TWIST Reaction 2

From all that he said, from what others have told me, and from my brief personal conversation with him, Bob Kauflin seems like a thoughtful, humble, godly man, who loves Jesus and the gospel, and is conservative and Calvinist in his theological convictions. My second reaction to the TWIST pastor’s conference was simply one of appreciation: the material that Bob Kauflin presented was insightful, well-delivered, and stimulating.

For example, Bob lamented the worldly ‘rock concert’ culture that has infected congregational singing in many churches around the world. We see that influence, he pointed out, in a number of disturbing trends:

• People value the power and effectiveness of the performance over the participation of the congregation.
• People value musical skill (and good looks!) in musicians over character and biblical understanding.
• People value musical experiences over word experiences (that is, experiences which are a response to the truth, not simply a response to the power of the music). Music doesn’t really change people; it’s the word of the Bible and the Spirit working through it that changes people.
• People value singer-songwriters over pastors as the people who write our songs. Songs should be written by people who are theologically deep and driven.

Bob also sharply criticised the idea that somehow music brings us into the presence of God; or that music is a way of bringing God down to us—as if ‘God enters the building’ or ‘shows up’ when we start to feel the emotional power of the music.

Bob said lots of other helpful things, such as the central thesis of his first talk: that singing is not a peripheral or unimportant aspect of our church meetings that deserves little thought or quick delegation, but instead is a very significant way in which a pastor leads, feeds, cares for, protects and sets an example for his flock. Singing is an important ministry that can be powerful—for both good and ill. He was urging us as leaders and pastors to take that responsibility seriously.

There were plenty of other worthwhile points made. In no particular order:

• that singing involves the head as well as the heart;
• that singing has a ‘vertical’ aspect (towards God) as well as a ‘horizontal’ aspect (towards each other); this is nicely captured in Ephesians 5:19—”addressing one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody to the Lord with your heart”;
• that we need to balance the already and the not-yet in our experience (we don’t yet see Jesus face to face, and yet we do respond to him now with a “joy that is inexpressible and filled with glory”  as 1 Peter 1:8 puts it);
• that we need to hold in healthy tension (as the Bible does) both the transcendence and immanence of God; that is, not lapsing into over-familiar, Jesus-is-my-boyfriend kind of songs, but also not missing the fact that God has invited us to draw near to his throne of grace.

Now a great deal of all this I have heard before from numerous people. And I’ve even (ahem) said quite a few similar things myself in print. There was very little that Bob said that could not also have been (and has been said) by Reformed evangelicals.

And yet it was somehow significant that this teaching was coming from someone who is outside our normal circles and tradition—someone who would call himself a ‘Reformed charismatic’.

I’ll ponder the nature of that significance in my next post.