Worship Music
–Shall FOHC have services that differ in their music?
For as long as FOHC has had two services, the early service has had traditional, original score hymns and the second service has had contemporary music. Worshipers chose which service they attended based on their preference, until the current worship leader was taught at a national worship conference that diversity of styles of worship lead to a divided church – a teaching that he accepted, despite years of FOHC history evidencing that teaching to be false. The worship leader espoused in January 2023, “… the Lord has been leading me for some time now… we will begin having two identical services for Sunday …”, a change that he unilaterally imposed and would not alter despite repeated pleas by the worshipers he is called to serve.
What if “the Lord leads” many other FOHC worshipers that worship styles and music could be different – such as was the case at FOHC for many years? Who is God leading, the worship leader alone or the majority of worshipers?
The process of Matthew 18 has been followed for this issue… many worshipers went to the worship leader, one to one; then two or three to one; worshipers even took their concerns to the elders. Now, this issue shall be decided by the FOHC assembly.
The worship leader is a servant to the FOHC body, and, as such, this question should be settled by the assembly not by the unilateral decision of a member of staff. Thus, the evaluation of music and worship is a proper issue for the FOHC assembly to address.
