Pastoral Oversight and the Musical Ministry of the Church - by Jacob Crouch

Found here. Our comments in bold.

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The author is to be commended for his desire to honor his leadership, but we think he gets a lot wrong.

Church leadership delegates authority to various people based on their discernment of qualifications and spiritual maturity. They then provide oversight, but they do not run the ministries. The leaders they chose do.

It is our view that the music leader in the church service is the highest operating authority during the worship time, and the rest of leadership defers to him for that time. That is, all authority transfers to him for this portion of the service.

The music leader also has final say as to the content of the ministry activities, like the songs. Yes, the church leadership is ultimately responsible, but their general attitude should be, let the leaders lead. Directional changes should be implemented with respect for the authority they delegated. Again, the music leader is in charge of the ministry. This means the leadership itself renders honor to the music leader by letting him do his job.

Lastly, the author manages only two Scriptures. None of what he tells us is based on Scripture, it's based on tradition and existing practice. We must deem this Bad Bible Teaching.

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Songs are shepherding tools. (Well, no. Songs are vehicles to express worship.)

We think of the word preached as a tool of the shepherd, and it is. (We would contest the idea that pastors are the preachers, biblically speaking. But we will concede his point.)

We think of prayer as a shepherding tool, and it is. (Well, no. Prayer is how we talk to God. There is no shepherding involved.)

We think of baptism and the Lord’s Supper as shepherding tools, and they are. (Well, no. They are ordinances.

None of the undocumented claims are true.)

But do we think of the songs as shepherding tools? When God gave Moses the commandments, He also gave Him a song. He told Him to teach the people the words from the mountain, and He told Him to write a song. He tells Moses that, while they might forget His covenant, “this song shall confront them as a witness (for it will live unforgotten in the mouths of their offspring)” (Deut 31:21). (We must view this an honest mistake based on a misleading translation. The NIV gets it right:

And when many disasters and difficulties come upon them, this song will testify against them...

This is certainly not an example of a shepherding song [if such a thing exists], it was a song of judgment and calamity. It was a song of warning. It was a song detailing the future disobedience of Israel in the face of His goodness and mercy towards them.

The song is found in Deuteronomy 32, and includes verses like:

De. 32:5 They have acted corruptly towards him; to their shame they are no longer his children, but a warped and crooked generation.

De. 32:16 They made him jealous with their foreign gods and angered him with their detestable idols.

De. 32:23 I will heap calamities upon them and expend my arrows against them.

De. 32:29 If only they were wise and would understand this and discern what their end will be!

De. 32:35 It is mine to avenge; I will repay. In due time their foot will slip; their day of disaster is near and their doom rushes upon them.

This is the bad example upon which the author bases the rest of his presentation.)

With this in mind, I want to exhort pastors and music leaders to remember that there must be oversight in the musical ministry of the church.

The Importance of Music

As the music coordinator of our church, and not a pastor, I’m not looking down on the non-pastoral music guys out there. I try my hardest to love God and to love our people by faithfully preparing each Sunday to lead the musical worship. But too often the responsibilities of Sunday morning song selection are delegated out to someone who is not a pastor. And unfortunately, not only “not a pastor”, but sometimes someone deeply disqualified to lead in God’s church. This person might be the most talented musician around, but musical talent is not a mark of spiritual maturity. And when this shepherding tool is not wielded well, there can be serious consequences. People remember music. There’s something about it that gets into the very fabric of who we are. God knew that when He instructed Moses, and we would do well to remember it too. (The author seems to think that possessing a "pastor" title is needed to lead the music ministry. But then he writes, ...too often the responsibilities of Sunday morning song selection are delegated out to someone who is not a pastor. He himself is not a pastor, yet he bemoans non-pastors leading the music ministry. Then why is he leading his church's music ministry?

Further, if there are immature Christians leading the music, that is a failure of the church leadership. If this situation exists, then all of the author's advice is irrelevant. 

The leadership should choose a skilled, faithful man for the position.)

If pastors don’t have their hand on the reins of the musical worship, then it can easily move in the wrong direction. (Ho-boy. Apparently the pastor, having delegated authority to the music leader, should not trust the music leader. Or perhaps, pastors are so insecure that they need to control everything. 

Neither scenario points to healthy leadership.)

Pastors are responsible to keep the lyrical diet of the church biblically faithful. (They are? Where does the Bible say this?)

Church members leave and listen to whatever they choose, but on a Sunday, the pastors are feeding souls with good songs. They are also responsible for keeping the songs biblically balanced. Does the church sing too many songs about God’s grace and nothing of God’s justice? Or is there too much wrath and no mercy? Are the songs all joy and no lament, or all lament and no joy? These are questions that the pastor must answer in order to shepherd well. (Where does the music leader fit in? Why does the pastor have all the duties one would expect to be delegated to the music leader?)

Pastors as Overseers

The pastors of a local church have oversight. They are called “overseers” for a reason (Phil 1:1). (Let's quote it:

Ph. 1:1 Paul and Timothy, servants of Christ Jesus, To all the saints in Christ Jesus at Philippi, together with the overseers and deacons...

Obviously this verse does not tell us that pastors are overseers. In actual fact the church is to be led by a team of leaders called elders, not pastors: 

1Pe. 5:1-2 To the elders among you, I appeal as a fellow-elder, a witness of Christ’s sufferings and one who also will share in the glory to be revealed: 2 Be shepherds of God’s flock that is under your care, serving as overseers...

The team of elders are the shepherds and overseers, not a pastor.

We would agree that "oversight" of all the ministries of the church is necessary. But the author is not describing oversight, he is describing meddling. If a pastor installs a music leader but doesn't let him lead the music, then the music leader isn't leading anything, the pastor is.)

A pastor is uniquely able to pick the songs that best feed the congregation at any given moment. (Undocumented claim.)

I remember there was a time in our church when our pastors removed some very good, time-tested hymns from our song pool. When I asked why we couldn’t sing those songs, they said, “Our church is deficient in ‘x’ area and we really want to help strengthen them with some other songs.” (He was forced to ask why? Did these pastors act unilaterally without telling him? 

It amazes us that the pastors wouldn't simply tell him that they wanted to go a particular direction in the musical worship and let him make the choices. No, they actually went through the song book and crossed specific hymns off the list.

Astonishing.)

That blew my mind, and looking back, I love it. They were looking over the church and realizing that they wanted to take that pastoral tool of the music and lead the sheep in a better direction. (This of course is perfectly fine. That's what the leadership does, lead in a better direction. But again, respecting other leaders by letting them lead is also leadership.)

Our songs do that, and shepherds are the best folks to be leading the flock. (Wellll. Maybe not.)

Notice I have not given direction about how that should look. I have heard of some pastors who plan out each Sunday a year in advance. Our church does it differently than that. However you choose to lead in this area, the same thing remains true: Pastors must lead in the musical worship of the church. ("If you choose to lead in this area" vs. "Pastors must lead the musical worship." Um, which is it, sir?)

I pray for more faithful leading in these areas in our churches. I pray for humility for those like me who are serving in the role of music coordinator. I pray that the church is led well by faithful preaching, faithful praying, and faithful singing. May God receive the glory due His name, and may we give Him glorious praise.