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[polkaman]

Hello. I wish to ask help with this.
Not long ago I attended our church's
Music committee. The topic was the
New praise music...the chairperson
And several of the others who like the
New praise music, along with some of
The sound people and several musicians.
As of late, the modern praise songs
We're recorded, and of poor quality.
The chair stated that "we must transistion"
And that the church "must" learn 8
New songs.
This was supported by the chair and
Several at the meeting. One of the
Music people ask, why must we transistion, no answer given....again
The music person ask...what must we
Transistion to ? Again no answer...
Then discussion how to make sure
The people know these new songs...
Such as forcing to sing every week
Or every other week.

I was floored by the attitude of the chair
And total disrespect given to the music
People, by not answering questions,
Saying this MUST be done, and wanting
To continue using recorded music.

How do I justify any respect for the
Chair....and how can I go on, knowing
The people attending will be "programed".

And the biggest problem is, the chairman
Is well respected, and at times, fills
The pulpit.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

 

[Presbyterian Continuist]

Hello. I wish to ask help with this.
Not long ago I attended our church's
Music committee. The topic was the
New praise music...the chairperson
And several of the others who like the
New praise music, along with some of
The sound people and several musicians.
As of late, the modern praise songs
We're recorded, and of poor quality.
The chair stated that "we must transistion"
And that the church "must" learn 8
New songs.
This was supported by the chair and
Several at the meeting. One of the
Music people ask, why must we transistion, no answer given....again
The music person ask...what must we
Transistion to ? Again no answer...
Then discussion how to make sure
The people know these new songs...
Such as forcing to sing every week
Or every other week.

I was floored by the attitude of the chair
And total disrespect given to the music
People, by not answering questions,
Saying this MUST be done, and wanting
To continue using recorded music.

How do I justify any respect for the
Chair....and how can I go on, knowing
The people attending will be "programed".

And the biggest problem is, the chairman
Is well respected, and at times, fills
The pulpit.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

The Holy Spirit never has this form of control. Therefore you are being attacked by a controlling spirit of witchcraft that has deceived the chairperson and members of the committee that they need to force this transition on the music group. You need to stand up against it and let the chairperson know that it is a spirit of witchcraft and not the Holy Spirit. You may get fired for it, but you will have stood up for Christ and the Truth. "Those who live godly in Christ will suffer persecution" and it usually comes from other religious people who don't want their position of control threatened.

 

[Silverback]

Hello. I wish to ask help with this.
Not long ago I attended our church's
Music committee. The topic was the
New praise music...the chairperson
And several of the others who like the
New praise music, along with some of
The sound people and several musicians.
As of late, the modern praise songs
We're recorded, and of poor quality.
The chair stated that "we must transistion"
And that the church "must" learn 8
New songs.
This was supported by the chair and
Several at the meeting. One of the
Music people ask, why must we transistion, no answer given....again
The music person ask...what must we
Transistion to ? Again no answer...
Then discussion how to make sure
The people know these new songs...
Such as forcing to sing every week
Or every other week.

I was floored by the attitude of the chair
And total disrespect given to the music
People, by not answering questions,
Saying this MUST be done, and wanting
To continue using recorded music.

How do I justify any respect for the
Chair....and how can I go on, knowing
The people attending will be "programed".

And the biggest problem is, the chairman
Is well respected, and at times, fills
The pulpit.

Thank you for your thoughts and prayers

Well, If it's a problem and he can't be reasoned with, and he has a lot of power, which seems to be the case, then you have two options as I see it:

1. Stay there, take one for the team, and live with it. But do know it will likely get worse.

or

2. Take yourself, and your tithe, and find a new church.

I also guess you could stay and be confrontational with him, but that would just hurt other people.

 

[mnphysicist]

First, consider that it might not have been the call of the chairman to make. If so, he may not answer as he doesn't clearly know, he knows, but can't divulge, or maybe he personally doesn't like it and doesn't want his personal views to influence the rest of the group.

Secondly, if this is a major change for your group, often times a dictatorial approach is the fastest and least risky way to navigate through change. You find out really fast as to whether folks are on board with it, think they can get on board with it or they leave... Its a bit disingenuous to ask for input, and/or drag the process out over a period of months, when you already know what the end state must be. Beyond that, slow transitions often bring about significant collateral damage to innocent parties.

Thirdly, maybe the dude is on a power trip and its best to shake your sandels in the dust... but realistically, this is a whole lot rarer than the other two possibilities.

As far as programmed goes...

If you select worship music to align with the sermon theme, is that programming?

If you let a computer click track run your worship service as you don't have enough musicians to fill out the entire group is that programming?

There is absolutely nothing wrong with setting up a schedule to teach a congregation new music over a period of time. Such was likely how all your current songs were learned, and it will likely be how your future ones are learned as well. Trying to bring a new music into a congregation at random will massively slow the learning process and needlessly frustrate the congregation as well as the music team.

That being said, one can play some forms of psychological games to manipulate people... which is not cool, and Christians should stay far away from it, no matter how enticing the projected outcome may be. (Fwiw, I lost that argument with a campus ministry many years ago... and ended up shaking the dust off my sandels as I walked away).

 

[joakeem]

As of late, the modern praise songs
We're recorded, and of poor quality.

Were they played and sung in poor quality? Or were they performed well, but the recording quality was bad? This can point you to what to do first to improve the recordings.

The chair stated that "we must transistion"
And that the church "must" learn 8
New songs.

Well, I'm the musical leader of my parish, and from my experience I would say that 8 new songs at once are way too much for a normally gifted and normally ambitious congregation. If I did something like that with my people, I would have them sitting in silent confusion and not singing a single word.

In our parish, we have a project called "song of the month". Can you guess how it works? Exactly, one new song per month for the congregation (if I find a nice one). For us, this is a good schedule. To save time, you could perhaps speed this up a little, but not much.

I suggest to practise one new song (not more) at a time and to repeat this song at least 2 or 3 weeks before introducing the next one. Well, that means, 8 new songs will take five or six months, but that's the way it is.

Remember that when the congregation comes together, it's time for prayer and celebration, not for rehearsal.

This was supported by the chair and
Several at the meeting. One of the
Music people ask, why must we transistion, no answer given....again
The music person ask...what must we
Transistion to ? Again no answer...
Then discussion how to make sure
The people know these new songs...
Such as forcing to sing every week
Or every other week.

I'd say the chairman should remember that he needs the musicians' expertise in teaching the congregation and in forming the musical basis for their singing. Rather than giving orders and not asking questions, he should explain his vision and then collaboratively develop a plan how this can be reached.

What do the other musicians think?

 

[joakeem]

Rather than giving orders and not asking questions, he should explain his vision ...

Sorry, I mean "... and not answering questions ..."