Pastor Kevin DeYoung has a great post on Defending Musical Diversity in which he posits four ‘traditions’ of songs we should be singing:

1.  Psalms

2. Hymns

3. Contemporary songs

4. Non-anglo songs

The fourth catagory he admits to being ‘artifical,’ but his points should be considered:  There is great room for Biblical and artistic diversity in music for Christian worship.

Worth the read.

Pastor & author Voddie Baucham has an interesting response to this question:

I have a very high view of the role of the worship leader. I view leading worship as a sort of pastoral responsibility to which one must be called, and for which one must be equipped.

Unfortunately, we live in a time when every kid who knows five chords and ten songs thinks God has called him or her to be a worship leader. Hence, there is a flood of young, inexperienced, untrained, and often biblically illiterate worship leaders who have done nothing more than learn the top songs off of a few worship CD’s. This is a travesty!

…Imagine John Mayer going into the studio and saying, “forget the hard work of producing an original album, lets just take the top ten songs from last year and put them all on my new CD this year.” That would be unthinkable! Nevertheless, that is what is happening every day with so-called worship leaders in this current generation…

A good voice and a love for God is not the sum total of a worship leader’s qualifications. Nor is it the ability to “move a crowd.”

There is the question of the depth of one’s theology and how that depth is communicated in the songs one chooses to use, and how one chooses to use them.

There is the ability to choose songs that are appropriate for the given audience and occasion.

There is the ability to sense where God is leading and moving during a service, or a series of services (I.e. choosing response songs that suit the manner in which God is calling people to respond to what they’ve heard).

These are just a few things that must be taken into consideration. Unfortunately, they rarely enter into the decision of whom one will invite to lead worship. Often, the only questions asked are, “does he do the songs our people like?” and “does he sing well?” That is the type of shallow, carnal approach to ministry I try to avoid.

Full response here.

(HT:  Josh Riley)