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BCMC JOURNAL
2008
President's Address
Rebuilding the Wall: Reclaiming Music as Ministry - PART TWO
By Tom Bolton, 2008 SBCMC President
Return to Part One
In an effort to help the situation and keep peace, we are actually creating new factions in the church over musical styles by segregating our children and youth into worship services designed to cater to their tastes, rather than to mainstream them into a unified body where different generations learn not only to tolerate one another's music, but perhaps even to appreciate it and learn from it. Much more could be said about the cultural shift, but I believe we have covered enough territory for you to grasp at least some of the factors that have caused the deterioration of the wall of music ministry. Now let us turn to the problem of rebuilding a viable and vital ministry amidst what often appears to be chaos around us.
Rebuilding the Wall to Serve the Church and Exalt God
We began losing this battle in through the youth, which is the most crucial time for developing aesthetic appreciation, and it must be regained through the youth. But we must hurry, because we are beginning to lose the children as well. In today’s children’s choirs and even in the curriculum published for them, there is more teaching of sign language, motions, and other movement than the elements of music. Rote repetition bolstered by easy push-button backup bands and singers may fill up choir time and entertain parents but do little to open a child’s mind to the awe-inspiring sounds of good choral singing.
While the function of the rebuilt wall will remain the same, construction materials may look, feel, and yes, sound different from the original. We must regain the depth and breadth contained in the full measure of the scriptures in textual and musical languages that will speak to, but also stretch and elevate, current and future generations. The style might be more “contemporary”, but the style must never dominate or obliterate the message, for the truth is contained in the text. The beautiful poetic texts of the past must be explained in order to be used, for we live in an age that will not take the time to contemplate the meaning of the poetic imagery, such as “on this terrestrial ball.” We no longer live in the poetic age from which many of our beloved hymns emerged; nor do we live in a prosaic age any more. We are dealing with people who receive their information in sound bites and text messages and have an ever-decreasing attention span due to the media they are exposed to daily. Everyone seems to want to get to the bottom line. They are starving for depth, but don’t know it.
I am convinced that the answer—the key—to rebuilding the wall of true music ministry, as it was in 1940s, is education. But now we must teach not just the building blocks—the ABC’s of music, but the very function of music within the church. We are part of a ministry area in which extensive study and development of our craft in a culturally historical framework, even when fostered within a solid theological environment, are often mistrusted or devalued. If we are to rebuild the wall, even using new materials, our biggest task will be to educate the laity and, unfortunate to say, our ministerial staffs in what role music should play in the church’s mission of exaltation, edification, and evangelism.
Since the 1960s we have lost several generations, and some of those who have lived within their “have it your way” cocoons marketed by Madison Avenue as the norm have grown older and assumed leadership roles. Now many of our pastors and church staff members, church leaders, and the parents of children and teens we are trying to involve in our programs have never witnessed first-hand the effectiveness of a full-service music ministry which includes choirs for every age, including youth, and instrumental programs that foster musical and spiritual development that result in the fulfillment of the church’s mission. Almost extinct is a model of the local church replicating discipled musicians to carry on the work in the future.
Let me emphasize the fact that I am not condemning or condoning any particular style of music, but I am supporting a style of music ministry that permeates the total mission of the church and is perpetuated through proper musical and theological training of both laity and church leaders.
I want to conclude with the prayer of a grief-stricken Nehemiah upon hearing the news that the wall of Jerusalem was broken down and the gates burned, as found in Nehemiah 1:5-11: “I beseech You, O Lord God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who preserves the covenant and lovingkindness for those who love Him and keep His commandments, let Your ear now be attentive and Your eyes open to hear the prayer of Your servant which I am praying before You now, day and night, on behalf of the sons of Israel Your servants, confessing the sins of the sons of Israel which we have sinned against You; I and my father’s house have sinned. We have acted very corruptly against You and have not kept the commandments, nor the statutes, nor the ordinances which You commanded Your servant Moses. Remember the word which You commanded Your servant Moses, saying, ‘If you are unfaithful I will scatter you among the peoples; but if you return to Me and keep My commandments and do them, though those of you who have been scattered were in the remote part of the heavens, I will gather them from there and will bring them to the place where I have chosen to cause My name to dwell.’ They are Your servants and Your people whom You redeemed by Your great power and by Your strong hand. O Lord, I beseech You, may Your ear be attentive to the prayer of Your servant and the prayer of Your servants who delight to revere Your name, and make Your servant successful today and grant him compassion before this man.”
Amen.
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