God & Music
The War Department: Music In The Black Church
This Is The Right Way
Steve asked me to play at his wedding. I was really honored and
blessed by that request, and put together a band of top-flight
sessions musicians, including the producer of the Phil
Collins/Phillip Bailey hit “Easy Lover,” a guitarist and drummer
for Miles Davis, and bassist for Prince protégés Wendy & Lisa. I
wrote two songs for Steve and his wife, including the Hymn “A
Mighty Fortress Is Our God” in a funky James Brown arrangement.
Michel and rehearsed the group in a Midtown Manhattan studio.
Which was when I got the call: Steve saying his dad nixed my
band. I could come and play the piano, but no band. They were
instead bringing in a local girl who sang “You Light Up My Life”
to tracks.
There was a culture clash between my urban NY soul roots
and Steve’s dad’s Long Island conservative Baptist background.
It didn’t actually matter that it was Steve’s wedding, dad was
calling the shots and the idea of Parliament Funkadelic landing
on their occasion apparently didn’t sit right with him. I
recorded the band (click here to play) and gave a tape of the
live-to-track session to the couple.
The struggle over music
styles is, likely, one of the most divisive of any church. So
much so that a lot of churches end up having two Sunday worship
experiences: one for them and one for us. In my experience, it
is conservatives who lack the graciousness and patience to be
inclusive. Conservatives believe in absolutes: This Is The Right
Way, Everything Else And All Other Thinking Is Wrong. Most young
people I know will patiently endure an hour of somber, sacred
music to get to one Kurt Carr jam. Most of the elders in the
church I once pastored would either walk out while the jam went
on or would arrive in my office to complain.
I devote little attention to this issue because I think it’s
really not about music so much as it is about selfishness. It is
also about a poor biblical education. Pastors running around
insisting musical styles—not content, but the style in which a
musical piece is played—can be “good” or “evil” are simply ignorant.
Most pastors I know, white and
black, heavily lean on their music leaders to shape the music
program around musical styles they themselves like. In fact, in
my lifetime, I’ve met only one pastor, in 50 years, who has told
me, straight out, that he is fairly unconcerned about musical
styles. He is concerned about musical content. “It’s the
anointing,” the Reverend Promise Lee, Senior Pastor of Relevant
Word Ministries and a major PraiseNet supporter told me. “As
ling as the content is scripturally accurate and the music has
anointing on it, I’m content not to step in.” Knowing the
pastor, were it up to him, all they’d play at his church would
be old 100’s, which moves him to tears. But he is patient with a
wide ranging and inclusive musical program at his church, which
includes CCM, Urban, and sacred music.
Most black churches I’ve been in have an extremely narrow focus.
I believe that gap may be widening now, but for years most black
churches would eschew any music that “sounded white.”
Increasingly, I am discovering black churches who sing no hymns
at all, what a friend calls, “the hymnless Church.” Most
churches I frequent tend to sing the same ten songs at
“devotion,” an antiquated utter waste of time at the start of
service designed, I suppose, to bore people to death while the
deacons warble out their old chestnuts and pray for a half hour.
I am grateful the musical palette of these places is expanding,
while cautioning all churches to heed Pastor Lee’s words: it’s
the anointing that makes the difference
Music Theology
The philosophy-theology of music at Tenth Presbyterian Church is based on four basic considerations. The first consideration is that every aspect of music in the church must be submitted to the Lordship of Christ. The second consideration is that music in the church serves various functions, and while they should all be biblical, these functions infer and result in different parameters and guidelines. Most notably, musical activity outside corporate worship will have some different parameters than music within worship services. Thirdly, we recognize that our lives are to be characterized by the continuous worship of God, and in this respect all musical activities for the individual Christian should be, in some sense, acts of worship. Further, the Tenth Purpose and Objective Statement, in accordance with Scripture, declares that our music is to be thoughtful and excellent—so these qualities should pervade all areas of musical activity in the church. What follows is a theological and philosophical statement on music in the church, with application to our congregation including aspects of specific function and responsibility.
Our Philosophy-Theology of Music
Approved by Session March 22, 2005
Tenth Presbyterian Church
Two Categories
People who call themselves “Christian” usually fall into one of
two broad categories: people who live by faith and people who do
not. I certainly believe there are prosperous, well-off people
who live by faith, whose faith is materially rewarded and whose
lives become a testimony for the rest of us. The biblical model,
however, routinely depicts persons of faith, whose trust is in
God, to be, in the aggregate, less concerned with material
wealth than those who do not. Too many of our churches continue
to sit on that corner mainly because the pastor demands his
Mercedes and the congregation is too spiritually ignorant to
recognize such demands for what they are. Too many of even our
most successful churches are Babylonian whorehouses because the
leadership consists of people who never pray, never read their
bibles, who do not know Jesus Christ and have no relationship
with Him, and, who in turn hire men who demonstrably do not know
Jesus--I mean, clearly, evidently, you can see it with your own
two eyes--to pastor these churches. The average church goer,
whose tithes and offerings make these places possible, don’t
know any better because they aren’t taught to know God for
themselves. They come and sit and listen to this whore who
continually leaps out of the captain’s chair to drive the
spaceship and tend to the warp drive, who makes Sunday worship
about him. Who, every Sunday, puts on a demonstration that
proves, unconditionally, he does not know Jesus. And these
ignorant folk sign checks every week, stuff this guy’s pockets
with cash. Are broke pastors more spiritual than well-off
pastors? Of course not. If the pastor is broke all the time,
there’s something wrong. The broke pastor’s teaching is just as
flawed as the whore pastor’s. What I’m saying is, the reasons we
do not prosper are mostly about the quality of our connection to
Christ.
Music is the 800-pound gorilla of any black church. You can keep
an 800-pound gorilla as a pet but you have to know, going in,
that an 800-pound gorilla requires special handling and a
special diet. I have routinely seen pastors, in fact most every
pastor I know, all but ignore his music ministry, treating it as
just another department within his church, when the music
ministry is, in fact, the beating heart of that ministry. Like
the gorilla, it requires special education to even understand
this organism, and special care and handling to make it thrive
(and keep it from eating you). The music ministry is, typically,
the largest chunk of business of any black church. It is where
almost all of the mess in the church begins and where it
festers. The infections to most church ministries begin and
thrive there. The person who leads this ministry is, in fact,
the second most powerful voice in the church. He is worth the
pastor’s investment. He must have the pastor’s trust. Ignoring
him, being hostile to him, nickel-and-diming him, is an
unfathomably stupid thing to do. Ministers of music are among
the most spiritually starved people in the church. They are
working while others are worshipping, feeding while others are
being fed. Who is ministering to them? Not the pastor,
certainly.
This man is the key to the pastor’s entire deal. Most pastors
I’ve brown (and I’ve known a lot), have an at best distant
relationship with this person, and typically end up spending way
too much time and way too much money trying to find the next one
because this guy’s either moved on or gotten himself fired for
falling into sin. Because nobody’s ministering to him. Nobody is
reaching out to him. He is vulnerable, financially, emotionally,
spiritually, sexually. He is the focal point of the church’s
largest ministry, and he’s on his own.
A Focused
Bible Study: Musicians are among the most spiritually
starved members of the church.
A general bible study does not target the specific
vulnerabilities of those working in music ministry: ego, pride,
insecurity. These people need to meet to pray together, study
together, bond, fight if necessary, resolve conflict, encourage
one another.
Music Lessons
Many ministers of music I know insist those who serve in music
ministry attend bible study or Sunday School or both. I think a
better idea is for there to be a bible study especially for
those working in music ministry. A general bible study does not
target the specific vulnerabilities of those working in music
ministry: ego, pride, insecurity. These people need to meet to
pray together, study together, bond, fight if necessary, resolve
conflict, encourage one another. This does not, cannot, happen
at a general study where they are scattered about the sanctuary,
mixed in with the crowd. The music ministry is the devil’s
biggest target and therefore demands the leadership’s most
fervent attention, protection and defense, resources rarely
afforded them. This is why so much mess happens in the music
ministry: pastors who do not understand how important and,
therefore, how under enemy siege the music department is.
Having never attended seminary, I can’t say for certain what on
earth might be taught there regarding music and the church. But
50 years in the black church have taught me this: the very
simple and evident formula for church stability and growth
begins with its ministry in music. It is ground zero for demonic
attack. I’ve met only a handful of pastors who understand that
simple truth and who invest in their music ministers. “The enemy
will always attack you in the area of your gifting,” Pastor Lee
says. “These leaders need special attention and support.” Many
pastor, even well-intentioned ones, tend
to fall, to one degree or another, into the traditional trap of
believing a church’s success is all about them. That egotism is
the first sin, the divide between pastor and the God he
allegedly serves. It is a demonstrated lack of humility which
signals the absence of God and presence of self. The success of
any church is because of God, not you. Because of God being
glorified, because of new disciples being made, lives
transformed. There are a great many moving parts to this
process. The pastor needs to remain in command of all of them
and, in humility, recognize how all of those parts fit together.
It’s not all about him. And this 800-pound gorilla, so important
and vital to the ministry, is hungry.
Christopher J. Priest
11 December 2011
editor@praisenet.org
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