Mark Dever, pastor of Capitol Hill Baptist Church here in Washington, D.C., published a very interesting piece Tuesday. Titled “In Praise of Low-Budget, Non-Professional Music Ministries,” it is well worth a Christian’s time spent in reading.
Dever makes a very strong point about an issue that means a lot to him personally, and he does so with humility. That combination makes for a great article.
Here’s an excerpt from the close:
I’m not saying the way my church “does” music is the only way, or even the best way. What I am saying is that the quality of music and especially the quality of singing is not dependent upon the size of your music budget. In fact, I would argue that meager accompaniment can have the odd effect of requiring more from the voices in the congregation, improving both the volume and quality of the singing. If our singing is exceptional in any way, perhaps this is not in spite of our methodology, but because of it.
Having a less than full, professionalized “music ministry”:
- saves us money, and allows us to spend that money elsewhere;
- saves the time of many people, and allows that time to be better spent elsewhere;
- prevents a sub-culture growing up in the church marked by carnality, envy, and a worldly performance culture;
- highlights the singing of the congregation (which really undermines any entertainment tendency);
- has again and again been an unusually moving encouragement to many.
So, in summary: the pastor is the hymn-picker and the congregation is the choir that is performing for each other. The percentage of folk’s time used in producing this is tiny. And the culture it helps produce in our church is priceless.
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