Frequently Asked Questions About the Church of Christ and Other Topics
Question: "Why doesn't your church use musical instruments in worship?"
When most people visit an assembly of the church of Christ for the first time, they quickly realize that things are a bit different when their ears are bombarded with the unfamiliar sound of just voices singing praises to God.
Not a single musical instrument is seen or heard -- not a piano, not an organ, not a guitar, not a drum, not a synthesizer, not so much as a tambourine or hand bell. This practice of acapella-only singing is so unusual in the eyes of most guests that the first question many of them ask is something like, "Why don't you have a piano?"
I guess if I had to answer that question in a couple of sentences -- which is almost impossible to do -- I'd say, "We're just trying to worship God strictly according to the instructions we find in the New Testament, and in the New Testament there's no command to praise God with instruments, nor are there any examples of anyone doing so in the churches of the New Testament. Therefore, we feel it's right to leave instruments out." There are plenty of commands in the New Testament to sing praises (Ephesians 5:19; Colossians 3:16-17), and plenty of examples of Christians in the New Testaments doing so (Acts 16:25; 1 Corinthians 14:15, 26), but when it comes to musical instruments, they are hauntingly absent from the pages of the New Testament.
By the way, you may be interested to know that the practice of acapella singing really isn't as "odd" as you might think. Historically, instruments generally weren't used in Christian worship for about the first 800 to 1,000 years of Christianity. You probably didn't know this, but the word acapella is an Italian word that literally means "as in the chapel." This shows that historically the music in "chapels" -- that is, in Christian places of worship -- was purely vocal.
If you'd like a more thorough explanation of why we don't use instruments to worship God, author Dan Chambers wrote an excellent little book entitled "Where's the Piano?" It's only about 40 pages in length, so it shouldn't take more than an hour to read the whole thing. And unlike some books that try to answer Bible questions, this one is very easy-to-read and understand, and I might add, it explores the question in an occasionally humorous way.
The book costs $5.00 in select Christian bookstores, but you can order one from us at our cost of $3.00 (we'll also pay the postage to send it to you). If you'd like one, just contact us and ask for "Where's the Piano?" Be sure to include your mailing address so we can get one sent out to you right away.