Altar-call Alternatives

How [can we] uncover new talent without having a musical "altar call" ... volunteers are often very poor judges of their own ability!

This was a question in response to a recent post. I'll agree, it is very difficult to find musicians to join in serving in our churches. And once we find them, it is often even more difficult to get them in the ministry team! And precisely for that reason, because volunteers are very often poor judges of their own ability.

This runs both ways, however. Some volunteers with poor judgement of their musical abilities tend to overestimate themselves, and then become difficult to get rid of.

In a church music ministry team, the desire is often to create our idea of a good 'worship band' as quickly and easily as possible. This is why we might have 'musical altar-calls.'

Perhaps a better way is this: build personal, Christ-centred relationships with people. Basically, what I am suggesting is that we disciple people, which is what Jesus actually commands us to do (Matthew 28v19). Getting people into God's Kingdom is far important than getting them into the worsip team! This way you build into their lives and encourage them in their faith, which is far more valuable than standing before God saying, "I played tambourine in the worship band every second Sunday."

Now this approach is very slow. When you start discipling one or two people who you know are musicians, you might only have two new people in your music team in 6 months. But I can assure you that those people will find it easier to love Jesus first and their music second, and to see themsleves as humble servants of God. It will also help you to understand where a person is at with God. Perhaps they are a brilliant musician, but they wouldn't be the right person to be serving in this ministry.

So ask around and find out who the musicians are among the congregation. Then approach them and suggest you start reading the Bible and praying together regularly. Talk to them about their music. It will become obvious to you whether or not they would be a valuable addition to the music ministry team.

But even after you have brought them on board, continue to be concerned about their love for Jesus. Keep talking to them and praying with them, and reading the Bible with them, so that your relationship is based around Christ, rather than music. This also makes it much simpler to deal with issues in the music team, if everyone is there for God's glory first and music second.

This is a slow way to build a music ministry team. But the team that is built on Christ as a foundation will be the team that really serves the congregation by pointing them to Jesus, and truly serves God by giving their best for his glory. After all, that is what we're really here to do.

(for ideas on discipling and one-to-one ministry, check out Sophie de Witt's book One to One: A Discipleship Handbook)

Having a Gift Makes it Tougher, Not Easier

I have decided to embark on a few short tutorials based around those fantastic Sovereign Grace ones, such as the keyboard one listed in the last post.

If we are using our gifts to glorify God and serve our brothers and sisters in Christ, and if we understand that God has given us those gifts in the first place, then we should be working hard at developing those gifts.

Do you ever spend time practicing your instrument? Do you consider it necessary to get better at playing the guitar or singing or whatever, or do you consider your ability adequate for what you do in the church music team?

Well, God has called us to be stewards of what he has given to us. Consider the parable of the talents from Matthew 25v14.

Now these are not literal talents, but what is clear here is that God doesn't give us anything that we may keep it locked in a strong-box. Instead, we must put God's blessings to work.

If God has given you a musical gift, then great! But what are you doing with it? Often in church music teams we become easily satisfied with little, when God has given us the potential for something really great. Not for the sake of musical excellence, but so that we may serve in the best way we possibly can.

Obviously practicing takes time, but if you are committed to this ministry, then that should be part of your commitment. And if you're time is limited (who I am kidding, everyone's time is limited) then make the most of those two or three 15min sessions in the living room with your guitar each week.

To make the most of your time, work on these things in particular:

• Timing. Even get a metronome to help you stay on the beat.
• Musical repertoire. For singers, work on improving your range and ability to sing intervals of two notes. Use a piano or keyboard to help. This will help you hit notes bang on. For tonal instruments, continue to improve your knowledge of chords and scales, so you always have the tools to draw from. For drummers, this continue building on your mental library of beats, so you can always play what compliments the music the best, rather than whatever your hands and feet end up doing
• Memory. Spend time actually learning songs so you can sing them and play them without reading the music. This will make you far more comfortable with a song, even when you have the music. And for instruments, it will help us engage with the words of songs, even when we're focused on the music.

Set goals for yourself. Spend time practicing and improving on what God has given you, in his strength, so that he may be glorified.