Home
I’d like to share with you the best compliment I can receive as a music minister. I have received this compliment a number of times in my short career and when I do, I always lean back and smile with a sense of self-satisfaction washing over me.
Believe it or not, it has nothing to do with how well I play, or how the choir sounds. It has nothing to do with the dynamics on page 5, or the flawless playing of the trumpet player. It doesn’t even have anything to do with the hymn selection that relates perfectly to the scripture of the day.
The greatest compliment I receive is when a choir member comes up to me after rehearsal and says, “All week I struggle, I work, I get yelled at, I yell at people. Thursday evenings (our rehearsal night) is when I am free from the world, when I am fine with myself, when my life doesn’t seem so crazy”
Creating and sustaining this atmosphere is one of the most important things we can do as ministers. With the pressures of being in ministry, and especially music ministry when performance standards are hanging over your head daily, creating and sustaining this atmosphere is one of the hardest things there is to do. Church needs to be a place where regular people, who may feel they have little purpose, are suddenly filled with vocation. Church needs to be a place where people who have nobody else, can feel safe, with a support structure they otherwise lack. Church needs to be home. For some people it is a second home but for others it is their first home.
When I receive this compliment, or any other variation, it forces me to refocus. In a Church with high expectations, it is necessary to remind myself that in the end, my job is to provide a place that people can call home, where they can feel safe, and where they can be themselves. This is 10 times more important than any musical accomplishment we may achieve.
Matt, you’re absolutely right. I think a lot of us can identify with the points you’re making. When we need the support of our church home we appreciate those around us who share your vision.
After more than twenty years in music ministry, I left because the prayer v performance dynamic starting moving in the wrong direction for me. Interestingly, the emphasis came not from the director but from some of the other choir members. There are moments when I miss it, but for now I’m happy to be a part of the assembly. Your awareness of what is important is spot on.