Sunday Evening Central Teaching
Music Ministry

Dennis McCallum

This sheet is for explaining to new performers the nature and goals of an outreach to anti-church people, and how the music ministry should fit into that mission. We give this to all new players and ask that they study it before playing.

Description

Sunday evening central teaching is a seeker-centered meeting intended to reach moderate and hard-core unchurched adults and their children, while grounding and edifying believers. It is not a worship meeting for Christians. We do not want to mix our goals and end up attaining neither.

Generally, most of the targeted group will be between 20 and 40 years old, and will have no use for a formal church experience. They may be single, married or divorced. Many visitors will be Christians, but they are not usually walking with God. They therefore can fairly be called secular. Although we know that some walking Christians will visit, we are not targeting the meeting to them. On the other hand, we want to avoid needlessly offending Christians of all types.

Typical visitors will be listening to one of the popular music stations on their car radio. Because of the age of the targeted audience, classic rock, jazz and blues from the 60's 70' 80's and some present-day alternative music is appropriate. Those who listen to Frank Sinatra or Elvis Presley are not targeted. Hard metal enthusiasts are not generally in the targeted group.

The musicians at this meeting play an important role in reaching the modern secular visitor. The music is important because it is the first thing that visitors will encounter. By the time the music is over, we hope they will already have been substantially altered in their perspective and even in their perception, including the following:

They have forsaken their suspicions to the effect that the group is anti-cultural, narrow, "old-world" and "nerdy." They have relaxed in the sense that they feel no fear. Hearty, fun rock, blues, and jazz can help accomplish this goal.
They have become emotionally attuned and open in a new way. This means that they have felt an array of emotions over a wide spectrum. Feelings awakened should include (but are not limited to) the more sensitive, or reflective feelings that may often lie dormant. Sorrow, wonder, admiration, awe and joy are examples of these feelings. We may also be happy if guests feel excitement and ecstasy (the more traditional feelings associated with rock), but we feel that this would be too narrow a band of emotion in and of itself. Instead, we would like to see a mixture of fun songs and more feeling songs. We believe these feelings can be touched and awakened by either secular or Christian music.
The guests have begun to use their mind to reflect on some aspect of their own lives, or on some aspect of the world or reality. They have seen models of people who are able to rock and party, at the same time that they are able to go beyond superficiality and approach deep topics. Their curiosity has been pricked in a way that has brought them out of mental apathy. To attain these goals, we believe that part of our music should be mixed with spoken commentary in a way that causes the audience to consider the meaning of what they are hearing. We have to remember that lyrics are often not intelligible to the first-time hearer, and we will often want to repeat key lines, explaining what they mean. In order to stimulate this thought we can utilize Christian or secular music. If secular music is used, it should be music that reflects a world view that is relevant to the Christian world view in some way. This could take several forms:

The words of a song may reflect a world view that is antithetical to biblical Christianity, and therefore interesting to Christians who need to consider such views (e.g. King of Pain by the Police). Highly offensive or course sexual or occult material should be avoided for the sake of the believers.
The song may reflect a point of view that is not exclusively Christian, but is one with which Christianity is co-belligerent (e.g. Another Day in Paradise by Phil Collins, Real Love by Janet Jackson).
The song may demonstrate a sensitive or poignant treatment of an issue, reaching non-Christian conclusions, but conclusions that are interesting enough to reflect on (I Don't Want to be Lonely Tonight by James Taylor, Taxi by Harry Chapin).
The song could be re-interpreted or understood from a Christian viewpoint, even though possibly not originally intended that way (In the Light of Day by Steve Winwood).
The song may be a contemporary Christian song. The speaker should explain the significance or application of the main point of the song.

If these three goals have been attained, the performance will have been a success. All three goals are important for each performance, and definite plans should be laid in preparation for meeting them. The commentary portion should be planned out like a teaching. If the group is having trouble with this portion, the leadership will help. We can go over your material to get suggestions, or if needed, we can even provide a spokesperson to deliver the commentary section in cooperation with you. We should typically see a mixture of secular and Christian music in order to meet these goals.

Ministry standards

Playing music at the Central meeting is a spiritual ministry, and therefore there are commitments which we consider important in maintaining the spiritual integrity of the ministry. These standards will be evaluated by the director.

Every performer should be a walking believer.
Performers should be involved in fellowship on a regular basis. Visiting artists may not meet these standards, but regular band members should.

Serious moral failure of the sort that would bring scandal to the ministry cannot be accepted. Unedifying attitudes may require dismissal of given musicians. Each performer should be living a life that would be worthy of imitation as a role model. The requirements for deacons in I Tim. 3 are, in principle, the sort of standards appropriate for Christian workers in this role.

To this end, the elders have decided to call on all regular musicians to be subscribers to the Xenos Servant Covenant.

Other considerations

While these goals are the heart of our strategy for music ministry on Sunday evening, there are other considerations as well. We feel that certain things should be avoided because they could create the wrong impression or because they are inappropriate for this particular meeting. Here are a list of things to avoid. Please familiarize yourself with them.

Music that sounds like a traditional hymn. We feel that the hard-core unchurched portion of our targeted audience would draw a conclusion from the mere sound and feel of church music regardless of what it says.

"Hill-billy" gospel music. We want to studiously avoid anything that would suggest a tent revival. Even though some songs in this genre have received wide-spread radio play (e.g. Will the Circle be Unbroken, I Saw the Light), we feel that the dangers outweigh any possible benefits.

Country music in general. We feel that although many in our targeted group enjoy country music, there remain many who would find the music irksome and suggestive of ignorance. Without condemning this music in any way, we want to focus on our particular target audience.

Coarse language and/or overtly occult music. Great care should be exercised with any song which holds forth occult or new-age values or perspectives. If the song is not mainly concerned with these issues, or if your commentary uses the perspective to explain something else, such songs may be appropriate. In the same way, many songs refer to sexual liaisons which are immoral, but do so in a way that is not graphic or offensive. On the other hand, many songs in these categories should not be used under any circumstances. If you are in doubt about a song, do not perform it unless you talk to the director of music (at this time, Tim Lipovsky) and reach consensus.

Lyrics that lightly refer to the devil or angels, or which use terms like "sin" "saved" "redeemed" "witnessing" "testifying" or similar Christian jargon. These terms are loaded in the sense that they remind people of negative, churchy associations in the past. They are poor for communication with a secular audience, and are therefore land-mines to be avoided.

Extreme dress. Our mode of dress in this format could hurt us if it is considered too wild or strange by those targeted for ministry in the meeting. One need only think about what would be acceptable for the teacher to realize that clothing could cause problems. We don't want to hear, "I brought my boss to Central Teaching and he thought it looked like a beach party." Clothing that would be perfectly appropriate for rock concerts may not be appropriate here. On the other hand, those who are of the rock culture and are more progressive will have no problem with full-length jeans and buttoning shirts. Sharp appearance is a value in the culture of the audience, so clothing that is ragged should also be avoided. Generally, hats and shorts are undesirable on men in this meeting, and early feed-back from the audience has requested that we move toward a more conservative compromise in this area.

Personal appearance. Our culture is becoming increasingly obsessed with physical appearance--especially having a good figure. None are more concerned with this than the very age group we are targeting on Sunday night. The contemporary music minister has to realize that maintaining personal appearance is as much a part of his/her music discipline as regular practice. None of us have time in our schedules to become body builders. On the other hand, we should avoid extremes. If our physical appearance is distracting attention from the music, we have a problem. Remember, this is a public ministry, and as such, has extra demands. Paul definitely indicated that he catered to cultural expectations when they were not in conflict with Christian morality. (I Cor. 9:19-23) Some hair styles, make-up styles and jewelry styles may be inappropriate and the director may ask for change. We would expect all of our musicians to be prepared to forsake personal tastes if it is judged that these could cause problems in the ministry. We are here to facilitate ministry, not to impede it, and this means that we work tolerantly with other's tastes.

Talking about ourselves as musicians. Our goal is to bring the focus of attention toward Christ or the big questions in life, not onto ourselves. If a personal word is shared, it should be in the order of a testimony, or should relate to Christian conversion or growth. There is a difference between the type of commentary we are looking for as Christian workers and that normally given by musicians at concerts. Secular music celebrities commonly talk about their odysseys as musicians, and this is exactly what the people want to hear. In our setting however, this might be interpreted as boasting.

Musical ability. The questions of ability and appropriateness in the area of music are subjective questions. The judgment regarding who should play at the meeting will be determined by the director or his agent. Groups have to satisfy the director that their act is good and appropriate before they will be booked for performance. The director also has the authority to remove a regular group from the performance schedule either temporarily or permanently after written warning and a report to the coordinator of evangelism.

Servanthood and Team Cooperation

The servant musician is the farthest thing from the worldly view of a musician. Rather than seeking their own fame, the servant musician is seeking to enhance people's attitude toward the meeting. Rather than deciding only to play the music they like, servant musicians chooses music designed to have the widest appeal among the audience, especially the seeker. Rather than being critical and negative of other individuals and groups, the servant seeks to support other groups and works to help those who might be less experienced. There is no place in this ministry for a quest for personal fame, excessive negativity, or egotistical competition. These are the worldly attitudes often present in secular music, but should be rejected by the servant musician as a corruption of the gift of creativity. Here you have a unique opportunity to take the abilities God has given you, and the hard work you have put in to develop your craft, and offer them to God as a living sacrifice for others. Your service will possibly affect whether or not people return to hear the message, which could, in turn affect whether they secure a relationship with God. This goal is more important than our own desires. In harmony with the idea of serving the needs of the group rather than the needs of the musicians, we will be limiting sound levels to approximately 100 db. Levels higher than this can be harmful to hearing, and in any event, are unnecessary. The director will have the authority to regulate sound levels.

This ministry must be a team effort if it is to succeed. It is essential that we each take upon ourselves the burden of communicating with other relevant ministers. Until we are able to hire a full-time program director, we will be depending on each other to keep ourselves informed of needs and plans. So far, progress has been good in this area. There is now a year-long planning calendar in the sound room with a marking pen to indicate who is on for each week. Please mark in the weeks you are approved to cover and be sure to change the calendar for any substitutions in the future. This calendar is important for the sound people to have things ready for us, and to avoid confusion with a written record. We will always consider the dates on the calendar to be authoritative over any verbal agreement.

Musical groups need to be able to repeat numbers that they have practiced in order to save time, and to perfect the numbers further. We will be wasting each other's time if we fail to coordinate our repertoires as we go. There is also a repertoire listing in the sound room. Enter the numbers your group is working on, and place an asterisk by the ones that have actually been performed at Sunday night. At this time, we would like bands to study the repertoires of the other groups, and try to avoid overlap, especially numbers that have already been played by another group on Sunday night.

In order to facilitate team coordination, we would like each band to designate one leader or coordinator and inform the acting program director of who it is.

As team members, we realize that we must keep our commitments and our schedule. The meeting is convened at 6:30 PM for prayer. The music performance is scheduled for 15 to a maximum of 20 minutes. We recommend three songs. Please plan your performance so it won't run over. Promptness is an essential aspect of the plan for an effective seeker-sensitive meeting.

If we take a date to play, this is an absolute commitment which must be met. If an emergency comes up we are directly responsible to secure substitutes for our date. Just as the teacher of the Central cannot fail to show up prepared, the music team does not have the option of failing to meet even one commitment. We will have to sometimes play while sick, or in other difficult circumstances.

We have the opportunity at Xenos to work with a large number of highly talented musicians and teachers. We expect great advancement in this ministry in the future, as our groups "jell" and we gain playing time together. We also anticipate interplay between groups. Eventually, we may have a very flexible Christian musician's guild where individual musicians could mix and match as needed in order to play a wider range of music types. There would also be the fun of working with different people. Already, some bands have recruited members of other bands either temporarily or permanently. We see this as a potentially good thing if handled properly. It is essential that we not only consider the well-being of our particular special project, but the feelings and plans of other groups affected. The following guidelines should be respected:

The member being recruited should not find it necessary to fail to keep his/her commitments in the other band in order to do a stand-in. If it will be necessary to miss obligations, this should only be done with the prior knowledge and consent of the leader of the other band.
Recruited members should not need to miss practices in order to play a stand- in. If this will be necessary, the other band's leader should be approached and should agree to the personnel loan. We should not simply present fellow team members with a fait acompli.
If there is doubt about the appropriateness of a given arrangement, or if you need information on who is available, talk to the acting program director. Musical and spiritual enhancement

When selecting new musical acts, the acting director will require a demo tape along with a list of the personnel in the band and an explanation of how each is involved in our ministry. The ministry networking program can also assist in assigning musicians.

We hope that everyone realizes that we are looking for only a particular style and feel of music appropriate for this ministry. A decision not to accept offered services is not a suggestion that the band in question is not good at what they do.

In order to strive for the best program we can get, we will be periodically interacting with musicians about their performance. The interaction will discuss the progress of given acts with relation to the main goals stated above. We hope all of our musicians are open to receiving feed-back as well as giving it.

Remember the powerful force of words when sharing impressions with other musicians. We should exercise great care to avoid discouraging or hurting other workers. At the same time, we must be mature enough to hear suggested improvements. Be sure to include the positive along with the negative when discussing these issues.

We want to stress the appreciation we feel for the sacrifices all of you are making on behalf of this ministry. We feel that the meeting has already been greatly enhanced by your work. Keep it up!