Any of you music ministers ever had this problem?

Take the advice from the Pastor...

 

I agree with tinytim. The Pastor is the one you answer to and not the choir. Personally, I would not have let the choir have a say in the matter. When I was a Minister of Music, I selected the contatas after much prayer and listening to the tapes. Usually, if I didn't like one, I would not get through the first song.

After selecting one and plan out what you want to do, then sit down and talk with the pastor about your plans.

 

Great advice... I was thinking the same thing. And if you don't hear contrary anything, keep pressing on!

 

I think I would talk with the pastor, of course, then:
1) either go on and do what you feel is right - You are the director
2) Choose another one without asking for input and tell them that this is what we will be doing for Christmas.

Keep us posted. We understand the ownership mentality found in some churches.

 

Listen to the pastor, pray about what you want to do it, then do it.

You will always have critics and pains in the gluteus maximus.

 

Just this one woman is going to stop everyone else from having a good Christmas show? Sounds more like a power struggle, and not true conviction. Don't let her get to you. I don't see anything wrong in asking the choir what they think of the music choice. I mean, what if you had selected music that everyone disliked, and never knew they felt this way? It would make for one dismal program!

love,

Sopranette

 

My father faced a difficult situation back in the mid-1960's. He was the interim minister of music, and he wanted the choir to do a collection of original settings of hymn texts by Isaac Watts. My father worked in the music department of the Baptist Sunday School Board in Nashville, and he had helped publish this music. He went to the pastor, told him what he wanted to do, and said that if the choir did the music, he would have to tell his friend. If he told him, he would want to come hear the performance. The problem was that the friend was African-American. The pastor told him to go ahead. Eventually, word got out. At one choir rehearsal, when they began to rehearse the music, one woman asked if the man who had composed the music were black. Dad said she was. She got up, put her folder away, walked out, and never returned. There were a few other comments that filtered back to Dad (some of them too nasty to mention here), but the Sunday evening performance went off without a hitch.

I suggest, as others have, that you work closely with the pastor. If he is supportive of what you are doing, then a small minority should not be able to gain support. I might also say that I do not like the use of recorded music to accompany the choir or soloists, but that is my preference. You have to do what is best for your situation, what best helps your congregation to worship in the most meaningful way. Good luck, and keep us posted on how things are going.

Tim Reynolds

 

Good, makes room for true laborers... :wavey: :wavey:


Be sure to thank your pastor for backing you... Oh to be a fly on the wall in that meeting.

 

Nothing's resolved. Have you asked the couple what the bases of the objections were? It seems to me that all you did was get support to trample the consciences of two people for the sake of your own desires. You're basically telling them that they don't matter.

Merry Christmas!

 

Actually, he does think they matter, or he wouldn't be going through this.

Some people are just troublemakers. If you don't agree with the music, don't sing.

 

Au contraire! If he weren't self-willed he wouldn't be going through this.

 

Everyone is self willed.

 

Aren't you sowing seeds of dicord here?
In a Baptist church the majority rules... not 2 troublemakers

 

I agree with Aaron on this one. The Word of God says,

Romans 12:18 18 If it be possible, as much as lieth in you, live peaceably with all men.

Sounds to me like there was no effort to even consider the reasons the 15% did not want the music. And the two that were messaging you should have at least been heard with an open heart. Then prayer as to the direction God wanted you to go. Sounds like your mind was made up from the beginning.

 

Ultimately the pastor made the decision....

So it sounds like the trouble makers were not trying to live peaceably with the church body as a whole....

Should a church be held captive to troublemakers? Just because they disagree with the body as a whole?

If so, then why do we vote on anything?

OK, let's play this out in another real life situation....

The church has a vote to go to 2 services on Sunday morning.
85% vote to do it
15% vote not to...

So should the church not do it because it might offend 15%?
That would be ridiculous...

The majority rules... at least in every Baptist church I have been in.
If someone disagrees with the majority so much they want to cause discord, they need to pack their bags, and move on down the street to another like minded church.

If we waited until decisions were unanimous, nothing would get done!!!
After all we are Baptists... and even disagree with ourselves!! lol

If I were in a church, and the church voted 85-15% to sing only hymns... I would go along with it! Not go around trying to cause trouble...
And If I couldn't go along with it, I would move on.

 

The majority is not always what God wants for His people. God often conveyed that message in the Old Testament.

 

The only thing I will say in the couple's defense is maybe the music director should have sat down with them and talked with them. But the couple did go to the pastor without sitting down with the music director.