The Ministry Of Music And Worship

Truth is, many of these artistes being young are merely dealing with the challenges of growth and maturation - a rite of passage into adulthood. They get into experimentations, like we all did and do. Only theirs is amplified because they’re in public glare. And then there are the challenges of fame itself. Fame is lonesome and it has major consequences. If not well managed it generates distortions. Michael Jackson for example had an identity crisis. He seemed lost and searching for meaning and purpose. He suffered from anguish of soul. In seeking to ameliorate loneliness some resort to booze, drugs and sex. And we seem to accept these excesses as part of the package. They’re stars after all, they can do no wrong. Thus we are complicit in that which we condemn. It is hard to minister to those you condemn. Yet Christ died for all. There ought to be specialized ministry to stars, those in the public glare and those battling with fame. If we can have specialized fellowships for over-40s,

The death of Jesus and the ripping of that curtain also changed the definition of “temple”. God was no longer confined to physical tabernacles. He franchised himself into new abodes - us! Our bodies are now the temple of the living God (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). It’s why we’re advised to abstain from sexual sin. You can’t join God’s temple to another in fornication. We are spiritual building blocks. The Bible says we’re living stones that God is building into a spiritual temple (1 Peter 2:5-9). The temple of God in the New Testament is not a physical building, it is individuals. The Holy of Holies is now inside us. It’s why the Holy Spirit dwells in us. And so a church can meet in a nightclub, museum, hotel, civic center, tent, private residence, cinema, school, etc. The building is not the holy place, it is the people in who the holy God resides. And so the notion of “altar” being a place a secular musician cannot sing from or “minister” from is fallacious. That view does not align with

A few days ago, there arose a Twitter storm of apocalyptic proportions over news that a young “secular” artiste was invited to sing during a church service. The young artiste is a Christian and the song performed was from his title album, God Win. One must assume that a song titled “God Win” sang in a church setting seemed most appropriate, but these are curious times. There are many choruses that echo the same sentiment, some using exact same words yet there were a lot of issues raised. The very notion that a non-gospel artiste had been invited to “minister” in church consternated many. And not a few were peeved that the artiste in question performed from the “altar” - a most holy place. And how can an “entertainer” be invited to minister to “the people of God”, some wondered, with righteous and not so righteous indignation. Even the Pastor was not spared. What was his motivation? There was no shortage of opinion, aspersions and castigations. And there was no shortage of exegetes mis