Music

The custom of having choir directors to lead the choirs in hymns of praise and thanksgiving to God began long ago in the days of David and Asaph. So now, in the days of Zerubbabel and of Nehemiah, all Israel brought a daily supply of food for the singers, the gatekeepers, and the Levites. The Levites, in turn, gave a portion of what they received to the priests, the descendants of Aaron. [Nehemiah 12.46-47]

There is precedent to support worship leaders in church. In fact, their role is seen as essential.

The Church struggles with this idea. It struggles on two fronts.

First, the Church itself tends to view worship leaders as disposable. For this cause, worship leaders tend to be only volunteers and not regular staff unencumbered with other jobs. The distraction alone of having "two" jobs lessens the ministry potential and therefore, impact and effectiveness of the worship ministry.

Nehemiah addressed the problem:

I also discovered that the Levites had not been given their prescribed portions of food, so they and the singers who were to conduct the worship services had all returned to work their fields. I immediately confronted the leaders and demanded, “Why has the Temple of God been neglected?” Then I called all the Levites back again and restored them to their proper duties. [Nehemiah 13.10-11]

Second, worship leaders have a tendency to be apathetic about their role as a spiritual leader. Rather than viewing their gift of music as a calling, they see it as "who they are" and tend to see it as something they can use for their own benefit (there is potentially a lot of money to be made in the music industry). In my opinion, that is why so many worship pastors end up on talent shows and contests.

It is worth considering that the two factors discussed here feed off each other as well. As the Church downplays the role of worship leaders, there is the natural tendency for the worship leaders to see their role as less essential and therefore spiritually apply themselves less. It is not a good situation. And yet, these worship leaders are to "lead" people in worship?

Father, help both the Church and those called to lead worship to reckon with You on the matter of music in the Church. May there be a return of holiness and propriety to the situation.