July 22 2008
Poll: Is it ok for non-christians to play in worship bands?
Tagged Under : band, church, poll, worship
I’m talking about normal congregational worship bands, leading on Sunday morning. What do you think, is it ok for non-Christians to be in the band? Answer the poll and then chime in with comments for a detailed explanation. I think I actually know more worship leaders that let unsaved people in the band than the other way around. That doesn’t influence my opinion, but I want to know yours so let’s hear it!
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i feel like it’s ok…but i see great points on both sides…
i would really love to here legitimate reasons for each side though. maybe if people have read articles/books on the topic? great question!
Hey Kyle,
I wrote some thoughts in an article. Check it out at
http://reson8.org/2006/worship-leading-essentials-6-skill-or-spiritual-maturity-which-is-more-important/
I definitely think it depends on your church congregation, and your pastoral staff and what they think about it.
It can be an incredible ministry to lead people to Christ. To be an incredible witness to someone who might otherwise be put off by church, but at the same time can be detrimental to a lot of people in the service when they’re not seeing someones lifestyle match to what is going on onstage.
Everyone on the team is a “worship leader”, from the band to the techs. If the team doesn’t follow Christ then we are not a worship team, we are just a band on stage singing religious songs that makes us feel good.
This is something that I have always wrestled with… I have allowed unbelievers to play in bands, but I have never seen it turn out good. I have come to the place in ministry where we put high value on tested character for those who minister. I think ministry is an out flow of our hearts and it is supposed to be Christ working through us. So I guess it depends on how the church views the music as a ministry or a outreach to musicians.
in regards to it being an “overflow” of what God has done for us, it seems really then that there should be a screening process for anyone that wants to volunteer at church.
whether nursery, youth, parking, ushers, or musician.
some people would push against that and say “musicians are in front of more people,” but does that mean character and integrity only matters when you have (blank) amount of people that see you at one time?
maybe this sounds crazy and stupid…actually, it kind of does…but i have a hard time seeing Jesus tell someone they can’t play worship songs because they aren’t a follower of him.
it was an all-inclusive message that he taught and life that he lived. the only people he pushed against were the ones that were teaching against what God wanted.
so …i dunno. i still don’t necessarily agree one way or another. but i think we should be careful before we jump on the “this person isn’t allowed to (blank) train”
I have two thoughts: First, I think the function of the worship band is to lead & escort the congregation into the throne room. It can be a struggle for members of the worship band to balance pursuit of musical excellence (which can develop into performance emphasis) with their personal worship before the throne. Do worship band members lead the congregation to the throne and then stay outside the throne room? My concern for them to join in makes me say it’s best that non-believers are not put in the band as recurring members.
But, my second thought is that there may be isolated times when the very wise and discerning worship leader may consider it appropriate to include a non-believer in the band… perhaps in the instrumental arena, where they are not put into a front position which again, might put them in some pressure to act or perform in a way that is not true to what is going on inside.
I also agree that only belivers should be on a worship team. I’m not quite so sure that even isolated times would be appropriate either. If we’re going to hold one standard on the team – it should be held. Period. Even dropping a standard by .01% can cause things to crumble. A crack in the foundation is bad news. Obviously this isn’t the foundation of our worship teams, but it can definitely be a key element.
Hey Kyle – great question! I have invited non-Christians to play in a worship set and it was successful. On the other hand, I have invited Christians to be on the worship team on Sunday morning or other venues and they have sometimes stunk it up….dang it, now I’m confused! However, I opted for NO, mostly because of your qualification of Sunday morning congregational set, but also because you didn’t include another very important consideration, and that is that it may depend on the person, not just the congregation.
I find it helpful to try and answer this question in two parts because I think it’s situationally dependent. 1. It depends on the venue of the worship, and 2. It depends on the person(s) being considered.
Scot: That was a great post and I know a lot of churches struggle with this issue. I think I’ll summarize my position and what we’ve done at LCC when we wrap up the poll and see the results. I don’t want to taint the answers coming in.
Chris: I think Jesus corrected people’s fallen worship a lot in scripture…but again I’m going to hold my tongue until the poll wrap up post, stay tuned. I totally get your heart though.
Ryan: This really is an issue of what kind of foundation you lay for leadership development, you’re spot on.
Adam: I always struggle with thinking of all the correct multiple choice answers for a poll. Maybe I should have opted for “Depending on some set of circumstances”
I retract my NO. Dang it Kyle… I thought I was solid on this…I thought I was saved. But now it’s all up in the air. If I say YES, then that implies that I’m willing to have non-Christians slaughter authenitic worship just because they have musical skills. But if I say NO then I am a hypocrite because I have already allowed non-Christians to play in worship sets with me, albeit very seldom but it has happened, and with some measure of spiritual success I might add. The worship set that I invited non-Christians to play was not a Sunday morning set, it was a youth worship set on Sunday night. The youth I invited to play did get saved. Risky? Yes. But it did work out rather well. I haven’t ever invited a non-Christian to play on a Sunday morning set, which is why I originally voted NO. But I say, with some trepidation YES now because if it can happen succesfully in one worship service couldn’t it happen in another? Even on a Holy Sunday morning?
Adam: Let me give you the number for a good schizophrenic support line. Seriously though I’ve heard many success stories along the same lines.
The reason behind my “NO” vote is this: After playing in a band with a good 40-50% non-believers, I can’t say that it was a good choice. The level of conviction for excellence wasn’t maintained throughout the team. Those who were believers wanted to glorify Christ in their worship, and those who did not believe were simply fine-tuning their skills at a weekly gig it seemed. We had a hard time getting them to get to church on time to practice since they were still hung-over from the night before! The team leaders ended up just getting so frustrated that we would MIDI most of our set and if a band member showed up, we would just mute that instrument on the track.
I think being of like-mind and like-spirit is pretty vital in ministry. In every ministry… every volunteer. I recognize and embrace different levels of maturity, obviously. But I do think a desire for the glorification of Christ should be present when serving in any capacity. If not for the fame of Christ, than who/what are you doing it for?
I’m with Scot on this. (Although that might have something to do with him being my pastor.) The purpose of the worship band is to lead worship, so you need to consistently be putting a group of devoted christians, regardless of their maturity level, in that position. But I also think there’s room for the occasional person who’se being led in worship while they’re part of the band, as long as it’s clear that there’s an expectation of them being involved in other areas.
I spent several weeks in Germany with a miniscule congregation where the person playing Guitar hadn’t devoted himself to following Christ yet but because he was moving in that direction and growing towards that commitment, and everyone understood what the situation was, it worked well. Even though he couldn’t fully lead worship he was connected to the community, and he was able to participate and contribute through guitar.
[...] week we kicked off a poll asking “Is it ok for non-Christians to play in worship bands?” So far the results are [...]
The poll wrap up and my feelings on the matter are here: http://www.ourrisingsound.com/2008/07/28/poll-wrap-up-non-christians-in-worship-bands/
I think it’s fine to have non-Christians in the band… but not make up the full band. I have had more than once when a band member came to Christ while serving on the Sunday worship team – what a great ministry from the other band members to that guy – - he saw Christ in them EVEN IN REHEARSAL… which we all know, all too often, becomes highly “un-Christian”
Also, I agree with some other commenters – sometimes non-Christians bring a much better attitude to the stage – even if they don’t completely understand the purpose, they bring a respect that unfortunatly many Christians left in 4th grade Sunday school classes along with the flannel board stories.
Having said all of that – - I also beleive that a strong base of Christian worship leaders is required in order to have a situation in which the church can be led before the throne… one player/singer… all is fine and good… not a full band of unbelievers.
I wouldnt be caught dead on a stage with bible thumpers! unless I were eating there babys
Wow, Mike. That’s intense.
Mike God bless you man, checked out your myspace, looks like you’re plenty busy polishing skulls and such so thanks for taking time out of your day for that valuable feedback. I’m going to add that to my list of criteria when trying out new band members, “Must not eat children.” Rock on brotha.
Mike, thanks for making a strong point for why I do not want unbelievers in my band. I do not want them to eat my babies. That is some real confirmation. I also have not ben called a bible thumper in awhile.
Unfortunately I have a parallel problem along the lines of the two polls i have seen on here. #1 being the “verbose worship leader” and #2 unbelievers in the worship band.
Our fellowship recently merged with another. Most of the worship band is from the other fellowship (as is the lead pastor). The worship leader is VERY talented, but in addition to praying nearly after every song, she changes old songs (tempo, melody line, modulations) while writing new refrains or tags. Also, she plays a majority of songs that no one knows (she and her husband may have written most). She, i hear, has written out lead sheets so all the band is intently following them – there is no modelling of worship from them at all.
I am having a difficult time with this, and ask God every sunday to help me flow with it. I guess this wasnt a comment, more of a rant. Apologies