# 2026-04-21 Modern Reformation — A Movement's Music **Summary.** A 2024 essay in *Modern Reformation* asks whether churches should sing worship music sourced from New Apostolic Reformation ministries. The author frames the question around three practical tests: the effect on weaker Christians, the theology of worship the music shapes, and the financial participation churches enter through CCLI. Concludes that churches should decline the catalog. Reformed-confessional tradition. Pairs with Scott Aniol's earlier G3 essay (2022); the two together establish the Reformed-cessationist critique-side source base for the wiki. ## Bibliographic - **Publication.** *Modern Reformation*. - **Published.** 2024-05-28. - **Full source path.** `Readwise/Articles/A Movement's Music Should We Invite NAR Worship Into Our Churches Modern Reformation.md`. - **Tradition.** Reformed, confessional. *Modern Reformation* is an interdenominational journal rooted in Lutheran and Reformed theology, edited originally by Michael Horton. ## Three-Question Frame The essay is structured around three tests a pastor should apply to a song before introducing it to the congregation. ### 1. Will this harm weaker Christians? Drawing on 1 Corinthians 8–10, the author argues that sing-alongs with Bethel, Hillsong, Jesus Culture, and Elevation are not neutral. A congregant who comes into worship from a charismatic background will read the song through that background — and the song catalog reinforces it. ### 2. What theology of worship does this form? The author treats the songs themselves as catechesis. Repeated lyrics — "I decree," "release," "breakthrough," "sons and daughters of God" as sending language — teach a Pentecostal-charismatic theology of worship whether or not the pastor agrees with it. See [[Praise and Worship Theology]]. ### 3. What do CCLI reporting and royalties do? Hillsong, Bethel, and Elevation receive both revenue and validation when churches report their songs via CCLI. The author notes Bethel Music's 2020 revenue exceeded $11 million, with roughly $6 million in royalties. Reporting a song is not a neutral administrative act; it is a financial and data participation in the source ministry's growth. ## Specific Concerns Named 1. **Bill Johnson's Christology.** The essay reiterates Aniol's concern about Johnson's statements that appear modalist or adoptionist. See [[Bill Johnson]]. 2. **"Grave soaking."** Students at BSSM reported lying on graves of deceased revivalists (Smith Wigglesworth, C.S. Lewis, and others) to receive impartation. The essay names this as a category the church should be willing to call out of bounds. 3. **Elevation's spontaneous baptisms.** Staged moments at Elevation Church where a "spontaneous" baptism call is pre-prepared, including planted baptism candidates. The essay treats this as a deception of the congregation, not a faithful altar call. 4. **Hillsong institutional failures.** Frank Houston's child sexual abuse and Brian Houston's concealment. Carl Lentz's dismissal from Hillsong NYC. The essay treats institutional accountability failures as theologically load-bearing, not side-effects. 5. **Prosperity theology.** Hillsong's earlier teaching is named, as is the softer "abundance" framing in more recent NAR-adjacent catalogs. ## Named Entities Introduced - **Modern Reformation.** Interdenominational Reformed-confessional journal. See [[Modern Reformation]]. - **Gerardo Marti.** His Hillsong essay is cited as the analytical frame for "Hillsongization." See [[Hillsongization]]. - **Bill Johnson, Brian Houston, Carl Lentz, Steven Furtick.** Primary figures. - **Jonathan David and Melissa Helser.** Bethel songwriters ("No Longer Slaves," "Raise a Hallelujah"). - **Phil Wickham.** Co-writer with Brian Johnson on "Living Hope." - **Maverick City Music.** Named as an adjacent brand with charismatic-apostolic origins. ## Direct Quote The essay's working principle (paraphrased): a church should not sing a song it would not preach. If the ministry that produced the song preaches things the church would oppose from the pulpit, the song imports that opposition into the liturgy. ## Hermeneutical Framework Reformed-confessional. Operates the Regulative Principle of worship and a cessationist view of the sign gifts, though less sharply than Aniol's G3 essay. The specifically Reformed move is the pastoral-protection argument from 1 Corinthians 8–10. ## Contradictions Logged > [!contradiction] > **Modern Reformation conclusion:** decline the NAR-adjacent worship catalog. > > **Defenders of contemporary worship:** the same argument would exclude every hymn whose author held theological positions the congregation disagrees with. Luther was antisemitic; Watts was a supersessionist; Fanny Crosby was a dispensationalist. Why does the NAR catalog fail a test other catalogs pass? > > **Reformed reply:** the difference is systemic and contemporary. Luther's text can be sung without funding Luther's errors. Singing a Bethel song funds Bethel now. And the songs themselves — not just their authors — carry the theology the Reformed critique rejects. > > **Progressive-UCC reply:** agree with the conclusion, differ on the grounds. See [[NAR Worship Critique Traditions]]. ## DARVO and Coercion Flags None. Direct theological argument. ## Connections to Existing Wiki - Reinforces [[Bethel Church]] (see the new-2026-04-21 entity page). - Reinforces [[Hillsong]] (new 2026-04-21). - Reinforces [[Bill Johnson]] (new 2026-04-21). - Names [[Hillsongization]] (new 2026-04-21). - Feeds [[Worship Songs Evaluated]]. - Pairs with the 2026-04-21 Aniol source. ## Open Threads - Dedicated [[Elevation Church]] entity page. - Dedicated [[Steven Furtick]] entity page. - Dedicated [[Maverick City Music]] entity page with attention to the fact that not all of its affiliates are fully NAR-aligned. - Primary ingest of Frank Houston Royal Commission materials. - *Modern Reformation* journal entity page (stub). ## Related - [[Bethel Church]] - [[Hillsong]] - [[Bill Johnson]] - [[Praise and Worship Theology]] - [[Hillsongization]] - [[NAR Worship Critique Traditions]] - [[Worship Songs Evaluated]]