The 1st Century Church vs the Contemporary Church
I think that first I must identify myself. I'm a pastor who has 2 church music degrees and spent the better part of 20 years as a Minister of Music and Youth. As pastor of a fairly "traditional" church (we have a choir and sing hymns from hymnals) I often get "suggestions" from people that they would like to see more "praise and worship" (meaning choruses or JOY-FM music) Let me hasten to say that I like it all from classical to contemporary (which varies depending on where you live) to hip-hop to rap. I decided to look in the Bible to find what I could about worship. Interestingly enough, I found very little about music, except in the Psalms and in Revelation. The defining words about the "new" church in Acts 2 are fellowship, praising God (which incorporates more than music) and meeting needs. To steal a phrase from Rick Warren, "It's not about you!" We are to worship God...not a genre of music or a style of preaching.