| 
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
Well, the mid-point in the semester is here and I already feel like I've been at it for six months! School can be such a drag...
I was talking to a fellow student today about my current situation -- he asked me where I was working; I told him I had just finished up at the church I'd been at and was looking for a new place of service and had a few leads. We were talking about the process of finding a new place of service and how that it seemed that churches around a seminary had very different perspectives than churches with some distance from the "ivory towers."
It seems that churches near a seminary have much higher credential standards for their prospective staff than churches not near one. Whether or not this ought to be is really not worth debating; it's just a fact. But another circumstance that seems to be appearing more and more often in the worship minister "hunt" is one of seminarian discrimination. That is, some churches actually shun prospective worship minister candidates, ostensibly because they're all trained for "high church" worship and can't possibly relate to the average church trying so desperately to bring in the lost. "How," they seem to think, "is this classically trained music guy possibly going to communicate with our people where they are?"
I find this mentality very discouraging. Not from the standpoint of my own employment issues (I am admittedly on the hunt myself), but from one of lack (or refusal) of musical knowledge. It is true that worship pastors-to-be are studying predominantly classical music at seminary. The notion that this is all he is equipped to handle, however, is really without merit. I'm not complaining about my situation; I'm concerned about this apparent willful ignorance. I use this term in the literal sense: a refusal to be knowledgeable about the issue.
In the future I'm going to further develop this "complaint." As I see it, the attitudes held on both sides of the matter are at the heart of the worship "conundrum" the church is facing these days.
In Christ,
Michael Mays
March 19, 2003