Wouldn’t it be nice if there was a magic formula that could ensure disaster-free Sundays? (Spoiler: there isn’t). If you’ve been in church ministry for any time at all, I’m sure you’ve experienced your fair share of Sunday service mishaps. (I’m convinced Lionel Richie wasn’t in parish ministry - there is nothing easy about Sunday mornings, sir!) This isn’t entirely surprising; most local churches in Australia are small, often minimally staffed, attended sporadically and run by average people who volunteer their time. If you do it for enough years and with enough people you’re bound to have moments where you stop and think, “will this ever get better?!” Church singing can be a particularly challenging exercise in this context. Music attracts lots of opinions, lots of emotions, and lots of logistical hurdles - it is hard to get it right! I’m sorry, I don’t have quick fixes for you, but I do have some helpful pointers for setting up a music ministry that enables your church to teach and admonish one another with the word of Christ in song.
Underpinning these pointers is the inevitability that your church (and specifically its music team) will shift and change over time. Your church will go through seasons; as it grows, as people come and go, as society shifts around you, as your community experiences moments of grief and joy - each season bringing with it different needs and challenges. And this is precisely why there is no one-size-fits-all formula to a successful church music ministry. But there are decisions you can make now to prepare your church and your musicians for the growth and change that lies ahead.
- Develop a clear, long-term vision for your music ministry.
It is helpful to have a clear, long-term vision for how your music ministry can serve those in your congregation. What does your music ministry do well? Are there areas in which it could improve? Identifying the strengths and weaknesses will help you to work out which areas need growth and attention.
For example, if your congregation doesn't sing very well, you will need to figure out what issues lie behind the problem and create some concrete and intentional steps that work toward encouraging them to sing better. Or maybe you face a shortage of volunteers to serve on the music team, either because there aren’t enough people with musical skill in the congregation, or because people are resistant to serving. You’ll need a plan to train up people to serve. Perhaps the songs themselves aren’t right (e.g., they’re unsingable, they have bad theology, they’re too hard to play) you can overhaul your repertoire and work toward a stronger setlist. Having direction and vision for the future will help your music ministry to move forward with confidence and intentionality,
- Use the gifts God has given you
You can be confident that God has given your church exactly what it needs in order to praise him in song. Yes, this is true even if your singing is unaccompanied, or following a youtube video or (most commonly!) led by a hodge-podge of random instruments. It’s very tempting to look at your music week to week and think, “We could praise God much better if only we had a drummer or if we just had a song leader with more confidence”, but actually God provides all we need. Identify the gifts and abilities that God has given the individuals in your congregation and consider the ways these can be used to best serve. As the church grows and changes, so too will the gifts available and you will find that your church goes through seasons of wanting and seasons of plenty. Whichever you’re in right now, whatever joyful noise is created by your musicians on a Sunday, take comfort in the knowledge that God cares more about the hearts of those praising him than the sound they make as they do it.
- Establish standards and systems to grow into
In a small church setting, it can be tempting to be informal and organic about the way things work. The reality is that when it comes to music, less skill and experience is required to lead a smaller group of people. But if we get too comfortable with our small church music set-up it is unlikely that our music ministry will improve and it may even hold back the growth of your church. To encourage a church to grow both in spiritual maturity and in numbers, then you must plan for this growth before it happens and take steps toward it. The bigger our music teams become, the more work they are to manage: there are more personalities to juggle, more musicians of varying skill and style, and more planning and administration. If we can have systems in place before we are drowning, we’re much more likely to encourage a thriving music ministry. What does this look like in practice? Again, it’s not a one-size-fits all deal, but here are some things you could consider.
- Set spiritual and moral standards for those serving in music (ie. they must sign a statement of faith, they must have attended the church for x number of months before serving, they must have completed a church course)
- Clearly communicate what it means to be committed to the music team. (ie. they must commit to a certain number of Sundays a month/year, they must be a part of a small group)
- Create fixed terms for music team members so that their role is reassessed each year. (This is an incredibly valuable point. I can’t overstate how frequently I encounter churches who struggle with removing problematic volunteers from their music teams!)
- Prepare for a turn-over of musicians
Over time, people will come and go from your church and your music teams. Depending on your context, some churches will experience this far more than others (ie. uni churches, those based in transient areas) but understanding and planning for this will mean two things. Firstly, we must be prepared for the holes that are left when people leave. This will have implications for our systems, rosters and song selection (ie. don’t fill your repertoire of songs with ones that rely on a specific musician with a rare skill set). Secondly, as you recruit and resource your musicians, think about how they could use that training elsewhere. By training up each and every musician, when the time comes for them to move on, you can help resource the wider church.
- Choose songs wisely and reassess repertoire and musical style
Fill your setlists with songs that are singable, playable, beautiful, and above all, clearly contain the word of Christ. Our world today is not short of terrific gospel songs that tick all these boxes, so please do not become complacent about seeking out quality songs to serve your congregation well. Revisit the list often, knowing that songs will age and your congregation will change. The songs that served your church well a decade before will no longer be the most beneficial today. You can continue to find new songs and musical styles that help your congregation to dwell afresh on the truths of his word.
Your Sunday mornings may never be easy, but I do pray that they are wonderful, enriching, and beautiful times of gathering as God’s people to dwell on his word and teach and admonish one another in song.
Alanna Glover is the Creative Director of Emu Music. She has worked in music ministry in Sydney, the UK and the USA. She now lives in Sydney where she splits her time between working for Emu, being a mum and completing her Masters of Theology through Birmingham University.
Three resources from Emu Music to strengthen your music ministry:
1. Word In Song Conferences: in-person training days https://emumusic.com/collections/music-ministry-conference. March and June in Sydney, October in Melbourne + other centres around Australia.
2. Word In Song Online: an online course designed to equip church musicians with the key theological and practical skills for local church music ministry. (https://wordinsong.com/)
3. Hymnbook: a new resource for searching, selecting and using songs for church (https://hymnbook.app/)