Hold on a minute Dave. Church music has always been changing since the very first music was sung in a tent or at an stone altar. Original worship music according to Judaic and early christian tradition used inhstruments including a set of cymbals, the ,the 'tof' which is a hand held drum and with pipes and stringed instruments and even included dance! The equivalent of a modern day praise and worship band today !! I dont know if other churches use music as a 'attraction' to draw people in but the purpose of music in worship is to worship and praise God. Thats what attending church is actually for. Learning and studying is actually supposed to be done before you get to church !! The tradition of the church that i am assuming you are coming from is just that , a tradition. It has nothing to do with any pattern or formula passed down by God. I completely agree with you that in many cases people are just tripping on music. Just as some people believe church attendance on a sunday is all that they have to do to satisfy their requirement to serve God.They leave their faith there on the pughs until next sunday ! Thats not good for any church or any faith. And i dont believe in being contemporary just for the sake of it. But i have been to 'traditional' churches and have grown up in one and watched it die as many of them have and are dieing today because they have made the 'method' of understanding God through sermons on a sunday or Sabbath for 1 hour and a couple of hymns sung with an out of tune piano or organ as sacred. The method was never and should never be sacred ! The message is ! And i certainly am seeing a revival of sincere christians striving to serve God and live by the truths that they are studying in the week and sharing in worship in churches far and wide. The music is simply the expression of the joy they have found pouring out from them in the medium of contemporay relevant music ,sincerly given to worship God. Thank God, he is open and loving enough to allow us to use whatever we have to share our love for him in vibrant meaningful worship , whatever method is used.

An organ and piano does not make the worship anymore sincere.

PS you cant hear the tone of my voice so let me make it clear that i am in no way critisising you . I am just adding another one of many views on the subject of appropriate worship using instruments. No doubt you might get other views too.

But back to the point, an arranger is still the ideal instrument for worship as you can switch off the accompaniment if you want a more basic traditional sound...... But when the church realise that God existed before the 18th Century tradition in the hearts and minds of people and still does today in the 21st Century , it might want to switch on some of the acompaniment !!!! Try doing that with a pipe organ ......

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 08-04-2007).]

[This message has been edited by spalding (edited 08-04-2007).]