Our second priority

Now that I am no longer in the youth department, I can write what I am about to write without being accused of self-centeredness.

How badly does a church need a minister of music? Out of tradition and habit, we have a tendency to believe that need is greater than it is. I love music. I believe it is an essential element of worship, the first purpose of the church. I love ministers of music (that’s you, Unc ;) ). But, having said those things, I believe a minister of music should be, at best, the third priority on a church’s list of paid staff. First, a church needs a pastor to shepherd the church in the direction of her Savior. After a pastor and before a minister of music, a church needs a man whose job is to minister to youth. In churches too small to hire three staff members, a youth minister is more important than a music minister. Moreover, the two jobs are too big in themselves to be combined into a single job description. The church as a whole benefits more from an on-fire youth group than from a perfectly tuned choir. A great choir special may have toes tapping or hearts worshipping for a moment, but a youth group sold out to Christ transforms a church and a community now and for generations to come.

The adults in my church do not seem to understand this concept as well as they should. My parents’ generation were some of the most fortunate youth in our church’s history. When they, themselves, were youth, they experienced the benefits that come with a minister wholly devoted to their discipleship. Their children, my generation, have seen the continued benefit; we have parents who were discipled. Unfortunately, we had to grow up only hearing about their youth minister. We heard about all the great experiences we were denied. Most of today’s youth, who are just a few years younger than I, have parents who are too young to be able to share those stories. Their parents were not discipled; therefore, the youth have not even known the second-generational benefits of a great youth minister. Why does my parents’ generation refuse to grant to their children the great opportunities for Christian growth that they themselves were afforded?

Our nominating committee is already seeing the results. We are growing whole generations of adults who have not been taught the joy of service. Even those who want to serve and/or who do serve, really do not know the Bible well enough to teach it to others. We are seeing the flipside of the statements I wrote above about the benefit to a church of a strong youth program. When we do not provide for the discipleship of our youth, our church dies.

So, my questions for small churches are as follows: what good is a music minister when a congregation is too dead to sing? What good is a music minister when a congregation fades away? Why are we willing to sit by and watch our youth fall victim to all the world’s enticing offers while we insist that we must hire someone to wave his arms behind a music stand?

Volunteer youth ministers certainly are blessings for which I am thankful, but I am sure those volunteers would be some of the first to admit that they simply cannot invest the time it takes to build a quality youth program. So, I say, let the volunteers pick the songs and wave their arms! If we rearrange our priorities such that youth come before music, I think there is a good chance that our church will grow enough that we will be able to afford a fabulous music program as well. We can sing with no one to lead, but in their most vital years of spiritual development, our youth need direction. Will we be faithful to see that their potential becomes reality? Will we teach them that whether or not we have a formal music program they have a real reason to sing? Will we fill in the cracks so they do not continue to fall through? Will we love them? What a difference we could make in our church, our community, our world if we would!
-mo
Moville