Beyond Liturgical Accompaniment: Church Music and Congregational Formation in Indonesian Pentecostalism
Keywords:
Church Music , Congregational Spirituality, Character Formation, Gereja Sidang Jemaat AllahAbstract
This study aims to analyze the role of church music in the formation of congregational spirituality and character at the Gereja Sidang Jemaat Allah (GSJA) Yang Moon Permata, Tateli Satu, North Sulawesi, Indonesia. This article conceptualizes church music not merely as a liturgical or aesthetic element, but as a structure of worship roles and as a theological and pedagogical medium that organizes congregational participation, shapes spiritual experience, and internalizes moral values. This study is significant because discussions of church music often emphasize its functional aspects, while its role in nurturing spirituality and character has rarely received integrative analysis. The study employs a qualitative approach using a case study method. Data were collected through participatory observation during worship services, in-depth interviews with church leaders, music ministers, and congregants, and document analysis of liturgies and church songs in use. The study analyzes the data thematically by linking empirical findings with role theory. The findings demonstrate that church music functions as a structure that regulates the flow of worship and the distribution of socio-spiritual roles among worship leaders, music teams, and congregants. Church music also operates as a medium of spiritual experience that cultivates faith consciousness through musical repetition, emotional intensity, and collective practice. Furthermore, church music contributes to the formation of congregational character through the internalization of values such as honesty, love, discipline, and responsibility, which congregants subsequently translate into their everyday social lives. The originality of this study lies in its integration of worship role structures, spiritual experience, and moral habituation within a single analytical framework, thereby offering a new contribution to the fields of practical theology, sociology of religion, and character education in the context of local church communities.
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