Artists are fussy.
They can be unstructured.
They may appear disconnected in personal relationships.
They most certainly take things too personally. Every time.
They attach their personal significance and self-worth to their art form. They can’t help it.
They live in either heaven or hell. Never in-between.
They’re depressed much of the time.
And for these reasons, I believe we should strongly consider the ongoing extermination of all artists in the local church. They just make things too difficult. But there’s a problem. Apparently, in most countries, killing artists is murder, which makes it illegal. The last thing we’d want is for church leaders to end up in prison.
Rest assured. I’m proposing an alternative plan. Instead of physically killing artists, what if we killed something more important? What if we killed their hearts? Yes, that would make more sense. Now we’re onto something. Let’s murder Rembrandt. Here’s my plan:
1. Give Artists Responsibility Without Authority
Artists hate it when they’re given a top-down responsibility, but not given the authority to make key decisions along the way. Tell them that the Sunday worship services are theirs to pull off (responsibility), but maintain the authority to dump an artistic element from the script at the last minute (authority). Never mind that Jesus gave His disciples “all the authority in heaven and earth” (Matthew 28). He was only talking about reaching the world with the gospel, not a worship service. This kills the artist faster than anything.
2. Overwhelm Artists With Administrative Responsibilities
Artists aren’t very good with administrative responsibilities, so make sure to saddle them with ministry minutia. Ask them for weekly reports about how they’re spending their time. Make sure they attend lots of nightly meetings that have nothing to do with their specific ministry. Create tiredness in their hearts. Nothing impairs the creative process like a good dose of overwhelming, unending administrative responsibility.
3. Publicly Embarrass Artists
I’ve never met an artist who welcomes critique. Most, however, can handle critique, as long as it’s done privately (the kind of one-on-one critique Jesus encourages in Matthew 18). If you really want to kill the heart of an artist, try critiquing the prior weekend’s worship services with the entire staff and/or leadership team. Give the team freedom to discuss song choice, song style, and anything else the artists spent 40 hours preparing. Better yet, create a “Worship Committee” designed to regulate what happens in worship. Put disgruntled musicians and sour ex-pastors on that committee. Following this process week after week will ensure the death of the artist’s heart.
Wait a minute. We need to rinse off the sarcasm and get to the point.
Artists in the church are diamonds in the rough. If we get rid of them because of the way we treat them, we lose the potential creative impact on this generation. That’s not an overstatement. Again, we WILL lose the potential creative impact of Jesus Christ on this generation. The sermon is important, but so is the unique contribution of the artist to a church body. Don’t murder Rembrandt, embrace him. When the sermon and the creative arts flow together, it’s like watching a beautiful dance unfold! It’s truly amazing.
For what it’s worth, no one ever left one of our worship services humming the sermon.
Gary Molander lives with his wife and three daughters in Clovis, CA. Gary is the co-owner of Floodgate Productions and leads worship at his church.