The Music Exchange

I’m very pleased to announce the arrival of Oliver George Simpkin on May 27. 8 lbs. and rising. Why give The Times all my money when I can announce his birth for free in Evangelicals Now?! I’d also like to announce that Oliver has already been given his first tambourine. Philly and I are hoping that it will be his last. No kazoos either, please.

At the start of the academic year, I asked for prayer for students at the various music colleges. This is a mission field in which we’ve seen three or four new births this year. We’re full of praise because Jesus has proved himself powerful to save young men and women as they’ve heard and believed the gospel. With all the pressures they face, we have had to rely on the power of the Word of God to be brought home to their hearts by the Holy Spirit. We’ve been humbled by our own weaknesses in proclaiming that gospel, but Jesus has shown his strength through our weaknesses time after time. He is faithful to his promises to save.

Making it as performers

Once they have left college, many of these musicians try to make it as performers in the wider world. What we try to do at St. Helen’s, Bishopsgate, London, is to ground music students as firmly as possible in the Word of God while they have a semblance of order to their lives. Then, when they start out on their careers, we work with them on a more individual level, reading the Bible together one-to-one. The reason for this is that their performances are invariably in the evenings, so that it is hard to commit to midweek Bible studies. Also, if a show is running for weeks at a time, or if there is a tour, then consistent Christian fellowship dwindles very rapidly.

Royal opera and gospel

Katie Van Kooten is a Christian, and a principal soprano at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden. Her father and mother (also Christians) came over from America to hear her debut a year ago. They hadn’t realised the heights that their daughter had reached at such a young age, and were clearly overwhelmed by the adulation given to her after the show. I went to speak to Katie’s father, and he said this to me, ‘Do you see all this? It will all pass. What Katie needs is to be firmly grounded in the gospel, and to have Christian friends around her who will keep her faithful to Jesus.’ Then he broke down in tears. At the pinnacle of his daughter’s career, his concern was for something far greater — that she would love Jesus more than worldly success and acclaim. That moment was the spur I needed to seek out ways of supporting musicians in the profession.

Solo album

Here’s someone else to pray for — Nicky Spence’s first solo album has just dropped into the Classical Charts at No. 10! You might have seen him on the TV performing a new work by John Rutter at the Classical Brit Awards in the Albert Hall. Over the next few weeks his publicity machine starts rolling, so listen out for him on Classic FM and on TV. One of the St. Helen’s staff’s granny has already bought his CD! More importantly, he’s studying Romans with me on a weekly basis and recently gave his testimony at an evangelistic event at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.

Nicky has asked us to pray for him: ‘As a performer in a busy music world, it’s hard to remember to bring everything back to God. Ultimately, I know that I am nothing without God’s beautiful grace, and so I would love to use the gift that God has given me to serve him in my life. Everything I do should have Jesus as its focus whether it’s when I’m singing or just being me. It’s fantastic to know that God will never put me in a situation which I can’t cope with if I fully put my trust in him. So my main prayer would be to search and develop fellowship among my friends and colleagues, and have full confidence in God, as I know he’ll never let me down.’

Sustaining Word

Often I doubt that the Word of God is powerful enough to sustain these men and women. The attraction of fame, along with the desire for fulfilment in human relationships, seem too strong, especially when the gospel demands humility and faithfulness to our Lord. However, if we are to prove ourselves to be his disciples by abiding in his Word (John 8.31), then we cannot compromise on the method of feeding them the Word of God. The pattern of how and when we do that has to change, but the principle of teaching the Word must never change. This is why we try to work with professional musicians on an individual level. Please pray that our confidence would remain in the Word, and that these men and women would grow in that confidence too.

Music student follow-up

Making it as performers

Royal opera and gospel

Solo album

Sustaining Word

Richard Simpkin

Main Articles

Other articles