Support Your Church Musicians: Part One

Notice that I didn’t say support your worship leaders or worship team ministers. All too often we look upon the musicians in our churches as a means to an end. Certainly the central role of music in the contemporary and church growth understanding of worship encourages that (particulalry in an attractional mode). However, musicians tend to have complex creative needs that are not always met by, or compatible with, the worship needs of the church.

It is easy enough to say that musicians should always look to serve and put the needs of the church before their own needs. In theory that sounds great, but on a practical level it is seldom that easy. Many musicians are keen to help where they can, but with limited time they are typically sacrificing other musical opportunities (including paid and rewarding ones) to serve in the church. Moreover, many church leaders are so keen to maximise the effectiveness of the worship ministry, that they suffer a kind of blindness to the emotional burdens of their musicians.

But irrespective of all that, our call is always to care for the whole person, not just the part that serves the visible ministries of the church. It is quite eye-opening and to be honest, disturbing to sit and listen to the ways that unthinking or manipulative comments from church leaders and congregants about music can get under the skin of musicians and disrupt their own identity. In my experience, it is not uncommon to see a church musician go down a path where they give up playing outside church in order to focus on worship ministry, then they end up giving up music altogether because of the pressure of playing in church.

to be continued

[tags] Worship, Church Music, Theology and Culture [/tags]