Pay On Stage Or Free To See?
For 9 years at Sandals Church not one musician was paid to play on the stage.
And I would argue that we had some of the best music on Sunday morning in Southern California.
That’s just the way it was.
Now it is one of the ways I pay the bills and feed my babies.
I get paid to play.
I don’t think there is a right or wrong answer.
I honestly believe your own church has to find it’s mojo.
But there are some strong opinions on both sides of the camp.
A few questions…
Los
RAIN IT DOWN
This is a great question to ask. Personally as a non-staff member at a church working 40 hours a week on top of my 20-30 per week that I am putting into my craft as a musician and worship leader I have taken the stance of “Yes, musicians should be paid”***. But there is a catch. Because I dont know if I am a norm that is putting in this extra time and energy. I view myself as a Professional in my craft and calling as a worship leader, musician, vocalist, theologian etc. I have the education to back it. However, I am awaiting God’s timing in my return to full time Church work.
Great questions. If you know anyone who wants to hire a Canadian down there in the states let me know man. HAHA!
M
If you’re inclined to make your living as a musician, you’ve made a choice based on the economic potential of your chosen career. Many secular 1-hit wonders can be found asking “do you want fries with that?” But I believe the greatest musicians in the world do not have musical careers – most because they weighed the economic potential and chose otherwise. Worship leaders serving the church in other diverse roles during the week certainly deserve their pay. The rest of us would only rob our heavenly treasure chest by taking money for using our God given gifts – we would also rob ourselves of the true joy that standing on a Sunday morning stage brings…
I can’t imagine getting paid for what I do, but I’m not too proud to admit that I don’t have the talent that you and many others have. I’ve been to churches with paid worship leaders though and I honestly can’t say it was any better of a worship experience than those who have volunteers. I would argue that my home church in Indiana has some of the best music I’ve ever heard coming out of a church and they’re not getting paid.
But different strokes for different folks, I guess. If it works for you, it works for me.
It really depends on the level of commitment the church is asking of it’s musicians. At my church, some of the musicians that play, are “professionals” (i.e., music is their full time gig). They get paid. Some of the musicians serve in creative capacities full time and are on staff in a position where playing and leading on Sunday morning is in their job description. And, then you have guys like me. I’ve got a job in the secular world and every time I get an email from the staff asking me if I’m available to help lead on a Sunday morning I’m breaking my neck to rearrange my schedule so that I can be available to serve. The fact that they feed us breakfast and lunch is way more payment than I have ever expected from them.
Like anything else it really seems to follow “supply and demand.” People that play that are pro’s are in short supply (relatively speaking). People that are willing to give of themselves in a full time creative ministry position, giving direction to the church, and worship culture are asked to do A LOT. These folks get paid. People that want to get up there on stage and play because they love to play and serve and have the talent and heart to do so, especially at a church the size of the one that I go to, are a plenty. So, they can get rocking talent and people with amazing hearts for God without having to pay them.
Me, I’d play every week for the biscuits and a gravy they give us on Sunday mornings and never expect anything more. It’s an interesting question though.
If you had asked me this 2 years ago, I would have said NO! Heckfire NO! I even remember my husband and I getting in an argument because his small church (less than 100 members) paid the vocalist every week.
Now, I am torn. I think it depends and I am not as rigid as before. Full time 40 hours a week, planning the worship portion of the service-having a great praise band and experience…yeah, compensate!
Once a week practice for an hour that you may or may not come to and an hour of practice on Sunday. Nah. Some days, I am not even sure I consider that a decent tithe (but I am irritable this morning)
I think it depends on the time commitment that is asked. If the musicians are expected to give lots of time beyond a rehearsal and time playing in a worship service, then I’d say some compensation is in order.
I agree with Marshall…working 40 hours a week, putting in 20-30 more hours planning, directing and leading worship, on top of family responsibilities and seminary training – it definitely helps.
BUT, it doesn’t really matter what WE think, only what God’s Word says. The Old Testament Levites were paid for doing what they did well – leading worship. For some, yes, it is a volunteer ministry; for others, however, it’s what helps bring home the bacon!
The Sistine Chapel. Beethoven. Bach. Mozart. Handel’s “Messiah”. I believe all exist because the church paid those artists and it made them free to devote themselves to their work. Music and art, at it’s nest, it’s hard and hard work. It may also be rewarding and fun, like any other job, but to be truly great you have to do it fulltime – and devote your life to it. It’d be nice where possible for the church to employ a fair days work for a fair days wages in all areas. Sometimes that perfume poured out on the Lord should be the best available.
Perhaps more employed musicians would reduce the need for “ready to go” Hillsong or Passion choruses, because they’ve have time to work up something for their churches.
great thoughts! so true. it’s almost like the church’s are doing what the schools are (in my area (california)) and canceling financial support of the arts by making “worship leaders” be pastors, youth leaders, volunteer coordinators, or work another job to support themselves. They end up being responsible for “non-artist” duties, which competes with the artist within and takes away time dedicated to creating, limiting what they can bring to the church.
i say the pastor should sell his jag, get a prius, and pay some of his most creative volunteers.
That is all;)
My opinion of your first question is that if you have a church with members who are willing to serve and have the ability to play average or better then there is no reason to hire musicians to play. Your church members are your family. If you deny them a chance to use their gifting to support the church, worship God and lead others into his presence because you want to pay someone who might play better so the “worship sounds better” then something is wrong.
I’m a full-time worship leader. I have volunteers that I work with, and I desperately wish I could pay them something, anything. We just don’t have the budget right now as a church. Once we add a 3rd service, we’ll provide breakfast and/or lunch for the team, depending on the time of the services.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with paying your musicians/vocalists, as long as they have a heart for what they’re doing. IMO the worship team should be made up of worshippers, not just a great player looking for a weekend gig.
However… when I’m in a pinch and I need a player after one of my volunteers can’t make it? I don’t care who it is, as long as they can play our stuff, and he’ll get paid for helping us out.
Funny thing to add: I had to ask a bass player that was filling in for us at the last minute to not wear his t-shirt that said “F— This” on Sunday morning, haha!
This brings up another interesting question … one which I can go either way on as well. What about paying people who haven’t made a commitment to Christ? Should we pay these guys to lead us in worship?
That’s a sticky question, for sure. I don’t have non-believers play regularly. 99% of the time, I won’t have somebody be a part of the team unless they accept Christ. Occasionally, however, I’ve had someone fill in that is an unbeliever, and then they’ll start getting connected to what’s going on at the church, ie. youth group, youth worship, etc. Through that avenue, they have a chance to feel accepted by Christ and his church. Again, I wouldn’t do it all the time, but I don’t think it’s a bad thing from time to time.
Aaron, fantastic point, one that I think many miss. Lots of comments look at this issue from the perspective of the musician, and whether or not they “expect” compensation or work full time at it. Instead, view it from the perspective of the church, like you do. You’d love to pay them for all of the hard effort they do, as a respectful “thank you”. It’s a matter of respect, blessings, and budget.
If it is financially feasible, and the musicians are truly blessed in their gifts, then show them the respect to compensate them somehow for their donation to the church. Too many musicians are “expected” to volunteer 30-40 hours a week at a church, without so much as a thank you. That is an issue of thankfulness and respect that needs to be addressed. Thank your volunteers!
I am not a worship leader and don’t play music in front of the church. However, I do apply my musicianship at the sound board. I had have tried to bring pro level quality to the job for years without pay…however it stopped being an offering and became a career…and I had to pull back. Now I am pulling out my bass and going to attempt to grow in a new area of service. Practice practice practice….
I have been on both sides of the pay situation as a church musician. It is very easy (as Bob said) for it to go from an offering to a career, but I will say one thing… when I went through dark time in my faith – when I HATED God with everything in me – the only thing that kept me in church was that I was paid to play and still needed the money. Otherwise i would have said “See ya” and never gone to church again.
In most cases the person giving the sermon is being paid, so why not the musician?
For me it comes down to a question of where the church’s heart is. Too many times music is put on a pedestal and given too high a priority. It becomes all about the preformance and entertaining the people who come in the doors. On the other side is a church that offers to God true, deep worship with all their skills and imperfections. If a church’s heart is in the right place and has the resources, then paying musicians should not be an issue.
Someone nameless above mentioned the Sistine Chapel…but many times in the Roman Catholic Church in europe, things like that were done to show off. If musicians are hired just so the band at a church can “show off” then motivations need to be examined.
There’s nothing wrong with excellence in music, but use volunteers from within one’s own congregation whenever available. Allow people to use their gifts for God – if you choose to pay them – great! But don’t seek out professional musicians just so that music can be exalted rather than the One to whom music is a sweet, sweet sound.
Let me counter with a question: Should the church pay for a plumber? or use volunteers?
I think the answer is as simple as that – if you have QUALIFIED volunteers – let it be there ministry – and be respectful of their time/expenses as volunteers. If you do NOT have what you need in your volunteer pool – go hire a pro. And if you can do it – hire an unbeliever and let your passion for worship be the reason they want to know what this is all about – and lead them to Christ.
I would rather have a volunteer who is really qualified – BUT if the toilet needs fixed – I don’t let it stay broken because I don’t have a volunteer!
I hear that but then should anyone in the church be paid? Pretty sure you could find people to lead youth group, preach, etc.
I think it’s great to have strong volunteers in the church, but I think those asking people to volunteer should also take pause to remember that they receive a check each week…and a check that is brought through the tithes of those same volunteers.
I sing on our praise team, no pay…and I’m okay with that. But sometimes it does rub when those that are telling me how much I should volunteer, it’s an opportunity, etc. are the ones being paid.
How are you taking care of those volunteers? And I don’t mean a once a year dinner (put on by volunteers)…I mean how does the bible tell us we should take care of them? Do they have need or do they have plenty? If they have need I would hope leadership quickly recognizes it and takes care of it. Or maybe it’s not a need and just a nice personal thank you. iPad comes out, buy one for the guy that volunteers every week, do you know how far that would go? (and I don’t say that just in case our worship pastor is reading)
I am cautious about paying for musicians as I’ve seen too many churches turn praise & worship into a concert…and I think that’s a scary and slippery slope. But on the same hand I know that the bible tells us to pay a worker his worth…and I know if it’s a pastor or guest speaker we expect everyone to open their wallets wide open.
Overall…I think we could just have better balance.
Some good points here. And, as for me, I have a very good relationship with my volunteers. I take care of them in a lot of different ways because I do truly appreciate them and care for them.
I even made sure at the end of the budget year that we cut a few checks to our volunteers when there was some funding left over in our account for the paid players. This was given with the deepest expressions of thanks and this gesture went a long way!
Also when we made the move to hire some people to fill needed positions – we approached the issue with and through the volunteers before we did anything. We made the decision to do it a team decision (although that step wasn’t “necessary”).
The slippery slope argument only goes so far with me. I had to really sell this issue to get some really key spots filled – at the same time our church pays a HVAC contractor full price without asking for additional bids – and he is one of the highest priced in town. The fact that they do not ask him to donate his services helped me get my paid players. Today the raise in quality has expanded the number of volunteers who are in the worship ministry and the paid players have come to Christ. It has worked pretty well for me.
1 Timothy 5:18 – “For the Scripture says, “Do not muzzle the ox while it is treading out the grain,” and “The worker deserves his wages.”" Even though it’s meant for paying pastors, I don’t think other positions should be left out of it. Although, like Paul, if they have another job that supports them, I think they should be gracious and free up those funds for other ministries.
The only musician I’ve ever seen paid was the pianist, since they were more often than not classically trained, and required more time than others for rehearsals, choir practices, even children’s performances. I would be open to paying musicians, but probably not outside musicians – rather, pay people who have the same heart for music and church and worship as our church does.
Sure, the church should pay musicians/plumbers/(insert ministry here). And the church should encourage, empower, and edify an army of volunteers for all ministries as well. I have served as a volunteer musician at my church for well over a decade. From 2000-2005 I led the music team as a volunteer. When I handed that off to our current music director (she is paid), the church gave my wife and me a voucher for a night at a bed & breakfast. I continue to serve as a musician and leader, still on a volunteer basis. I think it’s important to put paid staff in key positions as necessary; but there should always be opportunity for people to give gifts of their time. It is a tremendous opportunity for spiritual growth.
Being in the ministry for a number of years paid and unpaid at times, I think it all comes down to what the church can actually do finically. I don’t believe in trying to “get a deal” on someone who would give there services for free. If the church can afford it and the person is talented and committed enough I say be a blessing and get that person paid.
I think it all depends on the ministry, and there has to be consistency. If a musician is getting paid for being on stage and puts in 20-30 hours worth of practice, what about the people who work behind the scenes that put in the same amount of time to make sure service runs smooth.
If an organization pays for excellence in 1 area, it should be consistent and pay for that same level in all areas.
I’m not so concerned about if they get paid or not… it’s about their hearts for Jesus.
At my church the musicians get paid (but not the singer.. which I don’t understand) and not many of them really seem to have a heart for Jesus… it seems that its more about showing up playing then getting a pay check.. like any other gig they do. And people aren’t going to worship that well, with that kind of leading…
However.. On another note… my church also recently fired the janitorial staff because they want the ‘volunteers’ to do all the cleaning up after everyone. I don’t know about anyone else, but I already volunteer everywhere… I don’t have the patients to clean up after people…
So… you can afford to pay musicians that don’t love Jesus, and wouldn’t be here if you weren’t paying them.. but you can’t afford to pay janitors who do love Jesus, and are still at the church after you fired them? there’s a problem with that logic…
So, I say if your musicians are there leading people and loving Jesus. go for it and pay them.. if their just there for the paycheck either cut them or the paycheck.
It can go both ways, and I’ve seen it go bad/good both ways.
On the one hand, I was part of a team of all volunteers, and, honestly, there was a total lack of commitment. The worship suffered, and our growth suffered as well.
On the other hand, I’ve seen talented musicians move to different churches because of pay alone. In that sense, paying musicians can become more like a gig to them than their act of worship.
Right now, we have a paid worship leader who does all the behind the scenes stuff in preparation for Sun morning and an unpaid rotation of volunteers who have the privilege of serving on the team. It seems to work well for us right now, but like I said, it’s not so black and white.
Personally, I believe that if it’s a professional musician who’s been asked by the church to sing, then most definitely he should be paid. If the church asked a member who was an accountant to handle its books, he’d get paid, right? As far as I’m concerned, it’s the same thing.
Now on the other hand, if either the musician or the accountant wanted to donate his services to the church for free, I’d find that highly admirable.
There are plenty of reasons to pay or not to pay, and whether you do or not should influence how often you call on people to play (big commitment should be compensated some how).
BUT, whatever the church’s calling is in the community needs to be achieved somehow, and if the best strategy to achieve that calling is to pay or not to pay, the church should do it.
It’s about the movement God wants to achieve in the community through that particular church, and if that vision is communicated appropriately, the people of the church will support it. Unless they aren’t in it for the vision, in which case, there are other churches out there with other callings that may be more appropriate for that person.
At my church, our strategy for fulfilling our calling is to do venues. Some musicians get paid, and others don’t. MOST understand this and serve diligently regardless of where they’re placed. I think our ideal would be to NOT pay, but we couldn’t achieve our objective if we didn’t.
I think it comes down to this, Is a person using their gifting or their talents? Are we talking about worship or entertainment? Are we talking about Christ-centered or man-centered? Are we talking about Christ-exhalting or man-stimulating? Are we talking about people who have been discipled to the point of a corperate worship service being an extension of a daily spiritual walk OR are we talking about manipulating a crowd of people with a sensual experience that leaves unregenerate people believing they have had a spiritual experience?
On a sidebar, I’m astounded by how many people who relate worship and quality of worship soley on emotional musical experiences.
In the mean time… dust on the Bible (the place where Worship springs from) and time to check the latest easy read pep talk book from one of the publishing houses.
so… do you believe in paying pastors? just curious, since all of your questions could be asked in that scenario also.
We have one paid musician and that is the Worship Leader. He operates as a pastor first, musician second. The rest of the band is unpaid. We are fortunate enough to have enough people that we do not need to pay anyone to make sure they are always there, although there was a time that our drummer played every Sunday for about 3 months. I think the Worship Leader should be paid, as he/she does work throughout the week prepping the sets, etc., as well as doing all the scheduling, try-outs, and everything else. The musicians that play on a weekend are there to serve the church, and luckily, we have never had anyone who isn’t willing to do that for free.
As many others have said, it depends on the level of commitment being asked by the church. It is also the only area of the church where talent and outside skill is required other than the pastorate. Having been both paid and unpaid I see the need for both paid and non-paid positions.
In my case in one church I played the piano with the band with a one hour rehearsal and worship on Sunday. This definitely qualifies as volunteer hours.
In my current church, (where I’m not paid but thinking about taking it up with the pastor), I have been asked to play and provide vocals EVERY Sunday, EVERY special service (Thanksgiving Eve, Christmas Eve, , New Year’s Eve, Day of Prayer, outside events, special prayer services), play two months out of the year we have choir practice, prepare a special for Communion every week, teach the kids the VBS music every summer, lead worship once a month and assist in planning the weekly line-up. I am now putting in an average of 30 hours a week. This does not count the endless hours of researching new music and mp3’s, reading worship literature and practicing at home.
However, our other volunteers play once a month in the rotation so they put in approximately two hours a month towards the band. This I think is an opportunity to volunteer.
I feel strongly that you must be very careful not to overwork volunteers especially in the music ministry, otherwise you risk burning them out. If a church or pastor is asking a volunteer to give more than 10+ hours a week in service, it is now falling into the category of paying leaders of the church as taught in the New Testament.
Great thoughts…I am now a full time worship leader for my church. But 4 years ago when we started the church, I made sure that we could pay our musicians. We started paying them 25 a week, which was NOTHING compared to all of the load in, load out, rehearse, wake up early, drive 30 miles and things like that that I was asking of them.
Now, because of growth in our church (praise Jesus) and the fact that we are in a permanent building I still ask a lot of our band.(and they get paid more) We rehearse on Monday nights, I give them the songs a week in advance, they are EXPECTED to know every song inside and out come Monday for rehearsal. Then we record each song and I put them on planning center so that they can rehearse with EXACTLY what we will be playing that coming sunday, then sunday we do a “pre run through”, where we go over the songs, then a full live run through (video, audio, lighting etc…) Then lead 2 to 3 services on sunday…
So with all of that expectation I am able to pay them, but in return by paying them, they look at it as a greater responsibility. It’s kind of like the old saying “you get what you pay for.”
One more thought. I used to just play guitar at a church where I just played guitar. But all they asked of me was to show up sunday morning, get the chord chart, play through it once and lead the church in one service. If that is all a church is asking of musicians, then no I don’t think they should be paid. Just my thoughts!
I have just one thought…
if you hire musicians, does it leave a place for volunteers who feel called to join and lead?
I sing with our praise team, which, all musicians, including our worship leader are volunteers. We have some of the best music around, led by God and His Holy Spirit…is it professional? Sometimes yes, sometimes oh no…..but is it for God, is it worshipful? Always.
Am I a full time professional musician..nope. Am I a trained musician…absolutely(at least my college transcripts say so). Do I need to be to lead worship? Nope, I just need God’s gifts and a heart for Him.
So I guess my other question is…
Does the music have to be professional level for your church family to worship our Lord…I believe that all God wants is our whole hearts…our first fruits, our best…He doesn’t need it to be anything else. KWIM?
now, if you can’t find someone to play anything, and you need a organist or a pianist or a keyboard person…or guitars(any instrument) that you need…well, then, by all means pay them. Perhaps this will open ones heart to our Lord…
Blessings on all who serve…paid or unpaid.
I can see what you are saying Mary Anne, and here is my thought. The church as a whole seems to always be behind in technology, culture, EVERYTHING. And if we are worshiping the God who created all things, shouldn’t we give him our best?????? Which means more rehearsal time, the best musicians you can find, (with in reach) I just hate to see people say “church is just kind of boring, or lame, or the music sounds bad, or old.” We are worshiping a GREAT God, and we should give him great things….
BTW I am not saying traditional churches are a bad thing by any means, it takes all types of churches to reach all types of people…
Eric,
Thank you for your thoughtful response. We do have some of the best musicians in our city on our team, all unpaid, many who are professional musicians, that choose to serve our Lord, offering our first fruits to Him. Our music certainly is not boring(in fact, we have been doing a lot of disturbing and disrupting…just ask the board of directors/elders at my church…not so happy with us pushing the status quo!)
So, we, the members of my team give our best…practicing at least 3 hours at week, after coming to rehersal prepared…and a team of us meets to worship plan, with our pastors…
Our worship leaders describes us as “Charlie Brown Worship”…all pulling together giving God our best. He heard this at the Natl Worship Leaders conference last year…and it has seemed to stick…
So, I guess my point is, offer your best…always…and if you need to hire help to offer your best…do.
Blessings on your worship…
Yeah, for me, it comes down to how involved everyone is… and more importantly, what the congregation can afford. I play drums for free. They can’t afford to pay me, so I’m cool with it, delighted in fact.
Opportunity cost is where it’s at. Is paying the musicians the best use of the money? If so, go for it – if not, don’t.
I’d say in general, playing music is a ministry just like teaching the sermon, so any of my arguments for paying the pastor would also apply to paying musicians.
-Marshall Jones Jr.
This is one thing I have thought about for a while: the service in most churches is about half worship, half message. Why would you pay the guy giving the message and not pay the worship team? I have been in situations where as a worship leader I have gotten paid and not gotten paid, and I will never make payment a requirement – BUT it just does not make sense that two people who prepare and devote an equal amount of time to lead people closer to God would get different compensation for their time.
I can understand that payment can turn bad, cause then you can get people leading worship who don’t actually care about leading worship and just care about the money – BUT if that is the case…why did you bring them to come lead worship in the first place?
Lastly, if I prepare songs, organize rehearsal, devote time and prayer into leading people into a better connection with our Lord, drive 60 miles round trip, and am at your church for 8 hours on a Sunday….why can you not pay me at least for gas and a meal? Worship leaders are not made of money.
great question.
seem to be two primary reasons churches pay musicians: quality, and because they are professionals. (or some combination of the two)
problem with quality is that professionals from every single area will usually do a better job than a volunteer. 9 times out of 10 at least.
and regarding professionals, we have professional, college-educated school teachers working in the kids areas.
my fear with it comes to paying people on a contract basis, whether it’s worship or graphics…we do so to the detriment of developing someone or equipping someone in the body to use their spiritual gifts and/or talents. The Bible seems pretty clear that each part of the body has a function, and it seems strange to pay the ear but not the eye.
I’ve been involved in Christian music for a long, long time. The history of this for me began when our Church orchestra needed to fill out some of the parts on a printed score for which we did not have someone who played those particular instruments. If they could get someone who was also a Christ-follower, that person was sometimes willing to donate their time. But that didn’t always happen.
Then it was expanded to include a number of full-time Christian musicians who were centered on a local, Christian-owned recording studio. The justification was that we were pulling them out of their home churches, or that they were possibly giving up other opportunities.
But then they decided to include a guy who was part of that group, but also attended our church. The circle just kept widening. As a sidenote, this church did a number of “special productions” each year for which they produced an independent profit and loss statement. Just like a business. No wonder they didn’t mind writing the checks.
Despite this, in all the debates and discussions I’ve had about this over the years, a greater concern has always been bringing in professional ‘ringers’ who were not Christ-followers. They were always instrumentalists, however; though I’m willing to bet that someone reading this has a story to tell about a guest vocalist who was not a believer.
Very tough question with no easy answers.
Its likely each situation is individually different and all that have responded, have very valid points.
Mine? I experienced salvation 16 years ago and realized the purpose for my guitar and vocal gifts were to be exclusively for the Kingdom. This is not necessarily the case for all Christians who are musically gifted, but it was for me. When I read in the Word about the Levites and their musical/vocal worship service in the temple, I believed that was the essence of my calling. Rather like a modern day Levite (albeit, female), ministering to the Lord each time I picked my guitar up – whether in my living room or in a corporate setting.
During these 16 years, I’ve been recognized in that capacity and been given many opportunities to serve as a volunteer. In addition to working full time in a very physically demanding field in nursing (I’m 50+), I generally serve voluntarily 3-4 times a week:
1. Sunday pre-service worship & prayer
2. Weekly Bible study (except summers)
3. Weekly small group gatherings
4. Weekly intercession
I’ve never expected or asked to be paid. There have been unexpected love offerings on occasion – which have always been a much-needed blessing. Additionally, let me be clear that my church has been very benevolent in my times of dire financial need (since a husband of 20 years left a few years ago.)
Nevertheless . .
Since I don’t have a high paying job, it would be great if the church could cover some of my worship-related expenses for things like: strings, or needed service on my guitar? Or, since all of my preparation is done at home, perhaps even (yes!) a laptop for managing worship music files and overhead projection that could be “ready to go” and take to whichever venue I’m playing at? Perhaps sending me to some conferences or workshops to sharpen my skills? Is this over the top? I don’t know, I’m praying about these things for my self and whether or not I should just be asking, in stead of waiting to be offered these things.
Bottom line, I’ll do it for free until I go home, or the Lord returns, but if the church wants to help me with any kind of financial resources, I’ll very gratefully accept!
Blessings to all!
I help lead worship and honestly never knew until recently that anyone got paid to lead worship at a church. We had a few really great musicians come play with us but when they learned that we didn’t pay, they left. They were getting paid some good money at other places so I don’t really blame them for thinking it was crazy that we didn’t pay.
A few of the leaders, the ones who run stuff for the worship teams at the various HPC campuses, do get paid something but 99% of us don’t.
I honestly think it’s better not to be paid because volunteers do it for the love of it, not for the money. BUT I also know some people need to make a living at it, so my view could be wrong..or just based on where I’m at now.
Man this is tough. I get paid tp direct the choir. I pay outside musicians to come in and play with the choir (flute, etc.). But what about when a member of our congregation plays? As a trumpet player it always bothered me when I was playing for my church and they payed others to come in and fill other spots that we didn’t already have. Now as a leader, this is actually quite tough. Before leading I would get a call from another church to play on Easter and get payed $200. I then had to decide whether or not to take it for the $$ or play at my church for free.
I have no good answer. But I do understand full well the challenge that this poses.
I’m kinda riding the fence on this debate. I think it has a more to do with location. My last church was in a major metro area and we paid players to raise the bar musically. There were a lot of guys who would have volunteered but didn’t have the opportunity because they weren’t on the same level as the paid players. I’m currently serving in a more rural community and we’re always hurting for players. Currently we’ve got 3 full-time peeps we pay to lead at each of our campuses but the three bands are made up solely of volunteers cause historically our church policy has always been not to pay our players. We’ll pay a guest artist or a sub if we need to fill a spot in a pinch but we’re running our teams with vols … and we’ve got decent sound to boot. If we got in a bind and needed to staff a band I’m sure it’s something we’d do because we don’t have a deep pool of musicians out here in the sticks but paying would be more out of necessity than anything else. I guess what I’m trying to say is if you’ve got volunteers who are willing to serve use em’ but if you’re hurting for players I don’t see anything wrong with contracting some musicians … at least for a time.
pay or not…people need to be using there talents and abilities for God. I now serve as a full time paid youth pastor…but when I was first brought on I was part time. I have been blessed to minister in both situations. I believe any paid musician or staff member needs to earn their keep per-say…not slacking…but ultimately, our motives need to be pure..paid or not!
If one day I have the ability to higher and pay even a part time worship leader for my youth group or church to assist me in ministry..I will. I love to lead worship. I write music. But in my role at the church I am the youth pastor 1st…even though I believe God has called me to both minister to students and lead worship.
Our worship leaders Jeremy and Ragan are awesome. They also serve in other departments on the church staff but they are the leaders! Me and my wife serve under them in the context of our church.
I believe being a paid staff member is awesome and such a blessing and still yet challenging. For me it allows me to have more time to invest in what I am doing…but I am called 1st! And we all are called…pay check or not! We have to walk it out! And do all that we do for his Glory!
Mandate, no. Conscience issue, maybe:
I Cor 9:11 “If we have sown unto you spiritual things, is it a great thing if we shall reap your carnal things?”
I truly believe musicians should not be paid at their local church. It seems like we have gotten a little ways out of tradition and musicians think they need to be paid to do the Lord’s work. I for one love volunteering my time as a musician at our local church. If I was upset about the commitment or time, then I probably would not be up there with the rest of them praising God each weekend, and bringing that praise to others in the congregation.
Now, if you are invited to another church as a guest artist, and they decide to pay you, Great. You are going above your normal commitment you decide to give in your own local church. I however make sure I give a portion of that back to their church for Missions, because I feel when I am invited to another church to play and get paid, that is a Mission I am on. Therefor, I give back to their church growing in Missions.
After all, we are told to be Disciples in our journey. When we humble ourselves and give of our talents we are then Disciplining.
Think about your pastor in this example, would you want him to say I have to be paid to give you a message eof Hope? I think that would turn people off.
Just my opinions…
Your pastor is a volunteer?
Shawn, I think your views are coming from hearing one side….Again we pay our musicians. But I have NEVER told someone that they would be getting paid until a month into them playing. This way, I KNOW that they are playing for the right reasons, and it allows them to be served by the church as well as them serving the church. If you really spend time with your band, you will KNOW when someone is playing for the right or wrong reasons. I flat out asked a guy that had been playing with me for two years where his motives were in playing, because he started slacking in rehearsals and other things, and he was honest and said that he was playing because he was getting paid. To make a long story short I found someone else…
You also mentioned tradition. It is also “tradition” to have pews, pullpits, chiors, alters, and all of these things, but as time changes so do the methods of the church. It is not right OR wrong to pay musicians, but I think once you start saying it is tradition not to pay musicians in church then there may be something a little wrong with that.
i doubt your pastor says you have to pay me for your message of hope, but i am guessing that he doesn’t do it for free either way.
I used to be pretty black and white about this but have found a lot of grey area the last year or so. We used to pay the worship leader as a part-time employee and then professional musicians on a weekly basis. Th problem arose when musicians really started treating Sundays just like any other gig (and most had others, usually till late Saturday night). It started getting a performance vibe and you could tell cats were phoning it in a lot. A combination of that situation and the economy led to a new church budget and the elimination of paid musicians (including the worship leader – me). We lost everybody from that team except me and the drummer an started over, myself now unemployed. I had to decide why I was there. I looked around at potential positions elsewhere but in the end (pretty recently) I realized that, for me at least, I couldn’t leave these people, my church, because of money.
It’s been almost 9 months. I’m still unemployed, making $150 a week helping a local church plant build a team. I’ve started leading worship again after some time off and am really just wondering what this thing is I have given my life over to! One thing is sure for me (at this time and in this moment) – there’s no turning back. There’s so much more to this to unpack, really, but I digress.
In my experience, churches are way more anal about paying musicians than musicians are about getting paid. It’s only money, bitches. Let it go. It’s good for your soul.
haha wow….
I’m a worship leader at my local church and I don’t pay my fellow worship leaders. The main reason is because we don’t pay our greeters, kids workers, or any other volunteer. Now, if you are bringing someone in to fill a spot, and they don’t belong to your local body, you should pay them well.
you don’t have to prepare to be a greeter, you show up and say hello, hardly comparable…
I’ve been a paid church musician. They needed a guitarist and didn’t have one in the congregation.
Our current church has an all-volunteer worship team. I play guitar and my son plays drums. Fortunately we have enough musical volunteers to make a pretty good team. It would be nice if we had more backup so folks could take a break, or a bass or keyboard, but we’re not at that point.
We do not have non-believers leading worship. They would be lying. They can serve in other areas, such as running sound or media, but not leading worship.
Our team leader puts in a huge amount of time (all unpaid) selecting music and matching it to the message, working with the pastor to set up the service, making sure we all have copies, etc.
Well, I’ve been on both sides of ministry. I started out for years leading worship for hours on weekends at my home church and we practiced for hours and planned out music and spent our own money and set up our on equipment and never once got payed or a gift card or even a thankyou note. Then I had a band for years that did worship gigs where we asked to just cover costs. Yeah right! Most churches stiffed on payment and we went broke trying to float a “ministry”. Let’s face it. The “church” has egg on it’s face when it comes to forking over the cash for anything. I’m glad to say that we just pay our “volunteers” that sacrifice their own time, talents and skills whenever it’s been an an extravagant project. I’ve read the scriptures and I know that the ministers in the temple were given a portion of the tithes and offerings as well as the musicians. So based on the Word of GOD that we say we follow, how can we not pay people that keep our own “temples” running week in and week out?
I’m not exactly sure but my short answer would be, “Yes, worship leaders should be paid…if we want the church to look like the rest of the world.”
2 Cor. 8:13-15 -> Our desire is not that others might be relieved while you are hard pressed, but that there might be equality. At the present time your plenty will supply what they need, so that in turn their plenty will supply what you need. Then there will be equality, as it is written: “He who gathered much did not have too much, and he who gathered little did not have too little.”
***
What if those of us in the church body who have more than we need took care of the worship leader who presumably doesn’t have enough? Would the worship leader need to be “paid” if his/her needs were met?
Now, I think you could argue that paying worship leaders has the same net effect in one respect; the worship leaders needs are met. However, I can’t help but wonder if we as the church body are missing out on a far greater opportunity — like actually helping each other instead of just passively dumping money into a plate each week. Then again, helping others means that I actually have to get involved so will someone please pass me the plate?
I don’t mean to answer a question with a question, but I will
WHAT ARE YOUR CHURCH’S GOALS?
If their goal is to hitch a wagon to some great, established musical ideas currently available, and the current timeframe to plot, plan and implement a worship service requires only a couple hours of your time per week (or month), VOLUNTEER.
HOWEVER!…
If their goal is to have a person (or team) pour themselves into the authentic discernment of the Spirit’s voice for that congregation; rightly committing many hours a week and most importantly, bearing fruit, then BLESS THEM FINANCIALLY.
I’m new to the commercial songwriting world, but I have to say that I owe the few songs I’ve had picked up to the fact that I didn’t have a full time job for 7 months
I committed an ‘employment’ level effort into prayer, discernment, and writing and reaped the fruit of that planting.
To recap… CHURCH’S: What do you want from your worship leaders and musicians?
I myself am a worship leader/musician. Each church has its own financial situation and choose to spend the tithes and offerings their own way. But at my church I told everyone interested in helping with worship would be doing it for free, including myself. However if you are called into the ministry and a full time minister or if the church were give you a one time financial gift i dont have a problem with that. The elders and board members are recognizing you for your dedication and hard work.
I lead worship because i love it and because it brings me joy and peace. I see myself as a anesthesiologist of Christ. People come to church and they have are weary and battered by life and the week that they had. They come in with problems that we as individuals cant fix, but they come knowing that there is someone that can. As a worship leader i feel like i am God’s anesthesiologist, where through the gifts and talents that he has given me, i bring fellow believers and non-believers alike to the presence of God and helping them forget everything going on with their lives and outside. And during that time of worship i want them to experience his love, mercy, grace and his healing hands so that when worship is over they “awake” with new found strength and so they can “mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run, and not be weary; and they shall walk, and not faint” (Isaiah 40:31). I remind my team that every week that. As a leader i must say i have a great team and like any leader i don’t want to mess with it cause it ain’t broke. In the beginning i was the only one opposed about being paid, but with God working each week we as a team have come to a common agreement that money isn’t needed in this formula. I worship God because i want to, i don’t want people on stage with me if all they are thinking about money. I would rather have a regular person who desires to worship than someone that has money on their mind, and i don’t care how good they are. A pure mind and a pure heart is all that God needs to do great things. God can use anyone, he is the giver of talents and he never stops amazing me and my team.
I get paid to play on our worship team. When I was asked whether it was OK if they compensated me, I have to admit, it did feel a little weird. But I ended up saying yes and I committed to using that money to re-invest in my growth as a musician.
There are good arguments to both sides but obviously, I side with being cool with gettin paid. The total number of committed hours required per weekend of playing is 11-13 (including 4 services, 1-2 rehearsals). This doesn’t include the hours at home rehearsing privately. It’s a pretty hefty weekly commitment so honestly, I don’t really feel bad.
As a worship leader, I WANT to pay my team… I get paid part-time (for full-time work) and expect a lot of the people that volunteer. I have always tried to compensate them with other things because the church does not have the funds to pay each of them… however, I would love to help them pay for strings, maintenance, lessons, and anything else they need for the ministry.
I see it like this… if your musicians aren’t being paid… Don’t let them get taken for granted! If your musicians are being paid… try telling them that funds are gone and they won’t be paid for a while and see who leaves… you’ll know who’s heart is right!
When I was in college, I volunteered my time and talents to play 3 services on Sundays and lead a youth band weekly. When our worship leader moved on my senior year in college, I was asked to take over the “big church” worship team. I volunteered for 4 services for a year… when I graduated a year later, the church offered me the job. I’ve been working full-time at the church since then, and have recently had to take on another job. This second job is really taking away from my family and I am not able to focus and devote enough time to the ministry (not to mention I’m the youth director now as well), so I would love to get paid more, but I’m not doing it for the money.
Bottom line is this… Appreciate your musicians! Don’t let them feel like they’re being taken for granted! Throw them a party, take them out to lunch, thank them… if you can’t afford to pay them, but want to… let them know that you think they deserve to get paid (or paid more)… it goes a long way!
They call it volunteer for a reason. It’s a way for the body to serve. If you’re a small church and you need to “fill in” a spot here or there, pay them if you can. I’ve been lucky enough to find friends who will help for nothing. Often times, they’re blown away by the ability of the rest of the group and then they’re hooked.
As you travel around doing what you do, you should get paid.
We have had both paid and volunteer worship leaders at our church. I think that having a worship leader on staff is a great blessing for a church that is large enough to afford one.
1. Should a musician get paid to play on a Sunday morning in a church service? 2. Why or why not?
Should? No. “Should” is too mandatory. Is it ok? I think so… whatever the budget available for the church. I would say “Yes” to the “Should” if this was a “director” position, where the job of the person was to organize the worship portion of the service and lead the practices.
4. If you DO NOT pay musicians would you or have you ever thought about paying them?
My church has paid a Worship director (although he has now switched to volunteer because of money constraints in the church). I think our volunteer squad is Holy Spirit led, and we don’t see too many cringing faces during worship (a bad thing).
This might be attributed to the fact that some of our older parishioners turn down their hearing aids before we begin, I’m not sure.
You gotta get paid. When you’ve got Michael W. Smith coin maybe donate your time.
But you’ve got mouths to feed. No shame in that.
I do think they should be paid because it takes a lot of time and energy to prepare for. If it’s a smaller church and the worship team is just “winging it” that’s a little different. I’ve known people who played for the main service, then made the rounds to the kid’s services and played there too. I think they should have been paid something. I also know a couple guys who have had fantastic positions as worship leaders/pastors and blew it by not preparing. One guy I know has been let go from about six different churches. He starts out with a bang and then fizzles…shows up late, wings it, and then gets mad when they no longer need him. He gets mad at the staff instead of himself.
But generally speaking, yes, I think they should be paid. I think it comes with great responsibility though.
I’ve been a full time paid worship leader in local churches for nearly 20 years now and I have worked with both paid and volunteer musicians. I don’t want to generalize everyone, but for the most part I get more passion, dedication and appreciation from volunteers than from paid musicians. I have worked with two paid musicians that I can name who had the heart of the volunteer…the rest of them were around long enough for the next highest paying gig to come along, and quite frankly most of their attitudes sucked. However, I have a group of volunteers that I have been playing with for over 6 years now and our connection with one another goes far beyond the music we play on Sundays. To each his own, but I definitely prefer to work with volunteers on Sundays…I’ll pay them when I meet them in the studio.
I’m glad I’m not the one who has to think about this stuff or make decisions about it because all I want to do is sing a love song to God during my worship times at church. Kinda makes my head spin thinking about money and worship and all that.
With respect to most of the posters on this thread, I think this is a mostly simple issue with a mostly simple answer- in my opinion, if the ministry CAN pay and they WANT TO pay, then great. If not, that’s fine too. I have played at churches of 30 and 3,000 over the last 10 years (I’m in the Marines and we move a lot) but I have never been paid and never thought I should be. However, if the bigger churches would have offered, of course I would have let them pay me. I probably wouldn’t have let the two church plants I’ve served at pay me, but that’s because I’m aware of the difficulty of planting a church and if it comes down to paying the drummer or paying the light bill, the choice seems clear to me.
I’ve been thinking more on this. …
The Church is not great at worship. Period. The preaching is for us (we pay the preacher), the building is for us (we pay the builders) , the food and coffee is for us (we pay for food and coffee), the conferences and books are for us (we pay for them). The worship is for God (so we don’t pay). The Church really don’t spend big in this area.
Coincidentally, tithing is an act of worship (it’s not for us) and the vast majority Church gives nothing at all, statistically.
If you want to know what a man values, see where he spends his money. We worship with our money.
i grew up being taught that musicians who had their heart “in the right place” didn’t need to be paid to play in church… but then i dated a contracted sound tech/recording engineer and this secret underworld of paid church musicians was suddenly smack dab in my face. all of a sudden it made sense. then again, i was the worship leader for the young adults/alternative service… i did it as a volunteer & so did my pool of musicians & singers. i’d say that i put about 10+ hours a week overseeing the team (practices, scheduling, set-lists, discipleship, follow-up, leader meetings, etc.). i didn’t have an issue with doing it for free, because we all did it for free. but i also sang for the “main” service (team of 5 per week type of thing)and here’s where i began to see the light. we worked hard as singers, very hard. constant new material, regular accompaniment with monthly guests BeBe Winans & Israel Houghton, and pressure to be tip top at all times. there was a tv show, regular recordings, & pastoral critique… all that to say, it was A LOT of work. All of the musicians were paid, none of the singers were (except the worship leader). there in lies the conflict.
tit for tat… granted every situation is different, but in this one, i just didn’t get it. i have a good job, so i was fine financially, but i still didn’t get it.
that’s all;)
I must be missing something because after reading the comments above it sounds like some church use people to lead worship who aren’t even saved. I always thought worship leaders were supposed to usher in the presence of God and praise Him for who He is. How would you do that if you don’t believe in Him?
I like both sides. But where is the line drawn I think is the tough question that has to be asked. Do we pay the guy on stage but not the sound tech? Do we ask for volunteers to set up and take down church, the transient type churches, but pay a youth leader to chat with kids who are milling around not helping clean up? Do we just pay the lead guy/gal? So the children’s director is paid but not her volunteers. The youth pastor is paid but not the sunday school leader? If all these are true I guess an Assistant Pastor isn’t paid either. Or maybe if you have to ask how expensive something is, you should be asking, and thus leave it up to each church and what they feel is needed.
Los, I do have a slight issue with an artist being paid to worship at church. Not like the special music of Shaun Groves or another visiting talent but those who do it day in and day out as a part of the church band. My problem comes with this scenario only when that talent is making good money in the music field outside the church, for I think we are told to take care of each other. There are times, my payment to you is moving your furniture from your house to storage so you can move to the new home in ATL. Sometimes its a regular paycheck from my tithe.