‘from the ends of the earth we hear songs’: Music as an Indicator of New Zealand Pentecostal Spirituality and Theology. • Australasian Pentecostal Studies

Knowles analyzes statistically shifts in categories of charismatic and pentecostal worship music, as exemplified by Scripture in Song, and demonstrates theological shifts through the 1960s, 1970s, and 1980s.

Part I: ‘from the ends of the earth we hear songs’: Music as an Indicator of New Zealand Pentecostal Spirituality and Theology.

Introduction

The title of this paper (originally presented at the 30th Annual Meeting of the Society for Pentecostal Studies in Tulsa, Oklahoma) is '"From the ends of the earth we hear songs'¹: Music as an indicator of New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality". It is based upon an analysis of songs that emerged from within the New Zealand Pentecostal Movement from the 1960s to the 1980s. The source of this analysis is the Scripture in Song series of songbooks, which were widely used within New Zealand and elsewhere. I will attempt to determine the ways in which, and the extent to which, the songs contained in these songbooks reflect a changing New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality during the period.

Background

a. The Role of Music in Pentecostal Spirituality

Each year, as part of a course that I teach on Christianity in New Zealand, I take my students on a walking tour of churches close to the University of Otago campus. I ask them to take particular notice of the ways in which the architecture and furnishings of each church might reflect its theology. The results of this tour are always illuminating. In the Catholic church, the altar is central and dominant, exemplifying that church's sacramental theology. The Presbyterian church features an elevated pulpit and a simpler, less prominent, communion table, illustrating its stress on both Word and Sacrament. The furnishings of the Pentecostal church always provoke comment from the students, particularly from those unfamiliar with the Pentecostal tradition. The building itself is a converted factory, and apart from a large cross set into the street frontage and signs proclaiming it as a church, is not otherwise identifiable as "sacred space". Inside the church, the central feature of the auditorium is a large set of drums, flanked by microphones and amplifier connections, and supported by a large sound-mixing desk in the centre of the congregation. Clearly, my students could say, music plays a prominent part in the life of this church.

Pentecostal churches do indeed place a great emphasis on their music.² Stephen Land observes that this emphasis is located in what he calls the "oral-narrative liturgy and theology" by which Pentecostals express the eschatological presence of God through testimony, concerted prayer, charismatic gifts, and spiritual song.³ Land means by this that Pentecostals use these means of oral communication to narrate their individual and corporate histories in the Spirit through their Biblical categories of faith and of their experience of God. The focus is on the presence of God, and on one's experience of it.⁴ Land goes on to comment (citing Delton Alford) that this focus forms part of the revivalistic heritage of Pentecostalism.⁵ However, several studies have shown that Gospel and Pentecostal music performs a specific function in this regard.

The first of these, from Mellonee Burnim, discusses a field that has some similarities with Pentecostal music, namely that of African-American Gospel music.⁶ Burnim argues that black Gospel music aims at the transformation of space and the transformation of persons. By this she means that all Gospel music performances - wherever located - are viewed as "church", the place where people meet with God. Thus the secular space of a concert hall is transformed into "holy ground" where the people in the audience are transformed and inspired by the performance of the music. The singers' personal communion with God in song becomes communal as the congregation becomes drawn into, and transformed by, participation in this spiritual experience. As the singers feel the presence of God, the audience participates in that sense of divine presence.⁷ There are obvious affinities with Pentecostal modes of worship here.

A second - and more recent - study, is Mandi Miller's illuminating analysis of the psychological and emotional effects of niusic on religious experience in New Zealand Pentecostalism. This study is based on her observation of worship services at a large Pentecostal church in Christchurch, and the completion of questionnaires by, and the conducting of interviews with, members of its congregation. From this data, Miller argues that

The music performed at a Pentecostal church is designed to emotionally charge and elicit certain feelings. Its’ stated function is to prepare congregants for worship and to be open before God, with the expectation of leading to religious experience.... [M]usic used in Pentecostal church services is a major facilitator of emotional effects on congregants' religious experience. [It] is a central feature, and does play an obvious role in worship.Miller goes on to critically analyse the nature of these emotional effects in Pentecostal religious worship and the catalytic role of music in evoking these. Her thesis confirms the point, previously made by Burnim, that both Gospel music and Pentecostal music have the specific functions of facilitating congregational entry into, and experience of, a shared spiritual experience.⁸

b. The New Zealand Experience: The Latter Rain Movement

A particular approach to Pentecostal music in New Zealand comes from the Latter Rain movement of 1948. This movement originated in Canada, and reintroduced the practice of "Singing in the Spirit", which originally was prominent in early Pentecostalism,⁹ but appears to have fallen into comparative disuse by the 1940s.¹⁰ "Singing in the Spirit" fostered a consciousness of the presence of God, based on Ps.22:3 "You are holy, Who inhabits the praises of Israel" (NKJV). As God's people praised Him, God inhabited their praises and this created an environment for the exercise of spiritual gifts. These included the extemporaneous singing of new worship songs (or, as these became known, the "song of the Lord" or the "new song"). A parallel practice was the setting of Scripture verses to music, a practice first begun by Rita Kelligan of the New York Elim Bible Institute, and which soon became a widespread feature in the Latter Rain movement.¹¹

The Latter Rain movement was brought to the South Pacific in 1949 by Ray Jackson (senior). Jackson had previously founded a small breakaway group of independent Pentecostal churches in New Zealand and these churches provided a constituency for the new movement. Jackson later moved on to Australia, and passed the practice of "Singing in the Spirit" on to his students at his Bible School in Sydney, where it was a prominent part of the School's program. Rob Wheeler, one of Jackson's students, recalls that "we would meet together for prayer at nine [o'clock]; we might still be singing in the Spirit at one o'clock in the afternoon".¹² This developed consciousness of the presence of God had its outworking in public meetings held in a local hall, and in meetings of other Pentecostal churches that the students would visit. "Singing in the Spirit" became a vehicle for the Holy Spirit in bringing the consciousness of the presence of God upon the congregation.

Many of Jackson's students (including Rob Wheeler, Peter Morrow and Ron Coady, to name but a few), later returned to New Zealand. They became leaders in a new group of churches that began to emerge during a period of revival in the early 1960s, and which later became known as the "New Life Churches of New Zealand".¹³ "Singing in the Spirit" was a central part of the worship of these new churches, and was one of their chief distinguishing features in early days.¹⁴ At the time the practice was considered "extreme", although it has now spread to other Pentecostal and Charismatic groups. Other features of this movement were the "new song" - that is, the extemporaneous creation of new worship songs - and the setting of Scriptures (especially the Psalms) to music. These formed a matrix for what would become the Scripture in Song series of songbooks, which in turn exerted a significant catalytic effect on the Charismatic movement, both within New Zealand and overseas.¹⁵

At first these new Scripture songs were essentially "folk-songs",¹⁶ which were passed from church to church by repetition and imitation. (Since these songs were not written down, it was necessary for church musicians to be able to learn and play them by ear. However, since this skill was also necessary for musicians to accompany "Singing in the Spirit", this did not pose a major problem.) It was not until 1968 that David and Dale Garrett began to write down the music of these songs, and this led to the publication of the Scripture in Song music books. Several recordings of these new songs were produced, and the first book was published in 1971, followed by a second in 1981 and the third in 1987. These three books include a total of 682 songs from New Zealand and around the world. However, it is noticeable - even on a cursory examination - that there appear to be distinct variations in the overall character of the songs in the various music books. This was recognised by the publishers themselves, who sub-titled the three volumes as "Songs of Praise", "Songs of the Kingdom" and "Songs of the Nations", respectively.

This variation raises the questions addressed in this paper. How valid are these perceptions of the changing nature of the songs in the series? How did these songs vary over time? Did these changes reflect a changing New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality during the period from the 1960s to the 1980s, and if so, to what extent?

Aims and Methodology of Research

Prosper of Aquitaine, writing in the fifth century, composed the axiom lex orandi, lex credendi ("the law of prayer is the law of belief').¹⁷ This expresses the way in which theology and worship interact with each other.¹⁸ What one prays - or sings - demonstrates what one believes. With this principle in mind, it is proper to analyse the songs contained in the Scripture in Song series as an expression of Pentecostal theology and spirituality. Furthermore, given that the character of these songs has changed over time, this analysis may provide information about the ways in which Pentecostal theology and spirituality has changed over the period covered by the songbooks.

It was possible to sort the songs into date order, based on the copyright information given for each of the songs. It was recognised that date of copyright did not necessarily equate with date of origin, although it did indicate the date before which the song must have been written. It thus served as a reference point for dating each song. Nevertheless, some adjustments had to be made, particularly in the first book of the series, which was published in 1971. Many of the sources of these songs were unknown, and the publishers therefore registered these - in a later edition - as "Copyright unknown, Arrangement ©1972 Scripture in Song" for the purposes of publication. (Note that, since the first version of this songbook was published in 1971, the date of origin must have been before that year rather than the copyright date of 1972.) The songs contained in the series therefore fall naturally into three broad time-bands: up to 1971; 1972 to 1981; and 1982 to 1987. This division provided a basis for the historical analysis of the songs.

The songs were databased and analysed by date, provenance, Scripture usage, and type of song (this last heading being further sub-divided into focus, category, and theme). Some significant variations between the songs contained in each time-band were found, and several themes were selected for comparison across time-bands. Some possible explanations for these variations, related to changes in the New Zealand Pentecostal movement can therefore be offered.

Part II:

Analysis of the Series

a. Provenance

The Scripture in Song series included songs from all over the world, but chiefly from the United States and New Zealand. The provenance of these songs is summarised in Table 1 below.

A large majority of these songs came from songwriters in the United States and New Zealand. Since the Scripture in Song series was grounded in Latter Rain worship practices, it is not surprising that its early sources should have been concentrated in those geographical areas where Latter Rain influence was strong. The emergence of England as a significant source of songs after 1971 can be attributed largely to the activity of songwriters such as Graham Kendrick. (An area for further study would be the relationship between Scripture in Song and the emergence of this type of Pentecostal and charismatic song-writing in the United Kingdom.¹⁹)

Provenance	Up to 1971	% of Total	1972-1981	% of Total	1982-1987	% of Total	All Songs	% of Total
United States	83	38.07%	121	43.06%	58	32.95%	262	38.81%
New Zealand	58	26.61%	92	32.74%	9	44.89%	229	33.93%
Unknown	66	30.28%	15	5.34%	1	0.57%	82	12.15%
England	4	1.83%	36	12.81%	30	17.05%	70	10.37%
Other	7	3.21%	17	6.05%	8	4.55%	32	4.74%
Total	218	100.00%	281	100.00%	176	100.00%	675	100.00%
Total Songs							682
Less: not dated							7
							675

Table 1: Analysis by Date and Provenance (All songs)

The apparent absence of Australian song-writing seems surprising, given the dominance of Hillsong music in New Zealand Pentecostalism after the 1980s. Only 12 songs with an Australian provenance appear in Scripture in Song. However, Hillsong is a later phenomenon, since it emerged at the end of the 1980s, after the completion of the series, and indeed only developed on the back of significant contributions by New Zealanders such as Phil Pringle at Christian City Church.

Given that this paper is about New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality, it concentrates on the 229 songs that came from a New Zealand provenance. It is acknowledged that songs originating from overseas were sung in New Zealand Pentecostal churches. Nevertheless, the connection with the theology and spirituality of New Zealand Pentecostalism is more direct in those songs that emerged from within the movement. The remainder of this paper will therefore give attention to analysis of those songs with a New Zealand provenance.

b. Use of Scripture

One would expect, given the title of the series, that these songs would be characterised by an emphasis on Scripture, and indeed, many songs were identified as being derived from particular Scripture verses. However, analysis of the use made of these Scriptures revealed a surprising trend. This analysis is summarised in Table 2 below.

Usage	Up to 1971	%of Total	1972-1981	%of Total	1982-1987	%of Total	All Songs	%of Total
Verbatim	27	46.55%	11	11.96%	0	0.00%	38	16.59%
Adapted	16	27.58%	21	22.83%	17	21.52%	54	23.58%
Tenuous			6	6.52%	37	46.84%	43	18.78%
Irrelevant			3	3.26%	14	17.72%	17	7.42%
Scriptures used	43	74.13%	41	44.57%	68	86.08%²⁰	152	66.38%
No reference	15	25.86%	51	55.43%	11	13.92%	77	33.62%
Total Songs	58	100.00%	92	100.00%	79	100.00%	229	100.00%

Table 2: Analysis by Date and Scripture Usage (New Zealand only)

A total of 152 songs (or 66.38 percent of the New Zealand-produced songs in the series) included a reference to Scripture. However, one of the most noticeable features of this analysis is the declining use of verbatim scripture references over time. Almost two-thirds of the scripturally-referenced songs from the period up to 1971 were direct quotations of Scripture (usually from the King James Version), set to music. In the 1970s and 1980s, this verbatim usage of Scripture declined, being replaced by adaptations of Scriptural texts or by songs having only tenuous connections with the ideas contained in the Scripture cited.²¹ The degree of dependence on the text of Scripture was therefore becoming less direct by 1981, and in many cases, the songs amounted to an eisegesis, rather than an exposition, of Scripture. In the period from 1982 to 1987, no verbatim use of Scripture was noted, and 75 percent of all Scripture references in the songs were found to be either tenuous at best, and irrelevant at worst.

Given the limitations of the data, one can draw only interim and tentative conclusions. As I have already noted, the Scripture in Song series of songbooks came from the matrix of the worship practices of the New Life Churches of New Zealand. One of the key characteristics of this group of churches was their emphasis on Bible teaching, which enabled them to make a considerable impact on the emerging charismatic movement in New Zealand.²² The charismatic movement also had a reciprocal influence on these churches, both in a widening of Pentecostal outlook and in the transfer of charismatics to these and other Pentecostal churches. As these churches grew throughout the 1970s, their dependence on Biblical language may have become diluted by the influx of new members who did not share this fundamentalist approach to Scripture to the same extent. The changed ways in which the Scriptures are used in the Scripture in Song series may simply reflect this changing constituency. While some songs do contain Scriptural ideas - although without attribution - it seems that there has been a broadening of perspective, which has manifested itself in a less rigid dependence on the verbatim wording of Scripture. The biblicism of these songs has become implicit and derivative, rather than explicit and literal, a trend that may reflect both an opening of Pentecostalism to culture and the influence (via the Charismatic Movement) of traditions of Christianity in which Scripture is a, rather than the, core authority.

c. Focus

The focus of the songs was also analysed. Who or what was central in the song? Who or what was addressed? Did these focuses change over time? The results of this analysis are shown in Table 3 below.
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Part III:

Focus	Up to 1971	% of total	1972-1981	% of total	1982-1987	% of total	Total	% of total
God	30	51.72%	51	55.43%	40	50.63%	121	52.84%
Jesus/Christ	9	15.52%	23	25.00%	17	21.52%	49	21.40%
Spirit	2	3.45%	1	1.09%			3	1.31%
Believer	17	29.31%	17	18.48%	20	25.32%	54	23.58%
Other					2	2.53%	2	0.87%
Total Songs	58	100.00%	92	100.00%	79	100.00%	229	100.00%

Table 3: Analysis by date and song focus (New Zealand only)

The first, and most noticeable, result is that only three songs in the series (1.31 percent of the total) focus on the Holy Spirit.²³ Given the characteristic Pentecostal emphasis on the experience of the Spirit, one would have expected a greater number of songs about the Holy Spirit. In this respect, Scripture in Song does not fully reflect New Zealand Pentecostal experience. However, this omission may reflect a perception that the Holy Spirit does not speak of himself (John 15:13), but rather exalts the Father and the Son. Consequently songs about the person of the Spirit might be less important than those about the work of the Spirit.

The increase in the proportion of songs that focussed on Jesus Christ in the 1972-1981 period may reflect a changed Christological focus in New Zealand Pentecostalism. In part, this may be due to the influence of the "Jesus movement". Although this was never as prominent in New Zealand as was the case overseas, it did have an impact on public awareness in the 1972 Jesus Marches. However, the primary legacies of these Marches were the stimulation of an informal Pentecostal and charismatic ecumenism, and the reinforcing of the emerging moralist movement. The simple - and possibly simplistic - focus on Jesus that had characterised the "Jesus movement" in the late 1960s was not continued to the same extent as in the 1970s. Instead, the 1970s were characterised by Pentecostal growth, and by attempts to achieve a political voice, together with an intensifying focus on moralist activism.²⁴ Growth and institutionalization placed pressure on Churches to develop more fully-articulated theologies.

Finally, the proportion of the songs that focussed on God remained relatively constant over time at just over 50 percent. A similar, although smaller and less consistent, ratio was also noted in the "Believer" category. This was not an expected outcome, given the perception among New Zealand Pentecostals that the movement had become somewhat more "me-centred" in the 1980s. If this was indeed the case, it was not reflected in the songs sung in the movement. However, as I shall shortly argue, there are songs in the series that do reflect this increasing self-absorption on "my relationship to Christ", but the difference is qualitative, rather than quantitative. It is not that there are proportionately more songs which focus on the individual Christian, but rather that the songs which do concentrate on the benefits to the believer do so more overtly and aggressively. This is reflected in the categories of the songs in the series. (Nor does this seeming lack of change register shifts in conceptualization of ‘God within’, as opposed to ‘God objective and revealed’, so the shift may be larger than it appears.)

d. Category

Under the heading of "category" the songs were analysed into 3 sections, each with a number of sub-categories. These were as follows:

i. Worship/Adoration/Surrender
• Worship: Glorifying God for who and what He is
• Adoration: Becoming absorbed or "lost" in God
• Surrender: Personal response to God

ii. Praise/Thanksgiving/Celebration/Prayer/Spiritual Warfare
• Praise: Glorifying God for what He has done
• Thanksgiving: Expressing personal gratitude for God's acts on one's behalf
• Celebration: Public joyous rejoicing in God
• Prayer: Request and supplication to God, whether personal or collective
• Spiritual Warfare: Aggressive, militant declarations against satanic/evil realms, statements of defeat of enemy

iii. Declaration/Exhortation/Testimony
• Declaration: Statement to others about God's being, character or acts
• Exhortation: Seeking to motivate others to act or respond to God
• Testimony: Statement of "this is what God has done for me/us"

Table 4 sets out the results under each heading for the New Zealand songs in the series. These results reinforce the comments made in the previous section. The largest single category in all three periods was that of declaration (i.e. statements about God's being, character and acts). However, these songs were often also statements about the believer - who the believer was by God's grace, and what the believer could and would do by God's power. Examples of this range, from the simple verbatim renderings of Scripture promises in the earlier songs to the more self-confident and self-assertive proclamations of some later songs:

Category	Up to 1971	% of total	1972-1981	% of total	1982-1987	% of total	Total	% of total
Worship	7	12.07%	8	8.70%	11	13.92%	26	11.35%
Adoration	2	3.45%	1	1.09%	3	3.80%	6	2.62%
Surrender			2	2.17%	2	2.53%	4	1.75%
Section Total	9	15.52%	11	11.96%	16	20.25%	36	15.72%
Praise	8	13.79%	17	18.48%	9	11.39%	34	14.85%
Thanksgiving			4	4.35%	2	2.53%	6	2.62%
Celebration	3	5.17%	11	11.96%	11	13.92%	25	10.92%
Prayer	11	18.97%	10	10.87%	8	10.13%	29	12.66%
Warfare	1	1.72%	4	4.35%	4	5.06%	9	3.93%
Section Total	23	39.66%	46	50.00%	34	43.04%	103	44.98%
Declaration	16	27.59%	22	23.91%	22	27.85%	60	26.20%
Exhortation	8	13.79%	12	13.04%	6	7.59%	26	11.35%
Testimony	2	3.45%	1	1.09%	1	1.27%	4	1.75%
Section Total	26	44.83%	35	38.04%	29	36.71%	90	39.30%
Total Songs	58	100.00%	92	100.00%	79	100.00%	229	100.00%

Table 4: Analysis by date and song category (New Zealand only)

Part IV:
An early example is Song 645:

They that wait upon the Lord
Shall renew their strength,
They shall mount up with wings as eagles.
They shall run and not be weary,
They shall walk and not faint.
Teach us Lord,
Teach us Lord, to wait.

This song, based on Isaiah 40:31, was sung in the New Life Churches of New Zealand in the 1960s (although not copyrighted until 1980). It is a declaration of the believer's dependence on God. A similar song, based on Isaiah 51:11, declares God's sovereign action in the restoration of the redeemed:

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return
And come with singing unto Zion
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads. (Repeat)

They shall obtain gladness and joy
And sorrow and mourning shall flee away.

Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return
And come with singing unto Zion
And everlasting joy shall be upon their heads.

Both of these songs are declarations of God's enabling power and salvific acts, upon which believers depend and for which they rejoice. By contrast, later songs of declaration tended to be much more self-assertive, emphasising the activity of the believer, rather than that of God. While this emphasis is not new - since Pentecostals have always stressed the individual's reception of God's blessing - these benefits appear to be "detached" from their divine origins and made dependent on the believer's active faith. This is clearly seen in Song 556, copyrighted in 1985:

Chorus:
I will rejoice, I will rejoice,
I will rejoice, for I've made my choice
To rejoice in the Lord. (Repeat)

Verses:
The enemy whispered into my mind,
Determined to wear me down.
Alert in the Spirit I am not blind,
My confession of faith
Has that enemy bound.
It doesn't depend on the circumstance,
The strength of my arm or my voice,
It doesn't depend on the way I feel,
I've made up my mind
And I'm gonna rejoice!

The focus of the song is on what the believer has determined to do by rational exertion of the will.

This change in attitude appears to be paralleled by a declining focus on songs of prayer (request and supplication) over the period. While numbers are small in relation to the total songs, the proportion of prayer songs dropped from 18.97 percent in the period up to 1971 to just over 10 percent in the following two periods. While the elements of dependence on and trust in God did continue in the songs that emerged after 1971, these themes are not as prominent as they were in the songs of the 1960s. This may be categorised as a change from quietism to activism, though this distinction should not be made too strongly, since Pentecostals have always outworked their inner sense of dependence on God into Christian living. The change of focus might derive from a sense of growth and success, and thus reflect the sociological, rather than the theological or spiritual, realities of the movement.

e. Themes

The final sub-category proved the most difficult one to analyse, given the variety of themes contained in the songs. More than 100 themes were identified, and two of these were selected for comparison over time. These themes were the "worthiness of the Lamb of God" and the "Army of the Lord".

i. The worthiness of the Lamb of God

Three songs, all adaptations of Revelation 5:12, addressed the first theme. The first of these appeared before 1972, and is a simple declaration of the worthiness of the Lamb of God:

Worthy, Worthy, Worthy, is the Lamb of God.
Worthy, Worthy, Worthy, is the Lamb.²⁸

The second song, which appeared in 1978, expanded this declaration of worthiness:

Worthy is the Lamb
To receive power and riches,
And wisdom and might and honour,
Blessing and honour and glory,
And dominion forever.
Worthy is the Lamb.
Power (power),
Riches (riches),
Wisdom, and might,
And blessing, and honour,
And dominion forevermore. (Repeat)
[Last time]: ... and honour. Worthy is the Lamb!²⁹

Finally, the third song, which dates from 1986, presented a more extensive statement of the reasons for, and the implications of, the Lamb's worthiness:

Chorus:

Worthy is the Lamb of God, Worthy is the Lamb. (Repeat)

Verse 1:

He has loosed the chains that held us all
In sin and death's great fear.
He has made a way for us to live His life.
He is keeping us by His great power
Till the day He comes again.
By faith we stand in His great plan,
His blood has washed us clean.

Verse 2:

Only He has got the right to open up the seven seals.
Only He has made the perfect sacrifice.
All authority is rightly His, only He can take the Throne.
By faith we stand in His great plan.
His blood has washed us clean.
[Final line]: Worthy is the Lamb.³⁰

While all three songs adapted the words of Rev. 5:12, different parts of this verse were emphasised over time. The 1978 song inserts the idea of "dominion" - not contained in the text of Rev.5:12 - and this idea is expanded in the 1986 song ("All authority is rightly His, only He can take the Throne"). This emphasis may have some connections with the "Dominion theology" then prevalent in the United States and elsewhere.³¹ While this theology was not influential in New Zealand, some Pentecostals were then heavily engaged in countering what they saw as the forces of moral "permissiveness" that were infiltrating New Zealand society. The climax of this conflict was the petition against the Homosexual Law Reform Bill in 1985. This gathered more than 815,000 signatures - a quarter of New Zealand's population - against the legalising of homosexuality, but was summarily rejected by the Labour Government.³² This moralist struggle lies behind much Pentecostal political activity in New Zealand in the 1970s and 1980s, and may have had some influence on the themes that appear in the songs of the movement.

ii. The Army of the Lord

This background of conflict is more clearly seen in the second theme chosen for comparison, the "Army of the Lord". The theme of spiritual warfare has always been prominent in Pentecostal theology and spirituality. As Harvey Cox has pointed out, Pentecostals have a tendency to be "fascinated to the point of obsession with demonic spirits and the powers of darkness".³³ Although directed differently at different times, the following songs will demonstrate the ways in which this theme developed in the 1970s and 1980s.
The first song, which originated from a charismatic Anglican group before 1972, uses the conquest of Jericho as a Pentecostal metaphor for spiritual warfare, and for setting people free from the bondage of sin:

Lift high the banners of love, Hallelujah,
Sound the trumpets of war.
Christ has gotten us the vict'ry, hallelujah,
Jericho must fall.

The Body of Christ is an Army,
Fighting powers unseen.
Bringing the captives to freedom,
In the Name of Jesus our King.³⁴

Other verses in this song urge believers to "fight for Jesus your King", to "come against the powers of darkness in His glorious name" and to "fight till we are called home". The focus is on Christian dedication to spiritual warfare as soldiers in the army of the Lord. The second song, dated 1976, expands on this militaristic imagery:

For the Lord is marching on,
And His army is ever strong,
And His glory shall be seen upon our land.
Raise the anthem, sing the victor's song.
Praise the Lord for the battle won.
No weapon formed against us shall stand.

The captain of the hosts is Jesus.
We're following in His footsteps.
No foe can stand against us in the fray.
We're marching in Messiah's band,
The keys of vict'ry in His mighty hand,
Let us march on to take our promised land.³⁵

Whereas the earlier song called for commitment to God's army, the second song is more triumphalistic in tone ("No weapon formed against us shall stand", "No foe can stand against us in the fray"). All opposition would be overcome, and God's people would take their promised land. This triumphalism is intensified in the third song, copyrighted in 1985:

Chorus:
Awake! Awake! Oh Church of God
The time has come to be one.
Awake! Awake! Jerusalem,
See the Body moving on;
The Church is moving on.

Verse 1:
Armies of the Church of God,
Unite together and sing.
You who turn the world upside down
Arise, proclaim your King.

Verse 2:
Nations and kingdoms lift their heads
To see His Majesty.
The greatness of God's kingdom come
Arise triumphantly.

Verse 3:
Stand against man's fallen sin
We stand against defeat.
We stand thru' every evil day
Joined in victory.³⁶

Here Pentecostal spiritual warfare is directed at "turn[ing] the world upside down" and at "standing] against man's fallen sin". Given that the song was composed in the same year in which the Homosexual Law Reform Bill polarised New Zealand society, this song may partially reflect the sense of moralist confrontation that characterised the period. The theme of spiritual warfare appears to have been intensified, and directed to the purpose of opposing the forces of unrighteousness and moral permissiveness in society. This erosion of traditional Christian morality was seen as having satanic origins and opposing this moral decline was therefore part and parcel of spiritual warfare. Allied with this redirection of spiritual warfare went a sense of Pentecostal confidence and aggressiveness. This is clearly expressed in Song 660, which appeared in 1984:

We're gonna win (6 times),

You know the battle's raging
The enemy's pressing in.
But he's not getting in, No!
We're putting up resistance,
We're standing up again,
We're showing our persistence,
We're gonna win.³⁷

By the mid-1980s, the Pentecostal movement in New Zealand was considerably larger and more self-confident that had been the case in the past. The militaristic emphasis of these songs clearly reflects both a sense of Pentecostal self-consciousness and assertiveness, and the context of moralist conflict within which they were composed. The changing character of these songs of warfare clearly indicates the ways in which Pentecostal attitudes and self-understandings were changing.

Conclusion

In this paper, I have attempted to identify the ways in which, and the extent to which, the songs in the Scripture in Song series reflected a changing New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality. Significant variations were found in the movement's use of Scripture, which appeared to reflect a broadening Pentecostal perspective and a move from an explicit to an implicit biblicism. However, not all the changes noted in the songs fully reflected developments in New Zealand Pentecostalism. The changes that were noted appeared to be qualitative, rather than quantitative, that is, an intensifying of characteristics already present within New Zealand Pentecostalism. Most noticeable was an increasing self-confidence and assertiveness, particularly in the context of the moralist conflicts taking place in the 1970s and 1980s. This reflected the sociological changes resulting from the growth of the movement and from Pentecostal responses to the rapidly changing New Zealand social context.

Much work remains to be done on this topic and this paper therefore represents a "work-in-progress" rather than a "last word" on New Zealand Pentecostal theology and spirituality. The music emerging from Hillsong in Australia has largely superseded that of the Scripture in Song series, a shift which has to be contextualized in the rise of an extensive global Christian music industry and ‘alternate culture’. The connections between these sources would be a fruitful theme for further research, as would a comparison of Scripture in Song with later New Zealand compendia such as Hallelujah Aotearoa. Further research might also investigate whether the themes identified in the Scripture in Song series could provide, at least in part, resources for a New Zealand contextual Pentecostal theology. The series might also provide a starting-point for comparison of this theology with other Pentecostal theologies. This would be a significant - and, in the eyes of the songs' composers, unexpected - theological legacy of these "songs from the end of the earth".

Notes:

* Brett Knowles is Teaching Fellow in Church History, Department of Theology and Religious Studies, University of Otago, Dunedin, New Zealand. This paper is reprinted by kind permission from the journal Spirit and Church, Nov. 2001.

1 This Scripture quotation from Isaiah 24:16 is particularly apposite to New Zealand as "the ends of the earth". A Jewish student of mine commented last year that the original Synagogue in Dunedin had Ps.2.8 ("Ask of me and I will give you ... the uttermost parts of the earth for your possession") engraved over the entrance, as this synagogue was the furthermost one in the world from Jerusalem.

2 Delton L. Alford, "Pentecostal and Charismatic Music", in Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, ed. Stanley M. Burgess, Gary B. McGee and Patrick H. Alexander (Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan, 1995), 688.

3 Stephen J. Land, "Pentecostal Spirituality: Living in the Spirit", in Louis Dupre and Don E. Saliers, in collaboration with John Meyendorff, eds., Christian Spirituality: Post-Reformation and Modern, World Spirituality: An Encyclopedic History of the Religious Quest, Vol. 18 (New York: Crossroad, 1989), 485.

4 This point is also made by Russell Spittler, who observes that Pentecostals "consider personal experience [i.e. of God] the arena of true religion" (Russell P. Spittler, "Spirituality, Pentecostal and Charismatic", in Burgess, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 804).

5 Land, "Pentecostal Spirituality: Living in the Spirit", endnote 26.

6 Both Gospel and Pentecostal music have their roots in jazz, though it is clear that the Negro Spiritual predates all three forms. Harvey Cox discusses these links in Harvey Cox, Fire from Heaven: The Rise of Pentecostal Spirituality and the Reshaping of Religion in the Twenty-first Century (Reading, Massachusetts: Addison-Wesley, 1995), 139-157.

7 Mellonee Burnim, "The Performance of Black Gospel Music as Transformation", in Concilium 202 Special Edition: Music and the Experience of God, ed. David Power, Mary Collins, and Mellonee Burnim (Edinburgh. T. & T. Clark, 1989), 52-61.

8 Mandi M. Miller, "The Emotional Effects of Music on Religious Experience: A Study of the Pentecostal-Charismatic Style of Music and Worship" (M.A. Thesis in Psychology, University of Canterbury, 2000), 2-3.

9 Examples of the songs sung in Pentecostal churches from the 1930s to the 1960s are given in Alford, "Pentecostal and Charismatic Music", in Burgess, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 692, and in Lewis G. Massarelli, "A Study of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and How it Changes at Times of Renewal" (M.A. Thesis in Humanities, California State University, Dominguez Hills, 1998), at www.epbc.edu/music/Thesis.htm (downloaded 23 January 2001), chapter 5).

10 Brett Knowles, '"For the Sake of the Name': A History of the 'New Life Churches' from 1942 to 1965" (B.Theol. (Hons.) Dissertation in Church History, University of Otago, 1988), 59-62; idem, The History of a New Zealand Pentecostal Movement: The New Life Churches of New Zealand from 1946 to 1979 (New York: Edwin Mellen Press, 2000), 38-39. On the other hand, Massarelli argues that "Singing in the Spirit" was practised freely in the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada throughout their history (Massarelli, "Study of the Pentecostal Assemblies of Canada and How it Changes at Times of Renewal", chapter 4). However, Massarelli does not refer to the Latter Rain movement, although he does mention the Scripture in Song series in chapter 3 of his thesis.

11 Richard M. Riss, "Latter Rain Movement" in Burgess, Dictionary of Pentecostal and Charismatic Movements, 534; Riss, Latter Rain: The Latter Rain movement of 1948 and the Mid-Twentieth Century Evangelical Awakening (Etobicoke, Ontario: Honeycomb, 1987), 144.

12 Rob Wheeler, cited in Knowles, History of a New Zealand Pentecostal Movement, 45.

13 For the history of these "Latter Rain"-style churches, see Knowles, History of a New Zealand Pentecostal Movement.

14 Peter Morrow, cited in Knowles, "For the Sake of the Name", 61.

15 Riss, Latter Rain, 144.

16 These songs did not find universal acceptance. Mike Riddell later described the Scripture in Song series in scathing terms as "locally generated pap [which] set selected verses of Scripture to syrupy lift-music, sliding in and out of key like a comb through greased hair. It had the twin effects of destroying several great Scriptures through repetition and rendering them totally innocuous through their association with music of a powerfully anaesthetic quality" (Mike Riddell, "Knocking on Heaven's Door: Rock Music and Redemption", Music in the Air: Song and Spirituality 2 (Winter 1996): 23). Riddell's chief criticism is that this music exemplifies the "largely self-centred and shallow worship of many Christian congregations.... It reflects the preoccupation of the Church with music as a servant of its own religious life; it is the ecclesiastical equivalent of talking to oneself... In a post-Christian age, the Church must reorient itself toward mission rather than toward maintenance, and music has an important part to play in this process." (ibid., 23-24) While Riddell was perhaps unnecessarily harsh in his judgement of Scripture in Song, he may have had a point in so far as the Church's tendency to introversion was concerned.

17 Gerald O'Collins and Edward G. Farrugia, eds., A Concise Dictionary of Theology (New York: Paulist Press, 1991), s.v. "Lex Orandi - Lex Credendi".

18 Alister E. McGrath, Christian Theology: An Introduction, 2nd ed. (Oxford: Blackwell, 1999), 222.

19 An anecdotal comment was made to the author by an English pastor that the Scripture in Song series was a catalyst in the emergence of the House Church movement in the United Kingdom. It is likely that Scripture in Song provided a bridge culture for many of the new religious movements emerging from traditional Christianity in the 1970s and 1990s. I have not yet researched these claim.

20 The increase in the number of scripture references in the 1982-1987 period may in part be due to a change of format in Book 3 of the series. Each song in Books 1 and 2 cites the scripture reference from which it was derived at the head of each song. Book 3 does away with this practice and gives a "Scripture Index" in the Appendices to the book (Scripture in Song, Volume Three, Index 4: Scripture). The inaccuracies of citation mentioned above may therefore be partly a product of inaccuracy in this list, rather than a decrease in the use of Scripture as a source for songs.

21 An example of a song that reproduces Scripture verbatim is Tony Hopkins, Though the Fig Tree (©1972 Scripture in Song), in Scripture in Song, Volume Two: Songs of the Kingdom, rev. ed. (Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1983), song 253, based on Habakkuk 3:17-19. Conversely, song 559 is an adaptation of the same Scriptural text: Brent Chambers, I will rejoice in the Lord (©1983 Scripture in Song), in Scripture in Song, Volume Three: Songs of the Nations (Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1988), song 559. Rob Packer, Victor's Crown (©1983 Scripture in Song), in ibid., song 649, is linked to Hebrews 2:9, but has only a tenuous connection with the ideas contained in this verse. Finally, Rick and Patti Ridings, Manifest Your Presence (©1980 Scripture in Song), in ibid., song 588, is linked to Jude 24-25 but appears to have no real connection with the ideas contained in this verse.

22 Knowles, The History of a New Zealand Pentecostal Movement, 21-22, 167-168.

23 These songs are: Song 30 "O cloud of great glory, Thou Presence of God" (R. Edward Miller, O Cloud of Great Glory (©1976 Edward R. Miller, Administered by Scripture in Song); and Song 84 "The Spirit of the Lord is now upon me" [Eunice Stacey, The Spirit of the Lord (©1972 Scripture in Song) in Scripture in Song, Volume One: Songs of Praise (Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1979), song 84] - both written before 1971 - and Song 221 "The Holy Spirit has come to make Him real" [Roy Hicks, Jr., The Holy Spirit has come (©1975, 1980 Scripture in Song) in Scripture in Song, Volume Two, song 221].

24 Knowles, The History of a New Zealand Pentecostal Movement, 189-209.

31 Cox, Fire from Heaven, 289-297.

32 Brett Knowles, "Some Aspects of the History of the New Life Churches of New Zealand 1960-1990" (Ph.D. Thesis in Church History, University of Otago, 1994), 300-308.

33 Cox, Fire from Heaven, 281.

Bibliography

1. Primary sources

a. Music books

Scripture in Song, Volume One: Songs of Praise. Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1979.
Scripture in Song, Volume Two: Songs of the Kingdom. Rev. ed. Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1983
Scripture in Song, Volume Three: Songs of the Nations. Auckland: Scripture in Song, 1988

b. Sound recordings

A Sound of Joy. 1983.
Call to War. 1982.
Prepare ye the Way, parts 1 and 2. c.1972.
Sing a Song of Scripture. n.d.
Strings of Praise. 1979.

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_____. Music in the Pentecostal Church. Cleveland, Tennessee: Pathway Press, 1967.
Burnim, Mellonee. "The Performance of Black Gospel Music as Transformation". In Concilium 202 Special Edition: Music and the Experience of God, ed. David Power, Mary Collins, and Mellonee Burnim, 52-61. Edinburgh: T. & T. Clark, 1989.
Cloud, David W. "Charismatic Music Permeating the Churches" at www.whidbey.net/~dcloud/fbns/charismatic.htm (downloaded 17 January 2000).
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_____, Latter Rain: The Latter Rain Movement of 1948 and the Mid-Twentieth Century Evangelical Awakening. Etobicoke, Ontario: Honeycomb, 1987.
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