Book Review

Can We Rock the Gospel? Rock music’s impact on worship and evangelism

John Blanchard and Dan Lucarini, Darlington, England/Webster, New York: Evangelical Press, 2006, 267 pp.

The authors’ brief answer to the title question would be, “No, we cannot and should not rock the gospel.” Apologist John Blanchard was among the first to sound a warning siren about the use of rock music in Christian songs in his 1983 book Pop Goes the Gospel. Lucarini made waves more recently in his 2002 book Why I Left the Contemporary Christian Music Movement. In this work the authors combine forces to critique the widespread acceptance in evangelical circles of rock-influenced musical styles in Christian ministry.

The authors begin by acknowledging that theirs is largely a minority opinion in evangelical circles: “What was once outside is now inside” (p. 14). Contemporary Christian music has won the day in most churches. The authors are insistent, however, that rock music is not just another style and that it brings with it significant negative implications for the church.

One of the premier negative implications of the contemporary Christian music movement has been division in the body of Christ: “Rock music is a stumbling block and a scandal to many Christians today and it is dividing the church” (p. 21). Numerous testimonies are cited of sincere Christians (of all ages and generations) who have been deeply bothered in conscience by the use of worldly (rock) music in worship services in an attempt to transform the traditional to the contemporary. For them the use of rock music necessarily promotes “worldliness, irreverence, strong association with the deeds of darkness, sensuality, and the use of rock as a mystical new worship experience” (p. 32). Blanchard and Lucarini write on behalf of these “conscientious objectors” (p. 33).

To demonstrate these negative associations, the authors offer a review of the history of secular rock and roll music. Recognizing the diverse roots of rock and rejecting a simplistic “‘All rock is African jungle music’ line” (p. 41), the authors nevertheless trace the roots of rock to sensuality and anti-authoritarian impulses. Rock music reflects man’s sinfulness.

Blanchard and Lucarini also attempt to define what uniquely distinguishes the rock musical style in all its diverse sub-genres, asking, “what do we mean when we use the phrase ‘rock music’?” (p. 51). They identify the following traits: repetition, a driving and rhythmic beat, and a high volume. They conclude that using rock in God’s service is “spiritually perilous” (p. 62). Key to their argument is the contention that musical style is not morally neutral. One who is a “music universalist” like Saddleback’s Rick Warren argues that music is amoral. The authors of this work, however, contend that this view “effectively sets up man, not God, as the measure of all things good and righteous” (p. 63). The key question is not what men like but what God approves in worship.

The authors next trace the spiritual and moral associations of secular rock and roll music. They note the influence of the occult, Eastern religions, and paganism. Christian bands may change the lyrics, but can they cannot prevent the audience from “soaking up” the “anti-Christian philosophies and values carried along by the message of the music” (p. 103). The rock musical style is also inextricably connected with sexual immorality. One does not have to dig too deeply to uncover sexual immorality as part and parcel of the appeal of secular rock music, and it is vividly reflected in the often-debauched lifestyles of its most prominent performers. Beyond this, rock music is also associated with drug use, rebellion and blasphemy.

With this review of rock’s history and character complete, the authors raise five red flags about the use of rock music in the church. First, they warn that the use of the rock musical style necessarily “encourages worldliness” regardless of how the lyrics are cleaned up (p. 144). Second, they accuse the “rock idiom” of encouraging “exhibitionism and self-promotion, even in Christian circles” (p. 150). Christian rock has a tendency to produce “stars instead of servants” (p. 151). Third, they contend that the use of rock music in Christian ministry has tended to mix worship and evangelism with “a stimulating form of entertainment” (p. 157). Fourth, they charge the rock idiom with a tendency to “water down the holiness of God and the cross of Christ” (p. 162). Finally, they again note that rock “widens the generation gap and splits churches into musical camps by age group” (p. 165).

Having offered a disapproving critique of rock music, Blanchard and Lucarini next try to build a positive picture from Scripture of what is required in godly music. They note the Biblical witness that “God’s praises were not to be sung in a shoddy or haphazard way,” but great care was to be taken to “meet certain criteria” (p. 187). Close examination of the Psalms and Chronicles reveals that worship leaders could not do their own thing musically. Music in Old Testament worship was “rigidly controlled” (p. 188). “The broader lesson is that neither in music, nor in any other area of life, has God given us license to ‘do what is right in our own eyes’” (p. 188). In the New Testament, Ephesians 5:18-21 and Colossians 3:16 are the key passages. Among the lessons learned from these passages is the need for variety (psalms, hymns, spiritual songs) and the emphasis on vocal singing. For Paul, “music is not to be used to satisfy our personal desires and preferences” (p. 191). A final striking point is also made. Nowhere in Scripture do we find Israel or the church attempting to use secular music to appeal evangelistically to the heathen: “All the music references are to the church at worship; there are none to the use of music in evangelism” (p. 193).

As they draw to a close, the authors press the readers to examine their motivations. He asks Pastors and worship leaders to consider why they have desired to use the rock idiom. The authors reject the pragmatic defense of rock music in Christian ministry for its ability to draw a crowd, communicate the gospel to contemporary people, or produce evangelistic “results.” They also once again attack the notion of rock music’s moral neutrality. In addition they challenge the popular assumption that the church has always freely borrowed from secular musical styles (see especially pp. 204-10). In contrast to the pragmatic, the authors encourages leaders to ask if the music they choose helps them in things like hearing God’s Word more clearly and in encouraging holiness and separation from the world’s ways. In the final chapter, the authors ask the readers to consider the balance between the liberty or freedom of Christian conscience and the personal responsibility of living as captive to the Word of God: “Simply put, what you think must be controlled by nothing other than what God says” (p. 249).

The authors are to be commended for once again addressing this very important issue facing the evangelical church today. Many, if not most, evangelical churches and leaders have fully embraced the use of rock-influenced music in their ministries. The arguments presented in this book regarding the negative implications associated with rock idiom is compelling. Evangelical pastors, musicians, and worship leaders should prayerfully read and consider the warnings presented by Blanchard and Lucarini as they go about the task of leading God’s people in the musical aspects of Christian worship.

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

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Book Review

Can We Rock the Gospel? Rock music’s impact on worship and evangelism

John Blanchard and Dan Lucarini, Darlington, England/Webster, New York: Evangelical Press, 2006, 267 pp.

Jeffrey T. Riddle Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church

Jeffrey T. Riddle
Pastor, Jefferson Park Baptist Church