In part 1, I discussed some considerations when choosing songs that communicate truth in a powerful way. In part 2, I stressed the importance of congregational participation. There is a third, more practical way to develop the praise of new believers in your church.
Create a development plan for your music program.
Most churches do not have a systematic program for music education, despite the fact that music is such an integral part of our services. We use music every service and often preach about the importance of music in our congregants’ lives, but we rarely provide any sort of structure to support the development of musical ability in our churches.
This brought me to a sad observation…
We hear a talented singer or pianist and immediately involve them. Involvement is important; they need that opportunity to try, sometimes fail, improve, and try again. Involvement, however, is only part of the development process, and it is that part that depends mostly on the raw talent of the individual.
The development of musical abilities comes by stretching the abilities beyond what is attainable by talent alone. It involves a systematic approach to working with these musicians, giving them information and exercises to help them improve, assessing progress, and encouraging growth.
Without a development plan, your music program will suffer from tremendous instability as one talented musician leaves for college or another one leaves the church or another one suffers a tragedy that hinders their involvement. The worst scenario is when churches are willing to overlook matters of sin or separation in order to use a person’s talent. Such compromise is most often entertained when no development plan is in place.
Here are some aspects to consider when forming a development plan for your music program. This list is not exhaustive, so please comment with other ideas or questions!
Be intentional with the music you use in your children’s ministry.
More often than not our Sunday school teachers and workers are left to “fend for themselves” when they choose music for their classes. I’m all about fun and exciting songs for kids to enjoy, but why waste the most moldable years of our children on songs with little or no spiritual or developmental value? Why not systematically teach songs with great truth? Why not consider the developmental stages of the children and choose age-appropriate songs for their learning?
This is not easy. Children’s ministry represents a large percentage of our volunteer workforce and such a plan would require extensive planning and training. However, such an investment while they are young will reap greater dividends in the future than the same amount of training and investment in adults.
Never underestimate the value of investing in your children’s ministry, especially in the area of music. Find ways to make music lessons available for children, whether through your ministry or through other local entities. In some cases, it’s a financial investment, but sometimes even just providing the information to parents can help.
Provide your church family, choir, and musicians with training.
As we have already discussed, you’ll have the best results when you provide training for your children and teenagers through Sunday school or children’s church. This does not mean we should neglect training our adults.
A music director is truly a music educator. He cannot be only concerned with the organization. He must constantly take steps to develop the church musicians. This can be done by systematic music lessons during choir rehearsal, special workshops and training sessions once or twice a year, etc. Employ the help of other educators and musicians who might come in and run a clinic for your church family. The options are truly endless, you just have to be creative with your time and budget.
Frequently emphasize the priority of congregational worship.
No one will participate in training if they don’t understand that it is important. Once again, they must hear us teach about music in more meaningful ways than simply dos and don’ts. Schedule a few Sundays a year when you or someone else will teach about music and worship. Constantly praise progress your members make. What gets praised gets repeated.
Make good recordings of music available to your church, or simply provide a list a albums or artists that might be beneficial for them.
This is probably the easiest, most cost-efficient way to begin developing the praise of new Christians. Offer them music recordings that will directly aid them in their personal involvement in worship. Give your choir recordings of choirs that sound the way you want them to sound. Give new believers recordings of songs you intend to use in the worship service.
Can I state the obvious? No one participates passionately if they don’t know the songs. We can certainly endeavor to teach them the songs systematically as I mentioned in my last post, but another great method is to simply provide recordings of the songs for them to listen to at home, at work, or on the road.
This list could go on. Suffice it to say this: developing the praise of new Christians is a good work that demands discipline, the right beliefs, and a definite action plan.
What are some other methods you use to develop the musical abilities of your church? Comment below to share your ideas.
