God has richly blessed us with not only great players, but as I think of each one of our musicians and our key singers, they are all people of high character.
Let me tell you, they didn't just all walk in the door one day looking for a church to play in. We have built our music ministry (I emphasize the word built, which denotes it took time and work) with the principles found in 2 Timothy 2:2:
And the things that thou hast heard of me among many witnesses, the same commit thou to faithful men, who shall be able to teach others also.In this passage, Paul is addressing a young pastor name Timothy. He tells him when he is appointing workers to assist him in ministry, there are two basic qualifications that they must possess.
Those qualifications are:
- Faithfulness (faithful men)
- Ability (faithful men who shall be able)
Ability
We must have people that have ability, or the talent to work in music. I think it would be great if we could just pick out a person we like, lay hands on them and the anointing to play guitar like Eric Clapton would fall from heaven.
Ah, but it doesn't work that way.
God places different giftings in people at their creation. Scientists tell us that in our inner ear is a tiny, microscopic part called the organ of Corti. This organ contains hundreds of strings (it resembles a small harp) that pick up musical vibrations and sends those signals to the brain. They have proven that people who are more musically adept (singers and musicians) have more strings on their organ of Corti, consequently they have what we term an "ear for music."
I believe everyone in the church should sing and praise God. But when it comes to those leading, (soloists, musicians, etc.) we should choose those with God-given ability.
This is where leadership comes into play. Paul told Timothy to choose able (people with ability) men. If I am going to have quality, I, as the leader, must place restrictions on who I choose.
Let me illustrate this. As the music minister of our church, from time to time I audition people who want to get involved. The audition includes listening to their voice or their instrument.
Sometimes I have people with great character who love the Lord and desire to serve in music but they are not very gifted. I don't necessarily enjoy doing this (it's the part of my job I like the least), but sometimes I must honestly look them in the eye and tell them because they don't have the ability, they can't work with us.
I'm not trying to be mean, but I realize, if we are going to have quality in our music, we can't just let any and everybody be on stage singing or playing. We must have standards.
The violation of this principle holds churches back from growing. I was teaching in a seminar once on music ministry and a man came up at the end of my class to talk to me. He related how he had just been put in charge of leading worship in his church by his pastor.
The lady playing the piano had been in the church much longer than him, but he was having a hard time working with her. She didn't want to learn some of the newer, more modern music he wanted to do.
When he discussed this with the pastor, the pastor didn't want to offend the lady by demanding she change and work with the new music man, so the pastor just encouraged the new man to do the best he could to work with her, without offending her.
The pastor effectively put his music minister in a position that it will be impossible to grow in, because the real leader of the music in that church is not the music minister or the pastor, but the person who opposes growing, the piano player. Consequently, this churches music program will never develop.
It Begins With Solid Leadership
I thank God for my pastor. I remember in the early days of our church a meeting I had with him. I was auditioning people and some of them weren't very good, so I asked him what he wanted me to do about it.
He thought for a minute, then told me "If we just let anyone on stage to sing or play, we're going to have a little "mom and pop" church that will never grow. I want you to make the call on these people. If they aren't good, tell them kindly that you can't use them in music and encourage them to get involved somewhere else in the church."
That may seem harsh, but when you put some in qualifications and rules for people to follow, it draws a higher quality of person to work with you. Sharp people want to be involved with something that is well run. Like always produces in like kind. You will produce the kind of quality you demand and prepare for.
We put these principles in place when we were small, and began to grow. It didn't happen overnight, but it has produced a music ministry that has quality because we have determined to built with able people.
That is half of our equation of faithfulness and ability. In our next teaching we will deal with the subject of faithfulness and how the two work together.
All rights reserved. Used by permission.