Any Christian in their right mind would long to see their unbelieving family, friends and neighbors join them on Sunday at church in the worship of Jesus Christ. At least, that's my missional assumption. I mentioned a couple posts ago that I'd blog about something that caused a little controversy in my local context surrounding worship. I'm sharing about it because I hope to solicit your opinions on this subject, so please leave a post comment. I truly the value the insight and experience of other church musicians. 

As some of you know I play in an indie-pop outfit around San Diego. This band is composed of both believers and nonbelievers. I recently invited the 2 nonbelievers to sit in with the band at church on a Sunday. I really didn't think they would agree, but thought I would extend the offer, since I really love this couple and long for them to know and be known by Jesus, and to my surprise, they accepted wholeheartedly. They're phenomenal musicians and they asked for the chordsheets/mp3s weeks in advance and spent hours rehearsing. They are not anti-Christian per se, but I think have had some pretty negative church experiences in the past, and my goal (which I was upfront about) was to get them to come and experience a side of our lives that they had not experienced. They love the music I write for our band, which is not far removed from what we do on any given Sunday, so I knew that by using their God-given gifts they would really get a chance to participate fully in the Sunday gathering. Additionally, I spent some time in the song selection, so that by playing these particular songs, they would be forced to think through the content (lyrics) that told the story of God's restoration of humanity in Christ.

My thinking is very Celtic when it comes to evangelism. I want someone to feel they can participate and belong, get their questions answered, and just come to see the reality of Jesus through our love for one another in a church context without feeling like they have to dress, act, speak and think exactly like I do before being allowed in (which is the old Latin model of missions). So...I really didn't think it would be that big of a deal by having 2 nonbelievers sitting in with the band. In fact, I figured most at our church would be excited to see them, since many know them from our shows (and really most congregants probably would be excited).

But...a few people were alarmed by this. One of them is an elder that I also love and respect, so out of deference to him, my pastor asked me to hold-off having my friends play until the leadership could get to together and hash out the official church position on the matter, which put me in the very uncomfortable position of having to tell my friends that they couldn't play with us on Sunday (after rehearsing with us twice and putting in plenty of time on their own working thru the tunes).

 I could recount all the objections, but really it boils down to the nature of a music ministry and the question of who is actually leading worship, and is it appropriate for a nonbeliever to "lead" in worship, if that is what they are really doing? From my standpoint, I have never considered the musicians to be "leading" in worship. In fact, I really have never felt comfortable calling myself a "Worship Leader", since historically speaking, it is a fairly new term or category of leadership. I prefer Chief Musician or Minister of Music, but that's just me. I'll use "Worship Leader" or "Director of Worship" (even though it sounds too corporatey for me) because of its prevelance, but its not my preference. I've always considered the musicians to be simple vehicles that aid the congregation to lift up their voices to God in praise, lament, confession and adoration. I'm the one who selects or writes the music, prays publicly, and does the bulk of scripture reading, so if anyone is leading, I guess it is me. But I hope that it is the Holy Spirit leading through me. I would never ask an unbeliever to do more than play their instrument; they're not getting a microphone and are not praying or doing anything other than playing their instrument.

Music in itself is not worship per se, but the heart behind that music that finds itself united to Christ by faith. (sidebar: see Reggie Kidd on Hebrews 2:12 in "With One Voice" on this idea - truly profound). And the gifts of leadership are not prerequisites to be in the worship ministry at my church. Nevertheless, we are "up front" and "visible" during the service, so those who object to having unbelievers participate feel that by virtue of our visibility, we are all leading worship.

I've gone back and forth on the issue, and still feel that it is okay. I have many friends that hire out musicians to help their worship be excellent in quality, because they don't have any home-grown talent, yet. While this would not be my preference, sometimes it is where God has some churches. In his chapter in "Worship by the Book", Pastor Tim Keller advocates this practice from a missional perspective, which may surprise some people.

So...what do you think? For it? Against it? Would you allow an unbeliever to participate in handing out food to homeless in a mercy ministry? I would argue that acts of mercy are also acts of worship, even though they may not be acts of worship for the unbeliever. So why the hang-up on Sunday? Have we made the worship ministry a sacramental ministry? Are there any Biblical principles that we should we consider? No one I know would tell an unbeliever to "stop" singing on Sunday morning because they didn't trust Jesus. Please weigh in with your thoughts. I'm very curious to see where this discussion might go. Worship is and will always be very contentious, so please be gentle with your word choice. I bear no one any anger at my church or any other, even if I don't agree with them. We all can learn from one another. That's the beauty of a diverse family. Peace.   - BT