I have a really good friend who would love to write a book celebrating mediocrity. It’s a subject I’ve been thinking about a lot recently as both of my boys dive back into their schools. The worlds of academia, sport and music don’t seem to put a high value on…
Name: Heather Cowan Church: St Ebbes, Oxford What is your role within Music Ministry? A little bit of everything! I do mostly background things- emails, website, conference planning etc, helping the rest of the team do their thing, and then occasionally involved in some training and playing. I'm also part of the…
I'm very sorry if mentioning Christmas when it is still November is a big no no! But if you are involved with your church's music, I've no doubt Christmas has begun to be prepared for, particularly if you have choirs and whatnot! We are putting our tree up this week,…
Name: Ben Slee Church: Christ Church Mayfair, London What is your role within Music Ministry? I am involved in training apprentices, in writing the Dwell Richly Course, and in the team who are setting up 3:16 Music for writing and recording new music, which will become more active in the next year-…
A number of years ago, I read this helpful post by Mike Cosper, who in turn is building on the work of Harold Best. The framework they put forward has stuck with me as a useful tool to help evaluate what we are doing as Christians who make music. “What type…
Name: Andrew McKenna Church: ChristChurch Banstead Role within Music Ministry : teaching and training, and organising online resources such as blogs, and hopefully soon, podcasts. How have you been involved in church music ministry over the years? I started playing music in church as a young teenager, and pretty soon…
Hillsong Worship have recently released a new album named 'Awake'. It's their first studio album in a long time and it is a beauty in terms of production. Slick, interesting, emotional, and filled with musically beautiful songs. However.. lyrically, we might have some issues.
Name: Andy Fenton Role within Music Ministry? Team leader, and involved in teaching and practical training. Church: Christ Church Kensington How have you been involved in church music ministry over the years? I've worked at 4 churches over the past 18 years, and so have been able to experience different…
I have a friend whose job title in the footer of his emails says ‘futurist’; basically he gets paid lots of money to tell technology companies what he thinks the next new thing might be. No, I’m not going there! Don’t panic, I’m not claiming to be a prophet. But…
On 28 Sept 2019 we were in cornerstone church in Nottingham for a brilliant, jam-packed day of teaching and training. We weren't able to record all of the practical seminars (some wouldn't make sense without being there anyway), but below you will find recordings of the 3 main session talks.…
The below are answers to the 8 most common questions we get asked regarding leading and arranging songs in church . Regardless of our church size or capability, it should hopefully help us all to think them through a little, even just as a basis for how we plan our…
Every season we put together a mix of the songs we are listening to at the minute, some brand new and some not so much, and a combo of genres and styles. But if you’re on the hunt for something in particular, maybe you don’t want to sift through the whole playlist…