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What’s
next?
by Wale
Adenuga
One of
the songs that has had tremendous impact in my life and
still has even now is We are the world, recorded and
released in 1985. Yes, I know some of the lyrics are not
theologically correct. Like the portion sang by Michael
Jackson, God has showed us, by turning stone to bread….
Never mind, they thought God did. But He didn’t. He could
have. But He didn’t need to. Anyway, what makes that song so
special to me is the cause of the song. 45 famous
artists came together, an act that was facilitated by Harry
Belafonte. The cause was to help raise millions of dollars
for emergency assistance in Africa. They succeeded.
Another
person who inspires me is Bono, the U2 rock star. His work
and passion has resulted in debt forgiveness for developing
nations to the tune of $10 billion dollars. He said
something I have placed in front, not at the back of my mind, “We cannot fix
every problem, but the ones we can we must.” These days, we
see UNICEF and several other humanitarian organizations
selecting sports and entertainment stars as ambassadors for
their causes. The one reason why Denzel Washington, Pele and Kanu are
such ambassadors is due to the influence they have and
wield.
The
question is how do we choose to wield our God given
influence? We can either wield it to bring about more fame
for ourselves or we can use it to bring hope to those in
despair. It’s a choice. How do you play?
The
church needs to wake up to the realization that music plays
an important role in turning the world to Jesus. In
addition, it can play a vital role in having Jesus touch the
world. But we are not going to attain that potential if we
think all a choir and worship ministry is called to do is
just lead worship and do one or two special numbers (whoever
came up with that tag?) in church on Sunday.
Ever
wondered why we need a choir in church? Here are a few
thoughts why we need these guys who wear robes or white and
black on Sundays. One, they exist in my opinion not to lead
us into God’s presence, but to bring God’s presence down and
facilitate an encounter between God and his people.
Secondly, they exist as a unit to share fellowship because
of the unique gifts they each have. They exist to pray and
worship together. God speaks to them as a unit. It’s a
family that God may decide to plant a bruised and sensitive
songwriter or singer. [Psalm 68:6] And they exist to have
fun together too! Thirdly, they exist to communicate God’s
truth, essence and beauty with brevity in a way that one
hour of preaching can’t. Music in church either attracts or
repels people. Irrespective of the anointing oozing out of
the man of God, if the music is not tight and the worship
team does not have depth to consistently sustain a young seeker
for weeks, he might go back home or to another church. Why,
we are a sight and sound generation. Fourthly, the choir and worship team dispense
the easiest take-aways in church. People may not remember
the message, but they would most likely the song.
But then
our activities in church are not an end in itself. All the
shouting, jumping and excitement in church is to inspire us
to do works of service out there. [Ephesians 4:12] I’ve been
to numerous churches, and by and large, the music I hear is
tight in most (not all) places. Can we please allow this
music to have an effect outside the sanctuary?
You’ve
probably heard of the millions of dollars raised by
musicians and entertainment stars during benefit concerts to
aid persons who became disadvantaged and displaced by
natural disasters like Hurricane Katrina and the Tsunami.
That was good. But the church in Nigeria does not need to
wait for a Katrina or Tsunami to be a sensitive and good
neighbour. There’s so much to do. There
are so many people in need. What they need is concrete help not
prayers. In fact, Jesus, does not even want us to pray for
them, he wants us to feed them, clean them, wash them and
send them to school [Matt 25: 34-44] Spending so much time
in church sometimes dulls our sensitivity to the hardship
people are going through. And what’s more, we apply lots of
our faith in trying to get that personal breakthrough. It’s
one thing to get a breakthrough. It’s another thing to enjoy
it. Okay, you’ve gotten your dream car but we have
nightmarish roads. Halleluyah, you’ve got your mansion
but
the best landmark we can use to describe how to get to
Rehoboth Place is the refuse dump 50 yards from your
masterpiece! It should not only be well for me. It should be
well for others too.
I sense
the Holy Spirit is beginning to nudge worship ministries
along these lines of thought. I know about Darlene Zschech
and the Hillsong team doing a work in Rwanda. Tommy Walker,
writer of songs like He’s turned my mourning and
He knows my name after a trip to the Philippines in
1997, God put a passion in his heart to serve the forgotten
children of the world. My friends, Bob and Kathy Fitts
for instance through a series of worship concerts, helped to raise
funds to buy a tractor for a Christian widow whose farmland
and equipment were destroyed by landmines in Kosovo and also
a new car for another elderly Christian widow who had
limited income and whose former car had nearly given up the
ghost.
May be
its age. Perhaps it’s the Spirit. But I am starting to be
more concerned about people. This year we commenced action
on an idea that the Lord inspired in me for a while. That’s
WorshipforChange which is simply a benefit concert. We had 2
of these concerts this year, one for the Downs’ Syndrome
Association of Nigeria and then the other for the abandoned
and physically challenged children at the Hearts of Gold
Hospice. We were able to raise over N1.1 million naira in
cash for both organizations. God also graced us as we
enjoyed corporate sponsorship to the tune of over N2.5
million.
We didn’t
start big. Over 4 years ago, we had an evening of worship in
church. It was a benefit concert we had to help a little boy
who had a hole in the heart and was due to travel to India
[or was it Israel, I can’t recall now] for surgery. We
helped raise N60, 000.00 for that lad. To the best of my
knowledge, he’s still alive and I’m happy that God used
Fountain of Praise to bring hope to that family no matter
how infinitesimal it was.
There are
people in need all around us. Sometimes, it’s our own faith
and effort that will help jumpstart them into their destiny.
I believe if choirs look and work at bigger pictures such as
these, wielding their influence and gifts in this direction, there
will be less civil wars in our choirs and worship teams.
Like Max Lucado wrote, fishermen only fight when they don’t
fish.
Check out Wale's blog at
http://waleadenuga.blogspot.com
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