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The Music ExchangeRecipe for an evangelistic music eventI’ve been very encouraged that churches are planning to use music events as part of A Passion for Life. I’m off to Morden in South London on Saturday to be interviewed at a concert which in past years has been simply that — a concert. The event has proved very popular, so I’m pleased that the organisers have wanted to include some gospel content to challenge the audience to think about Jesus. An evening like this is pretty easy to prepare and doesn’t create a lot of mess, so for those who thought they could never organise a musical bash, here’s a simple recipe for putting on a top gig. Serves 25-250 Simply take one or two Christian musicians, add to venue, mix in food, garnish with flowers and serve. If there are no musicians in the congregation, then go to the creative arts resources page in ‘Ideas for Mission’, the A Passion for Life resource book, where there is a list of Christian musicians who have said they are keen to perform and speak at such events. If you have more musicians to hand — some who could even get an ensemble together — then use them too. Interviewing the artistTell each musician to come with enough music to cover somewhere near an hour and a quarter, and then interview one of them as to why they trust in Jesus. The important thing with the interview is to challenge the audience to respond to what the musician says. An easy way to do this is for the host to ask the interviewee something like, ‘There may be some here who, though they respect your beliefs, feel that they get their spiritual satisfaction through music, and not through Jesus. Do you have anything to say about that?’ or a similar question. I asked this question of a musician in an interview at a recent concert and, very cleverly, he pointed the audience to John 6.68, where Peter, having been asked by Jesus if he wanted to stop following him, says, ‘Lord, to whom shall we go? You have the words of eternal life’. To prepare your concertTwo or three months before: book in musicians, a team of kitchen helpers, advertise and enthuse. Decide on the feel of the concert — classical, jazz, gangsta rap, Viking metal, garage, front room, etc. Two weeks before: rehearse testimony with musician (this is because, though they find it easy to communicate through music, musicians generally find it harder to communicate through words!) You will quickly work out why this is necessary once you’ve heard the first draft! To serve your concert: cooking times Interval for Food — 45 mins.Musical ingredient 5 — 10 mins. As you can see, the whole thing doesn’t take long to cook — keep them hungry for more, I say. It’s good to have a short second half so that those in the audience don’t start playing games on mobile phones. Also, this way it’s not much work for the players/ensembles (any musician worth their salt should have at least one ten-minute party piece under their belt). There won’t be endless rehearsals. One for allThe beauty about an event like this is that if you introduce the evening by saying that all the musicians are Christians, and that, as the one person is interviewed, they are speaking on behalf of the other performers, then it is as good an education for the players as it is for the audience, as it helps them to see how to use their gifts to serve the gospel. Don’t worry about the order of the musical ingredients — just mix it all up and dish it out. I’ve always just chucked everything in the mix and people have always remarked how brilliantly everything fits together. Nothing to do with me. As long as there’s something loud at the beginning (to cover up the noise of the squeaky door opening and shutting for the late-comers), and something jolly at the end of both halves you can’t go far wrong. If this recipe takes off you might see me fronting the adverts to Sainsbury’s in a couple of years. Richard Simpkin© Evangelicals Now - January 2010 |