![]() ![]() ![]() Church music ministry allows Christians to be stewards of their gifts and is a valid medium of propagating the gospel. Although there may be a lot of confusion on what may be termed as church music, this study seeks to identify the term and discuss the ideals of church music in worship and other Christian convergence from physical and non-physical (spiritual) perspectives of Church music and ministry addressing the problem of lack of structure in the organization of church music ministry. ![]() A piece of music with appropriate biblical text can serve as a response of prayer, praise, a testimony of God’s faithfulness, or a response to an initial revelation of God during worship, or any Christian convergence. The term “Church music” covers three major aspects of ministry within the context of a local church, namely Congregational music, choral music, and instrumental music. God gave people the gift of music and commanded its usage for the edification of man. In order to develop a theory that is both appropriately informed about ritual musical behavior and theologically grounded, the dissertation draws upon work done in social anthropology, musicology, ethnomusicology, and liturgical studies as well as systematic theology and theological ethics.Ĭhurch music plays significant roles in social, religious, and social gatherings in Africa. Previous attempts to understand the relationship between ritual song and moral practice utilizing theological and ethical approaches have been hampered by the interdisciplinary nature of the question. These three aspects of the ritual song experience-symbolism, divine meeting, and performance-work together to create what the author terms the Responsorial Self: the person who responds to the call of God in the world in ways that are informed by ideas and values experienced in ritual song and which have been rehearsed in the performance of ritual song. The author contends that the connection between ritual song activity and moral action is based upon three primary aspects of ritual song activity: 1) ritual song is an event of symbolism, in which significant symbols and ideas are communi- cated to individuals and are reshaped for the community through their use, 2) ritual song provides an opportunity for divine meeting, in which individual community members participate in a powerful means of transcendent experience, and 3) ritual singing itself is a set of particular and regular religiously responsive performances that shape the ways in which individuals respond to God and neighbor outside of the ritual event. This dissertation develops a theory for the relationship between ritual song and indi- vidual moral practice. The essential nature of theological training for the worship leader finds support from the witness of Scripture, the nature of worship itself, the structure and content of worship, the pastoral role of the worship leader, and the example of hundreds of years of Christian history. Whereas Bauder proposes the immense benefit of musical and worship instruction for a pastor without deeming it a necessity, it is my belief that a worship leader cannot possibly hope to have a long-term ministry that guides a congregation in worship informed by biblical principles, provides a vehicle for spiritual formation, and serves as a consistent Gospel witness without some level of theological training. My observations and insights emerge from more than fifteen years of worship leadership in the local church and nearly a decade of graduate theological training. The present work serves as a companion piece to Bauder’s thoughtful rationale and seeks to offer a similar argument for the theological training of worship leaders and church musicians. Bauder offered nine propositions outlining the necessity of musical and doxological training for pastors. In his article titled “Why Pastors Should Be Learned in Worship and Music” in volume one of Artistic Theologian, Kevin T. ![]()
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