Keeping the “Ministry” in Music Ministry

Preachers from a certain East Coast seminary used to be encouraged to build their sermons around “three points and a poem.” I didn’t graduate from that school, but for this blog post I thought it would be interesting to share three vignettes and a hymn.

Scene One: In a small midwestern city there were two Presbyterian congregations. One was a modest neighborhood church; the other was a leading church in the city. One year for Youth Sunday, a middle school student with a few years of piano lessons was invited to play the hymns on the piano. Secretly, he had always dreamed of playing the organ. The church agreed that the organ could be used, and that morning, sitting at a wheezy 1950s electronic instrument, the budding organist experienced leading congregational singing for the first time. A compassionate pastor, impressed with the student’s ability, arranged for him to play for a combined service at the downtown church later that summer. They had a thrilling pipe organ (III/54 Roosevelt/Schlicker for the nerds among us). He practiced on that organ all summer, loving every minute of it, and the morning of the combined service, accompanying a congregation of over 400, that kid was hooked and has been championing congregational singing ever since.

Scene Two: A mid-sized congregation in an eastern city called a new music director. For several decades they had enjoyed a significant music ministry, including students and faculty at a local college and several area musicians who called this church home. Over the years, however, most of that had faded. This new music director was hired to “create the magic” once again, but the neighborhood, the congregation, and the world had changed. Shortly after the new director arrived, a teenager from the neighborhood was hanging out in the church yard, clearly bored and looking for mischief. The music director got to know the kid and found out that he had always wanted to play tympani. Ironically, just a few days before, the director had discovered a neglected set of tympani locked in a basement room—a relic from a more glorious time. He dug it out and gave the kid some basic instruction. That Easter, the worshiping congregation sang accompanied by their spirited new organist—and a grinning teenager playing tympani, his first time in a worship service.

Scene Three: A suburban congregation of 3000+ members was deeply committed to outreach to the homeless population. This congregation was served by a music minister who constantly discovered and nurtured people’s gifts. As a result, the congregation enjoyed an enormous and flourishing music ministry, including a principal adult choir of over 100 voices. One day a homeless man showed up. He was fascinated with the music and the spirit of the congregation and stayed around. As he got to know people, including the music minister and some members of the choir, he confessed that once upon a time he had been a decent trumpet player. Full disclosure: this man had issues. In addition to being homeless, he experienced several phobias, including a need to keep a bag of rocks under each arm—only he knew why. Other members of the choir befriended the man, and in time the choir got together and bought him a used trumpet, which became a prized possession. He turned out to be not only quite gifted but very loyal to the choir and the music ministry. Several times after that, in the chancel of this fancy legacy congregation with a really big heart stood a somewhat shabby trumpeter wearing an old overcoat (to keep the rocks under his arms), joining in the worship of God with his trumpet.

What do these stories have in common? For one thing, they’re all true—the first story is actually mine. Besides being true, these scenes illustrate a common reality: most people think church musicians are hired to create music for the church. Our actual calling, however, is to help other people create the church’s music. Whether you’re the only musician in a small congregation or the principal professional responsible for a large and diverse ministry, music ministry is all about using the gifts God has given us to discover and nurture the gifts God has given others.

Music ministry allows us to be invested in our people, starting with the congregation as a whole. How can we nurture more enthusiastic singing? How can we make hymns and the liturgy more meaningful? How can we draw out their music gifts and expand their repertoire?

Music ministry requires us to be constantly on the lookout for people who have gifts and interest in music, especially children and youth, and to make room for them to discover the joy of sharing their gifts.

Music ministry asks us to respond with grace and humility when—not if—those who are first sharing their gifts might fall a little short of the congregations’ expectations, or our own—and it allows us to develop healthy gospel-shaped personal humility as we realize the joy of growing with the people around us, all the while cultivating an atmosphere of grace and gratitude.

And the hymn:

What gift can we bring, what present, what token?
What words can convey it, the joy of this day?
When grateful we come, remembering, rejoicing,
what song can we offer in honor and praise?

—Jane Marshall © Hope Publishing Company, 1982

How are you doing with your music ministry?