Can We Use Worship Music from a Church We Disagree with Theologically?

Before answering the question at hand, I think it’s important for each of us to take a step back and ask ourselves what worship truly is.

Prior to coming to faith in Christ, I always thought the word worship referred to the music portion of a church service, which usually came before the message portion of the church service. Within a few months, I came to realize that my previous definition of worship was inaccurate.

The entire meeting is to be offered as an act of worship to the Lord!

The meaning of the New Testament Greek word most often translated as “worship” (proskuneo) is “to fall down before” or “bow down before”.

Whether we have put our faith in Christ or not, we all worship something and/or someone.

We all bow down to something and/or someone.

In the church, our worship is to be devoted to our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ. However, in the current world we live in, there are constantly people and products vying for our attention and ultimately our worship. For that reason, it is crucial that we constantly make sure that our worship is focused solely on the Lord.

Author, pastor, and teacher, Ligon Duncan, says, “worship is a corporate, Christ-provided, spirit-enabled, encounter with the Almighty, loving, and righteous Father”.

Our weekend worship gatherings are an important and sacred time of the week, focused specifically on God and His truth. Though we may prefer a particular style of music and atmosphere, weekend worship isn’t primarily about our preferences, but rather how God desires to be worshipped by His creation.

With that in mind, our primary focus during every weekend worship service is truth.

The truth of the Gospel. The truth is that we are saved by grace alone, through faith alone. The truth is that we are all sinners in need of a savior, which God mercifully provided to us through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The truths that we find in the pages of the Bible.

That truth should not only be reflected in the preaching of God’s word but also in the songs that we sing.

When it comes to the music we sing within our gatherings, the words that we sing matter, and again, they must reflect the truth of God’s word.

Therefore, if a church that is producing/releasing music intended to be sung by other churches and the teaching coming from that church seems to not be aligned with the teachings of the Bible, then a Bible-believing, Gospel-preaching church should most likely not include those songs in their church services and gatherings. Doing so could lead the members of a church in the wrong direction, towards a church that the Bible would depict as promoting false teaching.

In today’s tech-savvy world, we each have access to church services, music, and other forms of content from churches all around the world. With just a few clicks, we can go from playing one song from a particular church on YouTube, to hearing a sermon clip from the pastor of that church. Within that sermon clip, he could potentially be preaching about a different Jesus than the one the Bible teaches. While there’s a chance that this example might never happen, there is still a chance that it COULD.

That’s a risk I don't think those in a position to lead their congregations in teaching or singing should take. There is no shortage of great, biblical, gospel-preaching churches that create beautiful music to be sung within the church.

An obvious follow-up question would be to ask, “Well, what if a particular song is theologically sound and in line with what we believe as a church, even if the great teaching of the church that it comes from is not?”

Using my above example, although the song may be completely biblical and theologically sound, the sermon clip someone may stumble across is not.

Ephesians 5:15-20 says, “Be very careful, then, how you live - not as unwise but as wise, making the most of every opportunity because the days are evil. Therefore, do not be foolish, but understand what the Lord’s will is. Do not get drunk on wine, which leads to debauchery. Instead, be filled with the Spirit, speaking to one another with psalms, hymns, and songs from the Spirit. Sing and make music from your heart to the Lord, always giving thanks to God the Father for everything, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.”

We should always be wise in our decision-making process when it comes to including or excluding songs from our worship services.

If we are to sing and make music from our hearts to the Lord, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, those songs need to accurately convey the gospel message and the true, clear biblical teachings of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Some believe that art should be separated from the artist. If a song is biblically and theologically sound, there should be no question as to whether or not we can sing it.

However, if we believe that speaking, preaching, and singing truth during our meetings is of utmost importance, we should carefully consider and examine the songs that we sing and the church’s they come from.

Another point of consideration is the fact that each time we sing a song in our church services, money is paid to the owner of that particular song. If a song is owned by a church that preaches a gospel different than the One the Bible preaches, those who use their music are giving financial support to the ministries and teaching of those churches.

At the end of the day, I don’t believe our salvation is dependent on the songs we sing. Our salvation is dependent on what has been accomplished through the life, death, and resurrection of Jesus Christ. There isn’t a song that we can write or sing to earn our salvation.

Discerning the best way to handle these kinds of issues may not be an easy task, but I do believe it’s an important one and something that should be handled with care and grace.

We may not always get it right, but we should always strive to protect the congregation the Lord has entrusted us to help lead.