed in the music store because that will lead some people to overlook that band/artist. I normally don’t look in the Christian section because I don’t connect with the lyrics, but if there was a new age Christian band I may like their stuff, but wouldn’t see it because it’s over there in the area I don’t go. Maybe if we expanded the “Tipper Label” to include “Christian Explicate Lyrics” or something like that it would work. There are times when religious singing is as offensive as non-religious. It should be marked.
In all seriousness, the more we label ourselves the more we separate ourselves. That is bad. I dislike that I felt I should label myself at the beginning of this post, but I did it. Some people will discredit what I say because I did label myself as different. That is not what we, as a society should do.
Anyway, I did post my own thoughts in further detail on my blog Keepers Of The Truth . Thank you for the thought provoking post.
N.Q. (The one and only!)
Aug 2, 2006 at 9:58 pm
Dear Bald Man,
I am glad you see my protective side, plus don’t you think NQ has a nice “techy” sound? ;)
I see that you are very serious when you said all that stuff about Christians not being in the world but, what is your SOLUTION?? You can not condem and then not have some sort of idea as to how to better our “Christian world”. Are you saying that you feal being sort of secluded that our Christian community is not reaching out to the world as we should? But, on the other side, what about other religions? You know that they have means of connecting with others that believe the same as them, do you condem them? Do you propose that we close all means of Christians connecting and try to become more like the world so that we can reach them?
Knowing that I am overstepping my boundaries, may I ask something personal? Are you personally a Christian? I couldn’t help but notice that at one point you said “for YOUR Christian consumption”
N.Q.
Aug 2, 2006 at 10:11 pm
OK, my computer just messed up!! Now continuing where I left off…
…But then on the other lines you sounded like you included yourself. Please excuse my prying; I am just wondering about what you believe.
You said, “If an artist wants to ensure they spend their days preaching to the choir at youth rallies”. Do you think that we Christians don’t need encouragement?? What would we do, have silent youth conferences?? Where do you go for spiritual fulfillment? We need SOMETHING!
The “Too many Questions” was just lightly touching on all the “stir” it creates in like, magazines and such and everyone says, “why did you choose this band and what about that new hit of yours?” And they never seam to just come forward and proclaim why they live for Jesus, if they do. There always seems to be just a little bit wrong with their conduct or how they are living outside of the tour bus.
Quite a lot to ponder!
bcjam26
Aug 9, 2006 at 12:28 pm
I am a Christian, musician and in full time ministry who has been involved with Christian and secular music. Here are some of my ideas.
Sometimes music making is a profession. Sometimes it’s a hobby. Sometimes it’s a ministry or calling. I don’t think a Christian who is making music ALWAYS has to be under the Christian label. I do think that God calls ALL Christians to live holy lives under the Lordship of Jesus Christ, but that doesn’t at all rule out Christians immersed in the environments of the world. After all, that’s where Jesus spent most of his time. Of course, the local church offers support, encouragement, training and accountablity to all of us who are trying to reach the lost.
I don’t think we should assume we know someone’s motivation for making music. We obviously cannot assume we know how God plans to use each of us for His purposes. Although, we know what limitations we have as Christians according to God’s boundaries. I’m not going to become a drug addict in order to reach other drug addicts! Do I think there are Christians out there making a living in the secular world? Yes. Do I think there are Christians out there in the Christian music industry motivated by making money? Yes.
Do I think as Christians we are reaching the world like we should? NO! In America Christianity is on the decline. Where Christianity is illegal, it is on the rise. I think American Christians tend to be more American than Christian. Are we really following Christ’s commands? In your church is there a lot of feeding the poor? Reaching the lost? Are we really giving up everything to follow Christ or do we just talk about it a lot? In my experience, American Christians (including myself) spend more time and energy on my self, not building the Kingdom of God.
This is a complicated matter but for me it comes down to this. If we claim to be a disciple we must walk as Jesus walked. Jesus spent more time in the “world” than he did in the temple. Whether a man is in Christian music or secular music, if he calls himself a Christian but his words or actions do not reflect Christ, I have a problem with that because he’s hurting God’s effort to reach the world through his Body.
Rantz Grotto
Aug 9, 2006 at 2:57 pm
Just a little something that BC made me think of…
If you want to spread the word to non-Christians, don’t you think it more effective to do that by not placing yourself in the Christian bin of the music store? As I’ve said in before, I don’t shop in that bin. Therefor, unless my wife brings it home or a friend plays it for me, I really don’t hear it. If you want to preach to the choir, get on the Christian lable. If you want to sing to the world, go secular.
Thanks BC for helping me see that.
Bald Man
Aug 10, 2006 at 7:50 am
(Sorry, buried IRL and just getting back to this…)
NQ,
First, yes I’m a Christian, but I am making something of a concentrated effort to separate myself from a brand of Christianity that prevails in the USA today. I think bcjam puts it well: It’s more American than Christian in many regards.
Second, it’s not about forsaking community and encouragement… but that isn’t what much of the Christian sub-culture we’ve been talking about is about. It’s about marketing and economic consumption; not edification and support. A good number of US Christians have been sold - and willingly bought - a bill of lies packaged as “resources to help you in your walk.”
OK, you asked the really hard question (Solution?), so here’s a brief answer. Simply, the church needs to get back to Jesus’ Kingdom mission. Isaiah 61/Luke 4: “The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he has anointed me to proclaim good news to the poor. He has sent me to proclaim release to the captives and the regaining of sight to the blind, to set free those who are oppressed, to proclaim the year of the Lord’s favor.”
N.Q.
Aug 11, 2006 at 9:20 pm
Dear Bald Man,
I think it is time to say goodbye. We obviously are only trying to convince each other that our own opinions are right, and what is it accomplishing?
I hope you realize that I have really thought about your ideas and those of the other two responders. We all are sure of our ideas, and most of them, although different, are very thoughtful and pretty right on topic.
So thank you for the debate, sorry neither of us won. I’ll stick around a few days to see if you have any closing messages! :)
Audios, NQ
Jason
Aug 11, 2006 at 9:33 pm
Gentleman, thanks for the great thoughts and comments. N.Q although I don’t think you’re really saying this, it’s not about winning or losing the argument. I much more highly value the respectful and open communication of thoughts and ideas that beating each other up over opinions and suggestions. Thanks again, I hope you continue to visit the blog, maybe we’ll get you interested in some “Christian” music you’d normally not venture into the racks for in the future.
Bald Man
Aug 11, 2006 at 9:36 pm
NQ,
I’ll echo Jason. I didn’t really see it as an argument or debate.
N.Q.
Aug 12, 2006 at 8:39 pm
Dear Bald Man,
I told you I would stick around for your responding comment! How could you not consider it a debate? If not, what is it? We could always call it a “space to let each other know our present feelings on Christian Music” but that would be ridiculous.
By the way, I am not a “gentleman”.
~ N.Q.
Bald Man
Aug 13, 2006 at 6:44 am
A debate is two people defending contrary positions. If that’s what we were doing, I missed it. Felt more like a Q & A to me.
Ah well…
Am I Going Overboard? | Bald Man Blogging
Feb 16, 2007 at 11:00 am
[…] Can someone tell me if I went overboard in the comments at Christian Music Fan? I’ll confess to coming off a little snarky; the topic is a bit of lemon juice in an open wound for me. But I’m wondering: Did I just over-react? Or am I completely off-base? […]
Have an opinion? Leave a comment: