Recently, a famous Chinese worship and praise team sang holy hip-hop in an evangelistic music meeting to reach millennials who were lovers of music.
Holy hip-hop, which has its roots in the United States in the 1980s, combines gospel messages with beats. The five Christian hip-hoppers wanted to introduce to the attendants that hip-hop is one means of expressions for the new generation despite having no bearing on Christianity.
However, this "fashionable" attempt sparked disputes among Chinese Christians. It also received huge criticism from other Christians and even drew analysis by preachers from the perspective of ecclesiology, theology and worship study.
As a response to the feedback, the sponsor of the rap concert released a statement on August 6, apologizing for bad impacts and anxiety it has caused. "This was our first attempt. We will keep reforming through summaries and improvement." The statement also said that the band was devoted to creating original hymns but they were burdened by church sacred music ministry and attempted to combine traditional sacred music and modern music for evangelism.
"We believe any musical form is just a form, a tool of expression. The expression itself matters."
The Gospel Times, a Chinese online Christian news website, interviewed preachers, sacred music teachers, and pastors to share their views about the subject.
Preachers: Evangelistic meetings don't cater to hip-hoppers.
A preacher from Wenzhou argued that the ecclesiology revealed from the rap concert was "shocking". "The emergence of a rap evangelistic meeting was due to the ignorance that 'a church is an organism' and the extreme being an organization.
He claimed that the purpose of an evangelistic crusade was to preach the gospel, not to cater to hip-hoppers (sinners), as Jesus didn't perform miracles to cater for Jews and Paul didn't use philosophy to pander to the Greeks. Evangelistic meetings should be diversified, but not entertaining and secularized. If such meeting was aimed at leading churches to preach through dances and young people to treat hip-hop culture in a right way, that is not sharing Jesus' word at all.
In addition, he explained that this was not something about traditions or modernism, but it is related to the expression and boundaries of theology, as well as about the object of worship and the purpose. As a result, he stated that proper worship and praise was in accordance with theology and the traditions of the Catholic Church.
Post-80s Preacher: Should worshipping God follow the fashion?
Another preacher born in the 1980s said that the holy hip-hop concert was a good idea, but it blindly introduced secular music into the church, which would evitably make the worship part lose its essence and even possibly torture gospel message. Praise and worship couldn't be conducted at will because God is holy, he added.
Two sacred music seminary teachers: sticking to traditions and reflecting on the true meaning of worship
A pastor from a seminary in Eastern China said that he sticks to traditions and refused conservatism and inflexibility. "I always uphold that sacred music should be God-oriented. Sacred music in the worship is not self-amusement, but a sacrifice of praise offered to God."
Rev. Wu, who teaches liturgy in Hong Kong, shared that church congregations ought to be more conservative than the secular world. The professor said that hip-hop originated from a poor residential area where African Americans resided in the Bronx in New York City. They were basically means for self-expression for the young people, protesting mainstream cultures - civilized and well-bred music. But Blues and jazz music also originated from African Americans and they had deeper cultural roots. They included spiritual songs sung by blacks in southern America, who cried out to God.
Rev. Wu said that rap could attract young people to chant biblical truths with their favorable rhythm, but it is very hard to achieve that. "But I think that it is worth a try."
Pastor from NE China: Praise can be presented in various kinds.
Rev. Piao commented that preaching through hip-hop was a good attempt, adding that Paul agreed to use various kinds of ways to worship and praise in the New Testament.
However, it was inappropriate in Sunday services that required reverence, rituals, and order to use other forms of worship.
"Form is not a problem as long as they have right starting points and motivation. We should encourage innovation and keep core foundations. We just need to first make attempts in suitable soil and gradually advance."
Hong Kong pastor: Modernization doesn't equal secularization.
The controversial move that the "Jesus Fashion" worship team brought "mainstream" cultures into the church was supported by pastors and believers in mainland China but were criticized by many netizens.
Some of them said, "Don't introduce worldly fashion trends into the consecrated church."
"I'm sick of those noisy worship and praise songs. I feel nothing godly. "
Pastor S from Shenzhen saw it from another perspective. "These celebrities entered into the church and experienced life changes, which traditional churches were unable to do. Their performances on the stage were not to exalt themselves, but the name of Jesus Christ. Moreover, they held free concerts in Shenzhen not to make profits for themselves, but to preach the gospel of Christ."
His point was that the focus should be whether worshipers could lead people toward God through their singing, not idolatry.
"A true worshiper doesn't criticize other people for their different worship methods because one can understand God's will at the moment he enters into God's presence. The more we worship God, the more we will have God's image and likeness to live out the beautiful and humble life of God. This is the purpose of worship." He said.
A young preacher claimed, "Since the era is changing, how should evangelistic meetings change?" He said that the church was losing appeal to young people, so it was anxious and trying to draw the attention of the millennials with different forms of evangelistic rallies.
He analyzed that apart from forms, such meetings should spend more energies thinking about how to make sermons concentrated and splendid to grip people. But this is a challenge for many preachers.
本来是想通过嘻哈乐回应当下教会中90后、00后多位喜欢音乐的青少年们，以此来传递基督教福音的信息。谁知，这场音乐布道会却引发了争论，多是负面的，甚至有传道人从教会论、神学和崇拜学的角度进行了分析，也有牧师表示要不断尝试，只要有一定尺度的把握就好。
事情是这样的，最近，网络上传出一段10秒的短视频，展示出在温州当地的一个夏令营布道会上，当地的一个基督教背景的乐团采用了嘻哈的方式来布道，又是说唱又是舞蹈，这种方式被不少基督徒批评。
圣经里多处提到赞美，说“耶和华是以赞美为宝座的”，圣经里的米利暗、大卫等人都喜欢赞美神，教会历史上的赞美诗更是隽永而圣洁。有教会的地方就有赞美，时代变迁，就有不同语言的词曲和敬拜方式，或严肃安静、琴声悠扬；或轻松活跃、节奏欢快。教会有自身崇拜的传统，在与不同时代的音乐形式碰撞之时，传道人和信徒们必然会有不同的反应，有的能自然地融合，有的会引起不适。
此次嘻哈音乐会的主办方在8月6日发布了声明，并因给信徒造成了影响与不安而致歉，“这是我们一次全新的尝试，我们会在总结与改进中不断归正。”
该布道会在声明中阐述了自己举办嘻哈布道会的初衷，说乐团热心于教会圣乐事工，致力于本土原创赞美诗，尝试结合传统圣乐和现代音乐来宣教。而此次布道会邀请了五位基督徒嘻哈人做导师，举办营会的目的是回应当下教会中90后、00后诸多喜欢嘻哈音乐的青少年们，“希望透过学习引导他们的生命、对自身的处境有更正确的认知”。
营会主题为“爱与和平”，他们希望引导学员知道，虽然嘻哈大多与基督教无关，但其为新一代年轻人的表达方式之一。“因此，我们相信任何的音乐形式只是一种形式，是一种表达工具，重要的是要看表达的是什么。”
对此，福音时报联系了此次嘻哈营会的主办方，对方说正在总结和评估，之后会介绍整个事工的想法以及事件过程。此外，采访了基督教界一些对圣乐有思考的牧师和基督教乐队带领人，并将综合不同信息，展现各方观点，有的反对，有的从敬拜的对象和目的来引发信徒思考，有的则是鼓励。
温州的一位传道人：布道会不是为了迎合嘻哈人
这位坚守基要真理的传道人以“雷人”来形容该嘻哈布道会背后透露出来的教会观，“嘻哈布道会的出现时因为忽略了‘教会为一机体’，只偏极在教会的组织上。”他认为，布道会要宣讲的是福音，不是为了迎合嘻哈人（罪人），耶稣没有用神迹迎合犹太人，保罗没有用哲学迎合希腊人。如果说布道会目标是引导教会善用舞蹈来布道和引导年轻人用正确的方式看待嘻哈文化，那这不是布耶稣的道。同时，他也表示，在批评嘻哈布道会时，又要看到教会的组织性，教会的布道会是需要多元化、多样化，却不能娱乐化、世俗化。
此外，他还从敬拜的角度进行解释，这不是传统和现代的问题，是神学的表达和界线，要思考敬拜的对象和目的是什么。“上帝对以色列人的敬拜是有启示的。”这位传道人谈到了圣经，他说，以色列人进入迦南地以后，效法了迦南地宗教模式敬拜神，是不合神心意的，神有他启示的模式。“整个敬拜是要表达在基督教里，或者以基督为中心，任何的敬拜不是关乎人的，而是关乎神。”因此，他认为，合宜的敬拜赞美要合乎神学和大公教会传统，要看想表达什么。“离开了圣经的标准去谈敬拜，有何意义？”他反问道。
80后传道人：“敬拜上帝也要赶时髦？”
他说自己很难想象那10秒视频里的场景是在敬拜上帝。当该布道团发了声明后，这位传道人认为，想法很好，但盲目引进世俗音乐，陷入了过分“处境化”的境地，结果势必导致布道会敬拜走形，甚至可能还有福音信息的扭曲。“我们想一想，这种轻浮低俗的音乐又怎能承载起敬拜上帝的神圣庄严使命呢？又怎能为纯正布道信息的释放铺路呢？”
这位传道人认为，基督教有别于其他宗教的一个特色是，高度重视赞美敬拜，用音乐和赞美敬拜那位创造天地的最高主宰。但敬拜不是随心所欲的，“但你是圣洁的，是用以色列的赞美为宝座的。”上帝的圣洁属性决定了敬拜上帝是有一定规范的，要把会众的心灵提升到上帝的宝座面前，因此不能亵慢。
两位神学院圣乐老师：坚守传统，思考敬拜真义
华东地区神学院的一位牧师表示，他的态度是坚持传统方向，但不是守旧和古板。“我一向坚持圣乐应该以神为本，崇拜中的圣乐不是自我娱乐，而是向上帝献上颂赞的祭。”
香港教授礼仪学的伍牧师分享，对比世俗，教会会众一般比较保守，这是应该的，世人期望教会守护传统价值，教会也不宜作世俗潮流急先锋。
随后，他谈到了嘻哈乐的来源：嘻哈源于纽约市最北的布朗克斯郡（Bronx）非裔居民贫困地区，通常与街舞、饶舌出现的次文化，不需跟师傅刻苦学习，在街头联群模仿勤练习，自得其乐。而同是出于非洲裔的蓝调和爵士音乐，其文化就深厚坚实得多了，他们的音乐来自美国南部的黑人灵歌，这些灵歌诗为奴的黑人向上主呼求的乐章。嘻哈基本是年轻人自我表达，抗议主流文化代表教化、教养的音乐。
但是，这位牧师认为，嘻哈也可以吸引年轻人，用他们喜爱的节奏吟咏圣经真理，但这难度很大，功力要出神入化。并且，用什么媒介传递信息，本身也是一种信息了，要小心处理，“但我觉得值得尝试。”
随后，他从崇拜学的角度分析道，崇拜是信仰的表白，有宣教作用。而主喜悦我们用心灵与诚实来敬拜，这不是主观的虔诚而是指圣灵，背后需要有真理的依托。“崇拜礼仪最大危机是随意性，按着自己的喜好打造金牛犊，将其当作上主来敬拜。”
因此，教会敬拜需要有圣经依据，以真理为根基，而不是随意创造自己喜欢的敬拜礼仪。“崇拜是回应上主在基督里的启示，礼序以宣召开其端，祝福总其诚，述说基督救赎事件，而不是敬拜者按己意抒发情绪。”伍牧师曾在一次讲座中说。
东北一位牧师：赞美可以使用各种表达形式
这位牧师认为，嘻哈布道是很好的尝试，并说保罗在新约里就谈到了赞美可以使用的各种表达形式。“用年轻人喜欢的方式歌颂赞美神的恩典，讲述生命见证，在营会、晚会等舞台上呈现，没有什么不妥。”但是，礼拜天的崇拜时间，这不大适合在教堂使用，需要有敬畏、礼仪和秩序。
“不论什么形式，重要的是有一定尺度的把握，不能把后现代主义当作时髦。只要他们的出发点和动机是正确的，形式就不是问题，应当鼓励创新，又不失核心基础，只是需要在适合的土壤上先尝试，再逐步推进。”
笔者也曾和金陵协和神学院喜乐敬拜团的两位服侍同工交流过，这是该院历史上首支以电声音乐和现代敬拜赞美形式来服侍的乐队。对于这种“传统”与“现代”敬拜方式的争论，L弟兄认为，有人喜欢古典音乐有人喜欢现代敬拜，无论采用何种方式，都要回到圣经的原则当中，有冲突的时候，出于人的东西需要放弃，若只是观念上的问题，就需要更新观念。在圣乐崇拜发展史上，钢琴用于伴奏也曾饱受争议，当时的人认为只能用管风琴伴奏，但如今钢琴已被普遍接受。圣经上要我们击鼓跳舞、用丝弦的乐器赞美神，那使用吉他等现代乐器有何不可呢？“要本着爱的原则，上帝不会那么狭隘，要有更广阔的胸怀。”L弟兄说。
另一位同工认为，现代敬拜是传统圣乐的升华，这种敬拜方式是为了服务于现代教会发展的趋势。
深圳一位在教会敬拜赞美方面服侍的L牧师在接触了比较活跃的“现代化”敬拜方式后认为，传统与现代的敬拜方式都有可取之处，只是焦点要在上帝那里，不在乎外在的表现形式。两种方式应该彼此包容，而非批判指责。
“现代化不等于世俗化。”香港的一位牧师表示。此前，Jesus Fashion敬拜团将“主”流文化带到教会和社会，也有内地牧者和信徒表示支持，但不少网友直接说：“不要把世俗时尚潮流引进分别为圣的教会。”“我也烦透了那些吵闹的敬拜歌曲，感觉不到一点属灵的东西。”
而深圳的S牧师是这样看的，“这些艺人能进入教会，并且发生生命的改变，是传统教会不能做到的。他们在台上表演，不是为了高举自己，而是高举耶稣基督的名，而且他们到深圳举办演唱会都是免费的，因为不是为自己谋财利，而是为了传扬基督的福音。” 他认为，重点是敬拜者能否透过他们的歌声把人带到神的面前，而不是一种偶像崇拜。
“一个真正的敬拜者，不会去批评指责别人跟你敬拜方式不同，因为进入神的同在时，会明白神的心意。越敬拜神，我们就会越来越有神的形象和样式，活出神谦卑美好的生命。这就是敬拜的目的。”S牧师表示。
而另一位80后传道人思考的是：“时代变了，布道会要如何变？”，让大家关注一个现实：这些人，教会对于年轻人渐渐失去了吸引力。教会很着急，所以尝试各种形式的布道会来吸引90后、00后。
他分析，从教会传统来说，布道会以讲道为主，但操作起来很困难；而以表演为主，讲道为辅的布道会，操作起来也很困难。而每年教会非常重视的圣诞晚会，也只是穿插一小段讲道，然后像晚会一般地按照程序走。基督教界的敬拜赞美队/布道团更为专业，更有活力，但难以满足中国教会的需求，所以不同的布道团涌现出来。更为尴尬的局面是，很多教堂里有布道晚会，但是讲道时间非常短，而且台下的人似乎不感兴趣。因此，这位传道人建议，布道会除了在意形式，可能更需要思考如何在短时间内提炼内容，让宣讲的福音信息变得精彩，一下子就可以抓住人心。可这对于很多传道人，也是挑战。
同在基督教敬拜乐团领域服侍的T姊妹表示，传统和现代应该平衡为宜，唱现代诗歌不可抛弃传统、但也不可过分高举传统圣诗而贬低现代诗歌。而敬拜的方式不能一概而论，比较重要和坚持的原则是诗歌歌词的内容，风格就要看场合。还有乐队和敬拜团的心态，是以服侍和敬拜的心态而不是在表演。
嘻哈音乐布道会引发“敬拜赞美”争论：这是在敬拜上帝？
Recently, a famous Chinese worship and praise team sang holy hip-hop in an evangelistic music meeting to reach millennials who were lovers of music.
Holy hip-hop, which has its roots in the United States in the 1980s, combines gospel messages with beats. The five Christian hip-hoppers wanted to introduce to the attendants that hip-hop is one means of expressions for the new generation despite having no bearing on Christianity.
However, this "fashionable" attempt sparked disputes among Chinese Christians. It also received huge criticism from other Christians and even drew analysis by preachers from the perspective of ecclesiology, theology and worship study.
As a response to the feedback, the sponsor of the rap concert released a statement on August 6, apologizing for bad impacts and anxiety it has caused. "This was our first attempt. We will keep reforming through summaries and improvement." The statement also said that the band was devoted to creating original hymns but they were burdened by church sacred music ministry and attempted to combine traditional sacred music and modern music for evangelism.
"We believe any musical form is just a form, a tool of expression. The expression itself matters."
The Gospel Times, a Chinese online Christian news website, interviewed preachers, sacred music teachers, and pastors to share their views about the subject.
Preachers: Evangelistic meetings don't cater to hip-hoppers.
A preacher from Wenzhou argued that the ecclesiology revealed from the rap concert was "shocking". "The emergence of a rap evangelistic meeting was due to the ignorance that 'a church is an organism' and the extreme being an organization.
He claimed that the purpose of an evangelistic crusade was to preach the gospel, not to cater to hip-hoppers (sinners), as Jesus didn't perform miracles to cater for Jews and Paul didn't use philosophy to pander to the Greeks. Evangelistic meetings should be diversified, but not entertaining and secularized. If such meeting was aimed at leading churches to preach through dances and young people to treat hip-hop culture in a right way, that is not sharing Jesus' word at all.
In addition, he explained that this was not something about traditions or modernism, but it is related to the expression and boundaries of theology, as well as about the object of worship and the purpose. As a result, he stated that proper worship and praise was in accordance with theology and the traditions of the Catholic Church.
Post-80s Preacher: Should worshipping God follow the fashion?
Another preacher born in the 1980s said that the holy hip-hop concert was a good idea, but it blindly introduced secular music into the church, which would evitably make the worship part lose its essence and even possibly torture gospel message. Praise and worship couldn't be conducted at will because God is holy, he added.
Two sacred music seminary teachers: sticking to traditions and reflecting on the true meaning of worship
A pastor from a seminary in Eastern China said that he sticks to traditions and refused conservatism and inflexibility. "I always uphold that sacred music should be God-oriented. Sacred music in the worship is not self-amusement, but a sacrifice of praise offered to God."
Rev. Wu, who teaches liturgy in Hong Kong, shared that church congregations ought to be more conservative than the secular world. The professor said that hip-hop originated from a poor residential area where African Americans resided in the Bronx in New York City. They were basically means for self-expression for the young people, protesting mainstream cultures - civilized and well-bred music. But Blues and jazz music also originated from African Americans and they had deeper cultural roots. They included spiritual songs sung by blacks in southern America, who cried out to God.
Rev. Wu said that rap could attract young people to chant biblical truths with their favorable rhythm, but it is very hard to achieve that. "But I think that it is worth a try."
Pastor from NE China: Praise can be presented in various kinds.
Rev. Piao commented that preaching through hip-hop was a good attempt, adding that Paul agreed to use various kinds of ways to worship and praise in the New Testament.
However, it was inappropriate in Sunday services that required reverence, rituals, and order to use other forms of worship.
"Form is not a problem as long as they have right starting points and motivation. We should encourage innovation and keep core foundations. We just need to first make attempts in suitable soil and gradually advance."
Hong Kong pastor: Modernization doesn't equal secularization.
The controversial move that the "Jesus Fashion" worship team brought "mainstream" cultures into the church was supported by pastors and believers in mainland China but were criticized by many netizens.
Some of them said, "Don't introduce worldly fashion trends into the consecrated church."
"I'm sick of those noisy worship and praise songs. I feel nothing godly. "
Pastor S from Shenzhen saw it from another perspective. "These celebrities entered into the church and experienced life changes, which traditional churches were unable to do. Their performances on the stage were not to exalt themselves, but the name of Jesus Christ. Moreover, they held free concerts in Shenzhen not to make profits for themselves, but to preach the gospel of Christ."
His point was that the focus should be whether worshipers could lead people toward God through their singing, not idolatry.
"A true worshiper doesn't criticize other people for their different worship methods because one can understand God's will at the moment he enters into God's presence. The more we worship God, the more we will have God's image and likeness to live out the beautiful and humble life of God. This is the purpose of worship." He said.
A young preacher claimed, "Since the era is changing, how should evangelistic meetings change?" He said that the church was losing appeal to young people, so it was anxious and trying to draw the attention of the millennials with different forms of evangelistic rallies.
He analyzed that apart from forms, such meetings should spend more energies thinking about how to make sermons concentrated and splendid to grip people. But this is a challenge for many preachers.
Holy Hip-hop Crusade Sparks Debates on 'Praise and Worship': Does Rapping Worship God?
