And the first
point on the list just HAD to be about worship ministry! Mr Wheeler said it is
time to leave your mega-church when they start holding auditions for the
worship ministry. To him, worship ministry is something to be open to pretty
much everyone.
“Why even bother
to answer that point?” you may ask. To people who have actual worship ministry
experience, the whole idea is laughable. But I have the nagging feeling that
somewhere, sooner or later, a young, sincere and inexperienced pastor planting
a church is going to be inspired by Mr. Wheeler’s reasoning, tell his
long-suffering worship pastor (or volunteer leader) that they were going to
stop all worship team auditions, and then have that other pastor fix the
problems and clear up the mess.
Not that those
problems can be cleared, mind you, if they come. Even if they doesn’t come
immediately, just remember that any church following that idea is at best 2-3
musician resignations away from problems. Believe me, you don’t want to be in
such a position!
Here is his
reasoning, in his own words.
"I always used to think the “worship audition” phenomenon was just an urban myth, but I am sad to report I now have confirmation of it. Still, I can’t wrap my mind around how it happens. How, for example, do you tell a prospective worship team member her joyful noise was for another time? Her rejection probably gets prefaced by, “We have prayed about who should join our team and I am sorry but we have not chosen you.” In other words, “Jesus told us you suck.”"
Let
me begin with the basics. It is no trouble for me to write the
same things to you again, and it is a safeguard for you (Sorry, Paul!). The
purpose of a worship ministry, worship team, worship leader or worship
musician, is to unify the praises of the people. When they succeed, as the
priests and Levites did at Solomon’s dedication of the Temple, the glory of the
LORD will again fill the Temple (2 Chronicles 5:12-14).
In other words, good things happen!
I’ll
be the first to admit that many churches (mega- or otherwise) do NOT have this
vision or direction for their worship ministry. They may have some goals such
as leading the people to an authentic encounter with God or having music
appealing enough to attract pre-believers.
Or maybe just excellence for excellence sake.
Whatever it is, when you don’t have this basic
direction for your worship ministry, you can end up with problems from two
extremes. You can end up with musicians and singers who do excellent music that
wows the audience but do not draw the people into singing their praises to God.
Lead singers (not worship leaders) who choose songs based on what showcases
their abilities rather than invites the congregation to participate. Things
like that.
OR
you swing to the other extreme and have a free-for-all. A “drummer” who only
has two settings on his playing, slow and very fast (nothing in between), and
soft and bleeding-from-the-ears loud (again, nothing in between). A guitarist who goes out of time or strums
erratically, which is guaranteed to mess up the efforts of everyone else who
tries to unify the singing of the congregation. Back-up vocals who do their own
stuff, who drown out the unfortunate worship leader, and refuse to take
direction from the worship leader because they think that quenching the Spirit
means not being allowed to be anything they want, anyway they want, anytime
they want.
Having
worship team auditions may not prevent the first extreme, but done correctly by
a worship leader who knows what he is doing can certainly prevent the second.
And the second problem is far more likely to occur in a regular (not mega-)
church. Since regular churches are far more common than mega-churches, shouldn’t
auditions or some other kind of screening process be even more necessary?
Mr Wheeler again:
"Can you imagine Jesus telling someone who loves Him and loves to worship Him that he or she is not good enough? Are we now in the dispensation of “the MegaCool Church”? Can you recall some biblical text that has eluded me that says: “All ye talented sing unto me, those who suck be quiet. Thus sayeth the Lord.”"
1 Chronicles 15:22 (NIV) - Kenaniah the head Levite was in charge of the singing; that was his responsibility because he was skillful at it.
The purpose of the worship team is to unify the praises of the
people, and unity does NOT happen without any form of leadership. The worship
team (musicians, singers) plays that leadership role. The biblical text above
is the relevant passage that eluded Mr Wheeler. That verse shows us that
leading the singing was Kenaniah’s job because he had the skills for it. Wanna
lead? Better have the right skills!
We are not saying that the tone-deaf are not allowed to worship
God in church. But there is a world of difference between singing away in the
crowd (at best irritating only those immediately around you) and being put in
the front, leading everyone else. Of course this truth is really obvious to
people who are actually running worship ministries. But for the sake of that
newbie pastor mentioned earlier (and for the sake of his/her long-suffering
worship pastor), it still needs to be said!
Mr Wheeler's final paragraph on this topic:
"I have watched the first baby steps of withdrawn, church-abused friends who begin to venture into the world with courage. I remember the first time I saw them with their heads up and the first time they made eye contact during a conversation. I get a little weepy when I imagine their monumental bravery in accepting an invitation to join a real worship team. I can only imagine the crushing blow of their earlier rejection by those who were their “brothers and sisters in Christ.”"
We
all have our horror stories to share. I have a few of my own about musicians or
singers who are ego-driven and disruptive. Here’s one of them.
I
had a drummer quit her church because I told her how she went against my clear
directions as the worship leader. And it wasn’t only on small points, such as
giving me more snare (though that would have been much appreciated). It was
also on how we were going to shift from the faster songs to the slower ones.
She did not turn up for the rehearsal earlier in the week, so I took the
special effort on Sunday sound check to guide her through that transition (I knew
it was crucial).
On
during the actual set itself she did not give me more snare. She ignored my
verbal cues for the song transitions. She kept her eyes turned away when I
tried to signal her after she messed up my cues and I had to re-do the
transition. Didn’t help, she ignored me and let the whole thing peter out HER
way. And when I asked her about all those things after the service, she ignored
my questions and refused to answer me.
Can
such a person help unify the praises of the people when they can’t even cooperate
with the worship leader?
Problems
that make a musician a disruption rather than a help can be picked up easily
within 5-10 minutes in a simple audition. Why was such a person allowed to
serve in the first place? And if you want to give such a wounded soul the
opportunity to serve, why was there no pastoral oversight, feeding, nurturing
or ministry of any sort given to her?
Yes,
I know that “worship” ministries based on performance rather than participation
cause loads of problems. But those who indiscriminately let all and sundry
participate based on their preferences and likings rather than their abilities
and gifting are also wrong. Really wrong.
1 Timothy 3:10 (NIV) - They must first be tested; and then if there is nothing against them, let them serve as deacons.
“Huh? I thought we are talking about worship ministry? Why are you
suddenly talking about deacons?”
Deacons, in New Testament Greek, are servers. Our modern
equivalent is administrators and ushers. Why not include musicians and singers
under this? They should be tested too, right? I would suspect that the extent
of testing in the early church was far wider than a 5-10 minute audition. If I
were the one testing, I’d look at their lifestyle, their speech and their
family life.
But if people won’t even take 5-10 minutes to audition a singer or
musician…
Look, I know that
some people have seen the problems created by a performance-based worship
ministry, and think that swinging to the other extreme is the way to go. I can
continue to give reason upon reason, going deep into the reasons why there is
yet another way to do worship ministry, one that best edifies all concerned. But
this post is getting way too long already!
So if you or your
pastor is trying to access practical wisdom in how to make worship ministry
work, don’t make try to re-invent the wheel and do it alone. Join worship
forums, interact with worship leaders from around the world, and discover what
works, from small, homely churches to mega-church in the next state. I would
highly recommend the two forums:
Developing
Worship http://www.developingworship.com/forum/
You’ll get ideas,
opinions and suggestions from people who have been there and done that. Some
will probably disagree with me, and that is fine. If they have a track record
of making things work, I’d say they are worth paying some attention to, wouldn’t
you?
Be blessed!
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