Expert: Rev. Stuart Woodward - 10/20/2008

Question
I currently serve on the worship team in our church. An individual who has been a new attender at the church has expressed desire to play bass with the worship team. This individual hasn't accepted Christ, but is being drawn in more and more by the warmth and acceptance from the Christians around him. My husband and I feel that his desire to participate with the worship team may have a profound impact on this individual's conversion to Christianity. I feel that individuals in more of a leadership position (i.e. teachers, ministers, worship leader, etc.) must be committed Christians in order to lead others, but we feel that excluding or rejecting this individual would be detrimental to the work God is doing in his life. What does the Bible say about this?

Answer
Hello Tang,
Thank you for your question. It is not an easy one to answer. Firstly the New Testament says nothing at all about music ministry and how it should be used in church. We know that the early church sang hymns and were urged to sing spiritual songs.
The Old Testament does not help us a huge amount either as, although the music ministry with regard to Temple worship and the like was treated in high regard, Judaism was a racially based religion and so there is no suggestion that anyone involved would be anything other than part of the worship scene anyway.
We face the same issue in our church and I confess we have no hard and fast rule to follow.
For a Christian worship group to feel they were lacking an instrumentalist or singer and go recruiting among the ranks of unbelievers would not be right. Those in music ministry have the privilege of drawing others into worship. Similarly it would be wrong to make musical proficiency the important issue when spiritual giftedness is the more important matter.
However, we live in a context where people are on a journey. There are many believers who are immature. Should we exclude them? This raises the question of how mature you have to be. Pastoral sensitivity is needed here. If the person you refer to is likely to have a major influence and input in terms of style and approach then a foresee a problem. If this person is a devout atheist that also creates a problem. If this person has an open heart and is genuinely seeking truth then I can accept pastoral situations where to include the person would be best.
One caution I would offer here is that it is wise to involve the wider leadership of the church in the decision. First of all it is part of their calling and secondly if you press ahead and discover that the wider leadership is not supportive you will be sowing divisive seeds.
I hope thee comments are of some help and pray that God will give you great wisdom.
Stuart Woodward