Church Music Is Not Preferential

We have made church music into a preferential model; therefore, all music is created equal, whether the compositions of the three-chord teenager or the enscripturated music of Isaac Watts.

In the 19th century, the evangelist Charles Finney, known for creating the invitational system, changed how music was done in the Church. Music was no longer doxological but a means to draw people to the front for public professions and renouncements of societal sins, which for Finney included drinking. He once stated apocalyptically: “It costs the Church more than she can afford, to use alcoholic drinks.”¹ This Finneian model of invitationals was adopted in the United States and is very prominent today.

Finney believed that music was the means to an end. Music, for Finney, was utilitarian. “How can I draw people to God through their emotions and tears?” Rather than “How can we adore the Triune God?” There is a fundamental difference. As Dr. Scott Aniol notes:

Finney found the newly emerging pop culture as the perfect tool for creating exciting experiences because it was immediate and it stimulated excitement. Finney urged those writing and leading music in his meetings to look to the advertisers of the day for inspiration.²