All Christian music was vocal only for the first five hundred years in the church.  Even though instruments were widely used in Old Testament Jewish worship and in pagan worship, the church unanimously refused their usage in Christian worship.  Christian worship was modeled after the Jewish synagogue with its devotional worship, not after the temple with its sacrifices. priesthood, incense, and horns and cymbals.

   Musical instruments were first introduced into the church's worship about A.D. 600.  For four hundred years previous to that, the church fathers opposed the use of instruments in Christian worship because it imitated the Jewish temple worship, and was used in wild pagan orgies and their temple worship.  It took a thousand years for instruments to be fully accepted into the Roman Catholic churches.  The word a cappella described the type of music that was used in worship to God in the chapel (i.e. church worship) in contrast to instruments.  The Orthodox Church, which split from the Roman Church in A.D. 1054, does not now, and has never, used instruments in praise to God.

   The Protestant reformers like John Calvin, John Knox, and Martin Luther rejected instruments in worship because they imitated Catholicism and Judaism.  The Puritans strongly opposed instruments in Christian worship.  American Protestant churches generally refused to use instruments until the middle of the 19th century.

   In 1859, the first instrument was introduced into the Restoration Movement in Midway, KY because the singing was so poor it would drive the rats away.  The instrument created controversy and divided churches for the next fifty years.  In 1906, David Lipscomb requested that the Federal Census list the a cappella Churches of Christ separate from those in the same movement known as Christian Churches / Disciples of Christ that had adopted instruments.  Today, we continue that vocal music only tradition.

What Is The Church of Christ ?

What Is The Southern Maine Church of Christ ?

What Does Your Church Believe ?

What Is Distinctive About The Church of Christ ?

Why Does The Church of Christ Sing A Capella Only ?

Why We Choose to Be A Capella ?

Why Do Churches of Christ Baptize
by Immersion Only ?

Why Do We Teach That Every Believer
Should Be Baptized ?

Why Do We Celebrate Communion
Every Sunday and Only on Sunday ?

How May I Become A Member at
Southern Maine Church of Christ ?

How May I Become a Christian ?