Have they heard your message clearly?
"The biblical message, the good news, is a good news of content. It is here that feedback is important in regard to the style the artist chooses. Let us say, for example that you are playing in a Christian rock group, making an art form of rock. Suppose further that at the same time you are going into certain coffeehouses and using rock as a bridge to preach the Christian message. That’s fine. But then you must be careful of the feedback. When you finish playing you must ask whether the people who have heard you play have understood what you have been saying. Have they heard your message clearly because you have used their modern idiom, or have they simply heard again what they have always heard when they have listened to rock because you have used their form?"
- Francis Schaeffer, Art and the Bible, c. 1973 by L’Abri Fellowship, 23
I was reading Andy Farmer's document on Important Values for Christian Artists, and I ran into this quote which caught my attention. Music used at church has dramatically changed over the years and does indeed resemble secular music (in style). This is a question that can be asked not only about musical form but also about how we run programs and build buildings (churches look more like business offices now and less like the cathedrals of before).
Are people hearing our message because we used their modern idoim or are they hearing what they always hear in their form? I certainly hope it's the former.
