Leading and Developing a Music Ministry in Your Local Church

Many local churches find music ministry beset with challenges – perhaps because of competing musical tastes or different views of the place and importance of singing in the congregation, or maybe just because of a lack of musical and technical resources and equipment.  Whatever the particular set of challenges facing your church, this unit aims to help you to gain the necessary biblical understanding, godly attitudes, practical insights, musical and ministerial skills for helping lead and develop effective music ministry in a local church context.

We will begin by examining the relationship between worship, church and singing, before turning to key principles of Christian leadership and how these bear on the role of the music minister and music ministry. We will then explore the history of Christian music, including the role of psalmody, the place of hymnody and the particular value of contemporary congregational music. We will look at the nature and challenges of teams, including the practical issues surrounding rehearsals and recruitment, and what makes for effective song-choosing, song-leading and song-writing. Finally, we will even spend time talking about things like acoustics, equipment, budgets and copyright!