With the development of the church in China, what kind of music style should be used in worship and praise has become a hot topic for the Christian community in recent years.
The worship songs sung in some rural traditional churches can be basically divided into two types: one is the traditional hymn and the other is the Songs of Canaan which is created by a famous songwriter Xiaomin.
Recently, a brother called Zhao Wei, who has engaged in worship and praise for more than ten years talked about the worship ministry in China and shared the important influence of Southeast Asia worship style in China.
The style of worship and praise in Southeast Asia
The biggest style and feature of worship and praise in Southeast Asia is that it pays too much attention to techniques and pays more attention to the “heart”. When Brother Zhao was studying in the worship school before, every teacher was were actually very good. Some of them even accompanied popular stars without overemphasizing skills. They thought that in worship, skills could only account for 40% at most, while our relationship with God could account for the rest percentages because they felt that there was no need to show off their skills in worship.
Worship services in Southeast Asia often do not have too many outstanding styles and pay attention to how to sing with your heart. In Southeast Asian churches, almost all bands do not talk about gaudy cooperation, and what they have always emphasized is that “less is more." Never say that you are good at techniques, but do more. For example, the keyboard player and guitar player can do their own part well together. For example, until today, there are many worship songs in mainstream churches and they are used for a long time. In fact, these worship songs are very simple from the perspective of music, but some very profound worship songs can not be sung well. There was a time last year when Taiwan singer Will Liu danced that aerobics, which seemed to be called "Compendium of Materia Medica", which became a hit almost overnight in mainland China. One of the most important reasons was that it was simple and not complicated at all.
Worship in Southeast Asia has long been pragmatic. Brother Zhao said that when he was studying in a worship school, many teachers in Southeast Asia did not even use very professional terms when they told them music content such as harmony and modulation.
Brother Zhao said that he himself was deeply influenced by the worship style of Southeast Asia, which he had maintained for more than ten years. “Of course, we also hope that more skilled people can join in, but compared with techniques, we need to review them first, including myself. We have to measure, do we pay attention to flaunting our skills, or does he pay attention to teamwork? Therefore, for example, our team must focus on serving by the heart first, and then deal with techniques.“
Last year, Zhao and his fellows held a worship service, and almost all the musicians improvised. No one was in charge of bass, and finally, Zhao’s daughter was brought in to play bass. In fact, his daughter studied classical music, and bass became interesting to her later. Then the guitarist was also temporarily invited by a church. Technically, this person was not very good, but his serving attitude was really good. The singing team was also patchwork. They were from different churches and had different ages. According to the skills, many people were not enough, but concerning the attitude of service, it was quite good. So in the end, this worship service was well appreciated by all the participants.
Brother Zhao said, “In fact, this is the worship style of Southeast Asia, and it is also the worship style that we have been continuing and upholding over the years.”
Brother Zhao also mentioned that during his more than ten years of worship and service, he often heard some people criticizing Xiaomin’s worship songs, the Stream Of Praise, Music Ministries (the first overseas Chinese Christian music ministry) and other music ministries, and refuted that their worship songs could not be called “sacred music”. Then Brother Zhao asked them a question, “Have their worship songs been used by God?” They replied that it was music used by God.
On the one hand, he is conservative in music style, and they do not always use any style, such as heavy metal style, so they are determined not to use it. But on the other hand, they are very broad in many ways, and are willing to accept many different styles, even if those ministry workers are different in many ways, for example, the Charismatics.
Why does worship in Southeast Asia have such a great influence on the church in China?
Brother Zhao answers the reason is actually not too complicated. No matter whether China or Southeast Asia, we are all Asians, and there are similarities in skin color, language, and culture. Secondly, for many historical reasons, for a long time, compared with China, Malaysian, Singaporean and other Southeast Asian countries are more willing to open their doors, and they are not as closed as China before. Many people in Southeast Asian countries are actually not aborigines but immigrated from other places, which is very different from China.
There is another reason—Dr. Jung Song, a renowned evangelist known as the "Wesley of China." Nearly a hundred years ago, Dr. Song went to Southeast Asia from China to spread the gospel to them and established churches there, which brought great blessings to them and their countries. In this regard, they have always been very grateful, always thinking that one day they must give back.
- Translated by Charlie Li
随着中国教会的发展，这些年来到底该用什么风格的音乐风格敬拜赞美已经成为教会和信徒热议的一个话题。
一些农村传统教会里面所唱的诗歌基本上可以分为两种，一种就是传统的红皮赞美诗，另外一种就是迦南诗选，里面全部都是小敏创作的赞美诗歌。
近日，一位专门从事敬拜赞美十多年的赵卫弟兄，谈到中国教会的敬拜赞美话题的时候，分享了南洋敬拜风格对我国的敬拜赞美所产生的重要影响。
南洋的敬拜赞美风格
南洋的敬拜赞美最大的风格和特点是不过于注重技术，更加重视“心”。赵弟兄之前在敬拜学校学习的时候，每一次老师给他们上课，这些老师们其实是非常有水平的，当中有一些人甚至给很火的明星伴奏，并不过度强调技巧，他们认为在敬拜方面，技巧最多只能够占到40%，而我们跟上帝的关系则能够占到60%。因为他们觉得在敬拜上根本没有必要炫技。
南洋那边的敬拜会往往并没有太多突出的风格，注重怎么用心来唱。在南洋教会，几乎所有乐队的配合都不讲什么花俏，他们一直强调的一点就是 “少就是多”。从来不会说你技术很好所以你多做一点。比如说一个人是作键盘的，另一个是作吉他，每个人都努力做好自己的部分就可以。比如直到今天有很多的主内诗歌经久不衰，其实这些诗歌单纯从音乐的角度来说是非常简单的，而一些很高深的诗歌却传唱不开。去年有一段时间刘耕宏老师跳那个健美操，好像是叫《本草纲目》，几乎是一夜之间就火了。其中一个很重要的原因就是因为它很简单，一点都不复杂。
南洋的敬拜长时间以来都是注重实用的。赵弟兄说他以前在敬拜学校学习的时候，南洋的很多老师在给他们讲和声、转调等等音乐内容的时候，甚至都不会使用非常专业的词汇。
赵弟兄说他自己也是深受南洋敬拜风格的影响，之前这十多年就继续保持这种风格。“我们当然也希望能够有更多技术很好的人员加入进来，但是比起技术，我们首先需要对他们进行审核，包括我自己也是。我们要去衡量，我们注重的是标榜自己的技巧呢，还是说他很注重团队的合作？所以比如我们团队，肯定是以服事的心为首先，其次再谈技术。”
去年赵卫弟兄他们做了一场敬拜会，乐手几乎都是临时拼凑的。贝斯没有人来负责，最后把赵弟兄女儿拉了进来充当贝斯手。其实他女儿学习的是古典音乐，贝斯是她后来感兴趣自学了一些。然后吉他手也是临时从一所教会拉了一个人，从技术上其实这个人并不算太好，因为他们觉得这个人的服事的心真的很好。台上唱歌的人也是东拼西凑的，这些人所属教会不同、年龄也不同，如果按照技巧来说的话其实很多人是不够的，但是按照服事的心的话，那还是相当不错的。所以最后这场敬拜会得到了所有参加者的欢迎。
赵卫弟兄说：“其实，这就是南洋的敬拜风格，也是我们这些年来一直在延续和持守的敬拜风格。”
赵卫弟兄也提到，在他从事敬拜服事的这十多年的时间当中，经常能够听到一些人对小敏诗歌、赞美之泉等音乐赞美事工的批评，认为他们的诗歌都不能够被称为“圣乐”。然后赵卫弟兄就问了他们一个问题“那他们的诗歌有没有被上帝使用？”他们回答说是上帝使用的音乐。
一方面在音乐风格上赵弟兄是比较保守的，不是什么样的风格他们都会使用，比如重金属风格他们就坚决不使用。但是另外一个方面他们又是很宽的，在很多方面都非常宽广，愿意接纳很多人，哪怕这些人跟他不同。比如灵恩派。
为什么南洋的敬拜会对中国教会有如此大的影响力？
赵卫弟兄认为原因其实并不太复杂。无论是中国还是南洋，大家都是亚洲人，肤色，语言、文化等方面都有比较相近和一致的地方。其次，因为很多历史性的原因，在很长的时间里面，相比中国，马来西亚、新加坡等南洋国家更加愿意把自己的门打开，他们并不像以前的中国那么闭塞。南洋国家很多人其实都不是原住民，而是从其他地方移民过去的，这一点跟中国是非常不同的。
还有一个原因，就是因为宋尚节博士的缘故。近百年前，宋尚节博士从中国去往南洋，把福音传给他们，在南洋当地建立了教会，给他们和他们的国家带来极大的祝福。对此，他们一直是非常感激和感恩的，一直想着有一天一定要回馈。
华东某地一敬拜服事者：南洋敬拜风格为什么会对我国的敬拜赞美有重要影响？
With the development of the church in China, what kind of music style should be used in worship and praise has become a hot topic for the Christian community in recent years.
The worship songs sung in some rural traditional churches can be basically divided into two types: one is the traditional hymn and the other is the Songs of Canaan which is created by a famous songwriter Xiaomin.
Recently, a brother called Zhao Wei, who has engaged in worship and praise for more than ten years talked about the worship ministry in China and shared the important influence of Southeast Asia worship style in China.
The style of worship and praise in Southeast Asia
The biggest style and feature of worship and praise in Southeast Asia is that it pays too much attention to techniques and pays more attention to the “heart”. When Brother Zhao was studying in the worship school before, every teacher was were actually very good. Some of them even accompanied popular stars without overemphasizing skills. They thought that in worship, skills could only account for 40% at most, while our relationship with God could account for the rest percentages because they felt that there was no need to show off their skills in worship.
Worship services in Southeast Asia often do not have too many outstanding styles and pay attention to how to sing with your heart. In Southeast Asian churches, almost all bands do not talk about gaudy cooperation, and what they have always emphasized is that “less is more." Never say that you are good at techniques, but do more. For example, the keyboard player and guitar player can do their own part well together. For example, until today, there are many worship songs in mainstream churches and they are used for a long time. In fact, these worship songs are very simple from the perspective of music, but some very profound worship songs can not be sung well. There was a time last year when Taiwan singer Will Liu danced that aerobics, which seemed to be called "Compendium of Materia Medica", which became a hit almost overnight in mainland China. One of the most important reasons was that it was simple and not complicated at all.
Worship in Southeast Asia has long been pragmatic. Brother Zhao said that when he was studying in a worship school, many teachers in Southeast Asia did not even use very professional terms when they told them music content such as harmony and modulation.
Brother Zhao said that he himself was deeply influenced by the worship style of Southeast Asia, which he had maintained for more than ten years. “Of course, we also hope that more skilled people can join in, but compared with techniques, we need to review them first, including myself. We have to measure, do we pay attention to flaunting our skills, or does he pay attention to teamwork? Therefore, for example, our team must focus on serving by the heart first, and then deal with techniques.“
Last year, Zhao and his fellows held a worship service, and almost all the musicians improvised. No one was in charge of bass, and finally, Zhao’s daughter was brought in to play bass. In fact, his daughter studied classical music, and bass became interesting to her later. Then the guitarist was also temporarily invited by a church. Technically, this person was not very good, but his serving attitude was really good. The singing team was also patchwork. They were from different churches and had different ages. According to the skills, many people were not enough, but concerning the attitude of service, it was quite good. So in the end, this worship service was well appreciated by all the participants.
Brother Zhao said, “In fact, this is the worship style of Southeast Asia, and it is also the worship style that we have been continuing and upholding over the years.”
Brother Zhao also mentioned that during his more than ten years of worship and service, he often heard some people criticizing Xiaomin’s worship songs, the Stream Of Praise, Music Ministries (the first overseas Chinese Christian music ministry) and other music ministries, and refuted that their worship songs could not be called “sacred music”. Then Brother Zhao asked them a question, “Have their worship songs been used by God?” They replied that it was music used by God.
On the one hand, he is conservative in music style, and they do not always use any style, such as heavy metal style, so they are determined not to use it. But on the other hand, they are very broad in many ways, and are willing to accept many different styles, even if those ministry workers are different in many ways, for example, the Charismatics.
Why does worship in Southeast Asia have such a great influence on the church in China?
Brother Zhao answers the reason is actually not too complicated. No matter whether China or Southeast Asia, we are all Asians, and there are similarities in skin color, language, and culture. Secondly, for many historical reasons, for a long time, compared with China, Malaysian, Singaporean and other Southeast Asian countries are more willing to open their doors, and they are not as closed as China before. Many people in Southeast Asian countries are actually not aborigines but immigrated from other places, which is very different from China.
There is another reason—Dr. Jung Song, a renowned evangelist known as the "Wesley of China." Nearly a hundred years ago, Dr. Song went to Southeast Asia from China to spread the gospel to them and established churches there, which brought great blessings to them and their countries. In this regard, they have always been very grateful, always thinking that one day they must give back.
- Translated by Charlie Li
Worship Worker in East China: Southeast Asian Worship Style Greatly Impacts Church in China
