Korean churches have inclined to blindly accept CCM(Contemporary Christian Music), which resulted in "CCM worship" using CCM for public Sunday worships. CCM has some elements inappropriate for public worships, but there are no guidelines or principles...
Korean churches have inclined to blindly accept CCM(Contemporary Christian Music), which resulted in "CCM worship" using CCM for public Sunday worships. CCM has some elements inappropriate for public worships, but there are no guidelines or principles for the use of it in public worships. This thesis aims to find out whether CCM is appropriate music for public worships, and also CCM worship can be a public worship, from the perspective of liturgical study.
The purpose of worship and its music will be clarified first. A worship consists of entering, encountering, and leaving, implemented by the liturgies of opening, sermon, Eucharist, and sending out. CCM worship should base on this structure of public worship. For the main purpose of worship music is to carry out that of public worship by implementing liturgies mentioned above.
The words of worship music play a very important role in worship performance, because they try to communicate the meanings. It means that CCM has to use the words fit to the purpose and structure of worship. That's why it has to be careful in introducing foreign music, avoiding excessive use of English, or transcription for its own need.
CCM also should choose its form of musical piece according to its purpose or objective of helping the sermon, praise, leading, and prayer. Gregorian way of singing Psalms has a 'pause,' for example, which serves to help to communicate the meaning, and as a prayer at the same time.
How to lead the music is also crucial for public worship. It must not disturb the flow of worship. The leader should not be conspicuous, either. The cheer leader and the entertainer models are among Greg Scheer's leader models which should be avoided.
The current CCM worship in Korean protestant churches, practised as public worship, does not meet the standard of public worship, with its broken structure. The whole worship is focused on the sermon, rendering other parts accessories to the sermon. As a result, CCM worship cannot be acknowledged as public worship.
It is often the case that CCM's words are not proper for the structure or the flow of public worship. So, they disturb the worship performance, instead of helping it. They also fail to consistently express the theme of the worship.
Neither do the forms of CCM's musical pieces fit to public worship. Most of them are too releasing with fast tempo. There are some other forms with moderate tempo. Both forms, however, depend on their refrains overly repeated, and focus on congregation's emotional catharsis. There's no big difference in the way CCM worship leads the liturgy, either.
CCM worship in Korean protestant churches doesn't have qualifications for public worship from the perspective of liturgical study. It should learn the structure of public worship and fit to it, if it wants to a part of it. CCM should also do the same thing to be used for public worship music. Without these efforts they will swerve from the purpose of worship, and its structure. More discussions and works on the appropriateness of CCM worship for public liturgy can be also useful.