What does it mean to minister? While the universal church may not have arrived at a definitive answer, I have some thoughts. First of all, in the New Testament directive that is considered to be the “Great” one, Jesus commanded his disciples to, in turn make more disciples. I, therefore, believe ministry should fulfill the goal of discipleship. To truly minister specifically from a biblical worldview, the process should draw people closer to God, enabling them to become more Christ-like. The second venue I might turn to for guidance is the Westminster Shorter Catechism which states that humanity’s chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever. Rather than linking the concept of ministry solely to achievement, I believe true ministry should also assist us in appreciating the Creator. My understanding of scripture, in context, is that the enjoyment of God is an important aspect of discipleship.
Enjoying Art is Integral to Enjoying Creation
I have personally found music to be the most compelling of the art forms, although I don’t think it can be elevated above other art forms. Some may be more inspired by dance, theater, literature and the fine arts, and none of these is intrinsically more noble than another. I understand music and poetry more than I do other artistic forms, with my appreciation of these mediums stretching back to early childhood. We can find plenty of biblical evidence for the value of dance, for great craftsmanship, for architecture and for poetry, but music strikes a particularly strong chord with me—pun intended. Many believers would concur, as they are accustomed to focusing on the Psalms and the other narratives that illuminate the inclusion of music in corporate and individual worship. Beyond that, the Scriptures reveal how music has been used in various settings, for purposes other than corporate worship. King Saul, for example, who had no access to Spotify, sent for a skilled musician (I Samuel 16:16-18) to play for him when he was in a foul mood. Saul obviously believed in the healing power of good music, even if he was under the influence of demonic oppression.
Appropriate Music
In the 1970’s and ‘80’s, fundamentalists had a good deal to say about what was considered to be “acceptable” music for their constituents. I seldom, perhaps never, heard criticism targeting those who listened to classical music. Jazz aficionados received a little more blowback, perhaps because so much was known about the lives of many popular jazz musicians and the stories were often unpleasant. Although I heard a good deal of condemnatory preaching from the pulpit and on the radio centered around alleged “demonic” drumbeats and loud electric instruments, the criticisms from the fundamentalists could not be backed up by Scripture. A relatively consensual opinion began to emerge in contemporary Christian circles stating that if no “holy beat” could be established, perhaps there is also no such concept as an unholy beat. What discriminating believers needed to concern themselves with was the content of vocal music—specifically, whether the messages being conveyed were true or false ones, and whether the lyrics when placed under scrutiny presented good values or poor ones.
I believe the most important component in choosing appropriate non-instrumental music is determining whether the lyrics are helpful, or destructive, or something in between. If the lyrics you are absorbing clash with your values, it would be wise to avoid them. Continuously hearing antagonistic messages anesthetizes your ability to resist them. If you love the music and it brings you pleasure, your brain is likely to associate positive thoughts with the entire musical production, including the lyrics. Most people, especially those who haven’t reached full maturity, are not likely to discriminate deeply enough to divorce a toxic message from music that brings them pleasure. Both the messages and the messengers may seem disproportionately heroic to an undiscriminating listener.
Music Marketed for Christians
I don’t listen to very much Contemporary Christian Music (CCM). Since the early 1980’s, I have found few artists that resonated with me in that extended genre, though I have periodically renewed my search. Praise and Worship music is great if the lyrics are theologically sound and centered on God rather than on me and my feelings; Many don’t meet that criteria. I love to sing the best of these songs in church. They don’t captivate me aesthetically when I’m at home or in the car, though. I don’t think they are designed for that.
Through my studies of communication, culture, evangelization and decades of exposure to the American church, I think differently about this than I previously did. Some of the people who have written or sung lyrics that inspired me have been revealed to live inconsistent, inauthentic lives. When I consider the behaviors rock & rollers engaged in that were condemned by my generation, I also think of all the CCM artists who have done similar things during their careers. I am not expecting ideal behavior, but I can reasonably expect some of the passion mirroring the topics they sing about. Often times, the messenger is as important to me as the message.
Personal Tastes are Subjective
A bigger problem for me is that I just don’t like the genres and styles in which CCM musicians typically record. To me, the plurality of rock & rollers seems to have adopted a fuzzy guitar sound reminiscent of U2, and it simply doesn’t invite me to repeat listening’s. My tastes gravitate toward Americana, folk-rock and Celtic sounds, as well as more folksy-sounding singer-songwriters. Many of the bands I have sampled sound as if they are trying to imitate early Mumford and Sons. It’s not bad—it just doesn’t engage me, perhaps because my ears are seeking more originality. There is no accounting for one’s tastes, is there?
My tastes are not embedded in the seventies or any other era. I like new music. But recently I have revisited some of the ‘70’s through 1990’s music I had ignored after becoming a believer, searching for what I had missed. Bruce Springsteen had been an artist whose music had sounded fresh and dynamic when I was growing up in the Philadelphia area, in close proximity to the New Jersey of his lyrics. He had not been my favorite necessarily, but he was one of many favorites. I had absolutely loved the Seeger Sessions recordings he had done about twenty years ago, because those had been right in the center of the kind of music I had most come to enjoy: Songs emerging from the folk tradition. I had rejected listening to a lot of his other recordings because I knew him to be a political liberal who supported every Democratic candidate on the ballot during every election cycle, and that was anathema to my group at the time.
Attracted by Activism
I now sought out Springsteen’s music because he was singing out and speaking out on civil rights issues, not in spite of his activism. He had been supporting marginalized communities for his entire career and has continued doing so with even more fervor in an era when the MAGA movement has been engaging in particularly cruel and malicious rhetoric against immigrants. Despite whatever other flaws he possesses, he appears to be a secular champion of the disenfranchised, and he cares not a whit if that message alienates people. What had seemed like a deficit for me in the past now appeared to be a credit to his character.
I consider many of my Christian acquaintances as being wishy-washy, even cowardly in their refusal to stand up against oppression. I don’t meet very many Dietrich Bonhoeffers in my Christian circles, but there are a lot of evangelicals who somehow suppose they would have spoken out for oppressed Jews in Bonhoeffer’s day. Clearly, they would not have, as they cheer on the discrimination of almost all Muslims and immigrants today. But here was Springsteen, a fabulously wealthy and sometimes self-righteous rock star using his microphone to support the people that the church of Jesus Christ has been called to support.
Reconnecting with The Boss after Fifty Years
I hadn’t been to a Bruce Springsteen concert in fifty years. Because his 2026 spring/summer tour focused solely upon civil rights themes, I felt I had to attend—and when I did, the show ministered to me. I felt strengthened by seeing 20,000 people in one place who also seemed to be pledging their commitment to helping the people for whom God had pierced my heart. It may have been partly an illusion. Might the fervor in some of the big evangelism crusades we have attended in years past have also been illusory, though? As for me, I hadn’t been in a crowd of people that size pledging their commitment to caring for people in decades.
A Long Walk Home
Bruce’s recent song Streets of Minneapolis is well known, and though it didn’t seem to be as carefully written as many of his others, it was composed with great urgency. To me it parallels Ohio, the song Neil Young composed in 1970 decrying the Kent State Massacre at the hands of the Ohio National Guard. When government troops become a lethal force deployed against innocent people, protests need to be clear and unflinching, lest continuing violence occur. On the night I saw Springsteen, though, the song that moved me the most was one that was nineteen years old, though I had only learned it after I had secured tickets for the concert. “Long Walk Home” seems to have been custom-made for this moment:
Here everybody has a neighbor
Everybody has a friend
Everybody has a reason to begin again
My father said “Son, we’re lucky in this town,
It’s a beautiful place to be born.
It just wraps its arms around you,
Nobody crowds you and nobody goes it alone”
“Your flag flyin’ over the courthouse
Means certain things are set in stone.
Who we are, what we’ll do and what we won’t”
It’s gonna be a long walk home
Hey pretty darling, don’t wait up for me
Gonna be a long walk home… A long walk home.
The symbolism was obvious to me. Just like many of the jobs that had gone south in his hometown in New Jersey, things have gone seriously awry in America. Autocratic principles have been embraced by the current government, with almost a third of Americans cheering on the vitriol, while we have repudiated our historic allies and begun to deteriorate economically. Government agents slaughter people in the streets and bomb Venezuelan citizens at sea, none of whom are given due process. Legal Green Card holders are sent to internment camps, and our military dropped bombs on two hundred children in an Iranian hospital without apologizing. It’s certainly going to be a long walk home, and we may never get there. During that song, I knew why I wept.
Can Visions of Secular Community Be Adopted by Christ-Followers?
“House of a Thousand Guitars” was another highlight for me that I had only recently begun listening to, and it moved me similarly. I have read Springsteen’s autobiography, and Bruce is not a Christ-follower in a manner consistent with my own biblical worldview, so his vision focuses upon a place where artistic people—perhaps all humans who are willing to be decent to one another—can gather both for solace and support, and no less for activism.
The blood moon shines across the vale
Bells ring out through churches and jails
I tally my wounds and count the scars
Here in the house of a thousand guitars
The criminal clown has stolen the throne
He steals what he can never own
May the truth ring out from every small-town bar
We’ll light up the house of a thousand guitars
Well, it’s alright yeah, it’s alright
Meet me darlin’ come Saturday night
All good souls from near and far
Will meet in the house of a thousand guitars
This was unquestionably powerful stuff, beautifully performed by his eighteen-piece band. For me, I await a day when believers can drop the antagonism, stop leaning into fear and demonizing people they have marginalized, and meet together for fellowship and to express common worship for our Creator. But even if this isn’t your worldview, I can now appreciate how others want to achieve goals similar to mine, restoring justice and decency. This music spoke profoundly to me, and I felt better equipped to battle with people insisting that our nation be divided into those who wish to revere an autocratic leader and those who are willing to resist regardless of the hardships they might encounter.
Final Thoughts on Sources of Inspiration
Returning to my original proposition, I think it’s fair to ask whether Christian ministry is genuinely occurring if the medium being utilized is one that doesn’t acknowledge the same presuppositions that orthodox believers in Christ don’t recognize. While there may be no definitive answer, most of us can probably attest to times when the Lord used “secular” mouthpieces or devices to speak to us. Sometimes this may be a dragonfly, a sunset or a snow-capped mountain peak. Other times inspiration may transpire via a powerful dramatic performance, from the wisdom encapsulated in a novel, or through a song written from the viewpoint of someone who holds a different view of salvation by grace through faith as our traditions hold. If you’ve lived past the age of twenty, though, you can likely attest to being inspired or motivated by an entity or event that wasn’t exclusively branded with the image of a cross.
(In Part II, I will share a transformational weekend I experienced at a Tennessee bluegrass festival and reveal the identity of my favorite Christian band.)
Photo by Mic Narra on Unsplash
About Post Author
