On the Future of Church Music

I recently went to a youth basketball game to see some friends’ little guys dominate on the court. They won! As I sat there watching 8- and 9-year-old boys run up and down the court, I couldn’t help but notice their skill, timing, and precision. It was amazing seeing how they are learning to talk to one another, pass the ball, set up, settle themselves, and take shots. It was really impressive—especially considering how when I was their age, I took a shot, and made it…into the wrong basket!

According to USA Basketball's website, basketball is the most popular sport among youth. I have loved watching basketball since I was in middle school––the intense energy, the constant back-and-forth of the ball, the echo off the walls, the pep band and the pizza. (There’s nothing I enjoy more than going to an Emmanuel College basketball game to see our Lions guys and girls dominate on the court!) As I sat there watching those little guys playing basketball, I also could not help but think about what a great future the sport of basketball must have with all these boys running around learning how to play the sport at their young age.

A few years ago, I stumbled across this infamous meme that has circulated through social media.

With two pictures, one at the top and the other at the bottom, the meme draws a direct line between the development of young musicians and the success of adult musicians. The meme says, “If you want to have this… then you have to have this.” The picture on top is of an orchestra on some grand stage, and the picture on the bottom is of a youth orchestra with children playing cellos and violins. If the picture conveys any truth, and what we are doing today is any indication of what we will have tomorrow, then I wonder, “What does the future of music in the church look like?”

For centuries, the church was the “grand central station” of development in music and the arts. If you wanted to hear good music or see beautiful artwork, then you needed to look no further than the house of the Lord. The architecture of the building on the outside, the immaculate woodwork on the inside, the stained-glass windows, the frescos on the ceiling, and the singing from the chancel were all extraordinary expressions of the church’s high view of God. The high ceilings and spires reached up for the heavens and the cathedral was the place where heaven and earth met, where beings could do what human beings do best when they join with the Spirit to create in the spirit of their Creator. The early Pentecostals were known for playing new or unique instruments in church like the fiddle, banjo, trombone, and saxophone. These were not merely instruments for whorehouses; these were instruments for worship houses! Pentecostals have historically been some of the most intuitive and capable musicians. We gave the last century many of its greatest.

In the not-too-distant past, churches moved away from robust and sometimes, admittedly, complicated music programs. Fewer children were taking music lessons. Public schools became the primary place where kids would be introduced to singing or playing an instrument. This is not working so well anymore. Musical literacy has declined, and the capacity of many aspiring musicians is limited. Budgets to pay music teachers and resource their programs are being slashed so that grade schools may not be able to continue developing musical skills in the next generation. This is an opportunity for instruction and development in music and the arts to return to its origin in the house of God.

Many pastors are looking for competent musicians and anointed worship leaders to serve in the church. Now is the time to pick up the mantle once again of prioritizing the development of musicians for worship in a manner that is not unlike that of Chenaniah, Heman, Asaph, and Jeduthun, who were appointed by King David to train 4,000 Levites to become skilled musicians who would lead temple worship (1 Chron. 15). Perhaps the best place to our next worship pastors may very well be in our children’s churches.

We who are people of the Spirit believe that the Spirit is being poured out upon sons and daughters in these last days (according to Joel 2 and Acts 2). Indeed, the Spirit of God is empowering creative young men and women to be musical priests and Levites who serve the house of the Lord. I am seeing this in my day-to-day interactions with students called to the ministry of music and worship. If the church’s young kids can play football, basketball, baseball, softball, and soccer before they turn ten years old, then surely, they can learn to be like the young shepherd, David, whose heart for God compelled him to sing and play skillfully with God’s anointing, and to write many psalms of praise to the Lord. May the mandate to raise up the next generation of musical servants and lead worshippers in the house of God grip the people of the Spirit and propel us into greater dimensions of worship than we have ever known.