Expressive Individualism and Church Music - with Philip Percival and Alanna Glover

What specifically does Expressive Individualism mean for church music?

Here is the expressive individualism worldview: ‘Truth comes from inside me. It’s important that I look inside to discover who I truly am’ and ‘I need to express my individuality and personal truth to the world around me to receive validation.’

That 'truth comes from within' is the unspoken assumptions of guests who come to our churches.

And it’s a worldview that has impacts inside the church, including inside our music teams and inside the heads of the songwriters who write the songs that we sing.

Philip Percival and Alanna Glover lead the work of https://emumusic.com/, focusing on writing congregational songs and the training of church musicians and leaders.

Alanna is doing a masters research project in Expressive Individualism & music, and Philip’s PhD is in the biblical theology of worship.