New Beginnings: Part 2

New Beginnings: Part 2

Ethnomusicology and the Local Church

This is part two in a series on beginning a new ministry. While this series focuses on a music ministry, the information can also be translated into other ministry areas. Start with part one here.

     The Background

Introduction

Before you begin to make any changes, you need to be fully aware of the musical background of the church: where the people are musically. You should also determine why you are making these changes. Change for the sake of change may bring about temporary excitement, but it may also be the finale of your ministry among that local body.

Church Growth Evangelism courses often teach aspiring ministers to avoid the desire to make changes to what they perceive as a needy area of the church until they have ministered in that church for at least two years. The first two years should be a time of building relationships and trust, as well as learning from the people what they have to offer. It is also an excellent time to learn what they consider to be the real needs of the church. Unfortunately, the average minister feels God suddenly calling him to a new church before the end of the second year, possibly because they failed to get to know their church body first.

All good learning begins by asking questions and seeking to find the answers. Asking questions also helps the church body see that you are interested in them as people. Following are some areas that you should investigate before making any major changes in the musical culture of the church body.

Where are the people musically?

Begin by looking into the history of the local body. At this point you will have many more questions then you could possibly answer during the first few months of service. Inquire about the individual members’ experiences with music and worship, both positive and negative. Try to discover what brought them to this point in their musical knowledge, style, and abilities. Look into the family life of the members so that you can learn about their desires, tastes, and needs. Seek to find the similarities and differences between their style of sacred/church music and what is considered popular music to the individuals of the church body.

You could even begin your fact-finding mission before you actually arrive at the church. After I have been called to the past three churches in my ministry, I prepared a questionnaire for the music ministry volunteers. I asked basic questions about their experience musically, their preferences musically, as well as non-music questions. One question was about their favorite local restaurant. I sent this to the church between the time they called me and my actual first week on the field. I also asked the church office to send me a list of volunteers, soloists, instrumentalists, choral members, etc., along with a church directory so that I could begin to recognize names and faces before I arrived. Once I arrived I would go through the survey sheets before my first meetings with individuals so that I had a basic understanding of my new church family. And for fun I shared some of the information from the surveys during our first retreat together as a “Top Ten” things our music ministry liked.

Most churches have historical records to some degree. These would be another valuable source for unearthing the paths and trends of your new church. If your church recently decided to clean out the closets and began by trashing fifty-year-old records of the music ministry, you may find some information at your local area office (district office, diocese, etc.). Reading about the various music camps, conferences, and contests in which your church has participated will help you understand their level of commitment. Perhaps you will even find old scoring sheets from contests that can let you know what musical tastes the past ministers have had and how well the people coped with these differing styles. Newspaper clippings might reveal some interesting facts about the involvement of the church in the community. You may want to check the Internet or a local library to see if past copies of your local newspaper can be found.

Dusty, mildewed bulletins will shed some light on the variety or lack thereof in the worship services of the past. Take note of the groups and individuals that have been invited to the church for revivals and concerts in recent years. Repeat performers are certain to be those who packed the house. Their musical style is most likely the preferred style among the elder generation if not the whole congregation in general. Be sure to take one important fact into count when looking at bulletins and performing groups: often the church staff (pastor, education director, church evangelist, minister of music, youth minister, children's minister, etc.) planned the worship services, events, and revivals according to their personal tastes and not those of the people.

Nothing beats the direct approach—go to the source—speak to the individual members. You should avoid starting new committees to help with this project. You will learn far more by approaching individuals and asking for their advice and help. Everyone likes to feel wanted. Do not get discouraged if you encounter some individuals who feel that they are already too involved to help you. Invite individual members to join you for lunch at some local place of interest, or, if your salary or church budget is not adequate for that, a cup of coffee at a McDonald’s or local cafe. Do not meet with people at the church to avoid paying for the coffee or biting into your hectic schedule. People feel more inhibited within the confines of the church building. You want to hear the real dirt about the music ministry without getting into gossip. As soon as the individual begins to mention names, or the conversation takes a turn towards speculation and accusation, you should gently let the individual know that you are not interested in that much reality.

How did they reach this level?

For many churches, it will be tempting for the new minister to respond, "They did nothing." That is how we often feel about new people groups. It does not matter if they are far advanced when compared to other local groups. We look at where they are and immediately want to pronounce them dead on arrival, and we decide that the previous minister is to blame. As you investigate their past, you may soon discover that they only did what they were told to do. If the team is not up to par, then the leader failed to direct sufficiently. You may also discover that the past ministers took their new church body and threw them headlong into new programs, ministries, styles, etc. Some crazy foreigner came into their midst and tried to convert the heathens . . .and failed. The heathens choose to revert to what was known and comfortable.

If their past lacked education, training, encouragement, and true servant ministries, then the individuals of the body should not be blamed for the lack, or seemingly lack of growth. Their musical level may have plateaued before they ever left the cellar. They needed a strong leader who knew when and how to challenge the body in the growing process. You may be able to force a child to eat broccoli, but, as President Bush pointed out, if an adult does not want to eat it, he won't. You cannot force any of your volunteer members within the music ministry or church body at large to do anything that they do not want to do. The timing must be perfect.

When will be the perfect time to begin educating the church body? That depends on the level of education. A good leader is always educating. Everything you do and say should be an example. If you want your choir to learn how to sing with a good tone, you begin by exampling that in front of them before you ever mention it to them. Seeking the advice of current, long-term members will help you to learn God's will, the people's vision or lack thereof, and the amount of resistance you will encounter. Hours of research and prayer are your best tools when trying to start or change anything within the church body. Remember that you are to make disciples, not musical prodigy.

Considering hosting a Worship Summit at your church

What is the true style of choice for them?

Regardless of where the church is musically or how they got to that point, you might find that the true desires of the church are quite different. I believe that you will find that this applies in all areas of the church, not just musically. The vast majority of the church is typically very happy to simply attend each week and leave all of the decisions, planning, and growth up to the hired guns—a term that I heard often at a church in Texas when they were referring to the hired staff. There may also be a contingency among the congregation who believe that God called the staff and therefore they should be the ones to make the decisions. However, the individuals who fall into neither of these camps might be the toughest group to persuade. They are generally the ones who believe that the church is for them and that they have been left out of the decisions for far too long. A good study on this last group can be found in Gordon MacDonald’s book, “Who Stole My Church?”

Worship styles continue to be a touchy subject in our churches. Every minister of music must deal with the battle of personal preferences when it comes to worship styles. But the style war is nothing new to the church. Johann Sebastian Bach wrote that he could not stand the music his children enjoyed. And while Bach wrote music mainly for churches in his time, almost none of it is performed in modern churches except as part of a classical concert. But his music was new and contemporary during his time.

George Frederic Handel did not live to see his music performed regularly in churches because it was too contemporary and used opera-like techniques which were forbidden in church music. But today his “Hallelujah Chorus” is performed in churches around the world every Christmas.

Martin Luther believed that music should be written in a language that people could understand, but many argued that only Latin could be used. He also believed that music should include new texts at a time when only scripture could be used. Hymns such as the “Doxology” were even banned from churches in 1674 because the forms were too modern. Imagine if we still had to sing songs in Latin. We would not have “A Mighty Fortress Is Our God” or other great traditional hymns if it were not for men like Luther insisting on new music.

John Calvin believed that the organ should not be allowed because it is never mentioned in the bible. He went so far as to lead mobs of people into churches where they poured a cement mixture down the pipes of the organs. While he was opposed to any music with new texts, he did support the creation of new tunes to fit the psalms. We would not have many of our well-known traditional tunes without men like Calvin pushing for contemporary sounds in music.

Many of our 1850s Gospel era hymns were originally not allowed in Southern Baptist churches because they came out of the Methodist Camp Revivals and were considered too rhythmic and energetic. Some pastors even taught that the songs were satanic because of the modern sound.

In the 1950s and 60s, churches battled over allowing those praise choruses by some new Gospel singer by the name of William Gaither. When youth camp songs such as the Gaither choruses and hymns like “Sweet, Sweet Spirit” or “Pass It On” where included in the 1976 Baptist Hymnal, many in my hometown church cried out that the liberals must have taken over the Southern Baptist Convention.

And still the battle over personal preferences continues to splinter the church. Some people believe that one of the newest heresies in church music is the resurgence of hymn writing among contemporary Christian artists. Not only are they changing the tunes of our beloved old hymns, but they are also writing new texts and putting them to hymn-style tunes and expecting us to sing them.

Why is it so hard for us to put aside our own personal preferences for the glory of God and His kingdom? Ed Stetzer, LifeWay Christian Resources, said, “People will fight to death over their preferences while people all around them die and go to hell.” God knew we would have these battles over personal musical desires, that is why he commanded us to sing psalms (music based on scripture), hymns (traditional songs that teach our Christian heritage), and spiritual songs (modern music of our own age).

A self-centered church will be less likely to want any changes musically. They are not about to consider the musical needs of others. If a church is willing to make changes so that they can grow musically as well as meet the musical needs of more people, then you will need to determine the musical needs of your church body and the potential attendees from your community. A church in a large metropolitan area will have much more flexibility in choosing a singular worship style that will work for them. Most churches will need to find a style that meets the needs of all ages unless they choose to focus on only a portion of their community.

The next post in this series will be on The Future.