Thoughts on being Paid for playing Praise Music?

Hey Rob,

I do not ask for money to play at my home church. If they offered it though, I would not turn it down either. I considering it using my gifts to help my church and church family and in return I am the one who truly recieves a blessing. Again, if cash was offered I would not turn it down, it may be one of the man yways God is wanting to bless you. My church doesn't pay us cash, but because we keep pretty busy, our worship pastor also owns a music store, so he keeps us in strings and maintenance for free. It is not that it is expected or demanded, but it is freely given and freely recieved.

Rob,
I have been doing P&W music for about 3-4 years now too. I play for 4 churches in my area and some pay and some do not. I know some people who try to get into the church scene to get an easy pay, but God knows the hearts of us more than we know our own. If your church is offering to pay, then maybe God has laid it on their hearts to recognize the efforts and give some earthly reward. We all know why we do P&W music. It is not for money, or our own glory, it is for His name. I personally feel I have been blessed with this gift of music and it this gift from Him that I need to use for His glory and name.
God has bailed me out many times from the church (not to mention the sin His son died on the cross for) giving me money. I played for one church for about 2 years and I was in severe financial troubles. I lost my car, job, place to live, cell phone and had no money to eat. The church extended the arm of God and helped me out of my situation.
The trouble I have with some musicians whom I play with is that they feel that they should be directly rewarded and paid for their efforts (gear, travel, expenses). That is where my problem lies. God has already sent His son and we will never be worthy enough to pay that back. That was the sacrifice for us not to be saved from sin. But, some christian musicians believe that we still should be paid.
I know I have rambled on about a lot of nothing, but if your church feels the need to pay you then take it as another gift from God to be used for His glory. He will know the true heart of those who are grateful for the gift.
Anyway, peace out.
Chris Mortera

I used to be involved with church heavily, not so much now.

I don't believe ANY positions in the church should be paid except for the Pastor so he can focus on teaching the congregation instead of a full time job.

We have a mega church around here with paid marketing staff and a very business like structure.

Think as it a gift you giving back to Gods people, unless you are traveling and accepting gifts to help you travel from other churches, I think if you are paid that money should go back to helping the church and the community.

I played for several summers while in HS & college at a Christian Resort (Sandy Cove, NorthEast MD), for which I was paid. It wasn't much, but there were daily rehearsals and performances. My sister is currently the pianist for a local church, and gets paid.

The pastor gets paid for preaching, doesn't he? Why shouldn't you get paid for the skills you've developed over the years & the time you put in? Are your skills on bass any less difficult than the skills the pastor exhibits when he preaches? No, they are relative, he is suited to preaching and you are suited to bass. There comes a point when it becomes an inconvenience & more like work than worship. If you have weekly practices & services & no pay, you may begin to regret your commitment for all that time, and could easily spend it at home on your family or yourself. Try finding a pastor that would preach EVERY week for free.

As a band, though, you will have to be united. If some of you get paid and others do not, it will come back to you in the future, typically by the people who elected to not get paid.

imp

I played and was a member of a worship team at a Lutheran church for over 8 years. We were all church members, and volenteered our time.

The church did buy us equipment to use, but, obviously, it was the churches property, and when a member left, it stayed at church.

I would not have turned down any money if offered, but I did write off an expenses on my own equipment, and miles both to and from church as a tax exemption. It wasn't much, but it was a little.

I think an attempt to create a "hard and fast" doctrine about this would be difficult. We pay other areas in the church that we call part time ministry, even though anything done for the church is ministry. The word minister in Greek means "to serve."

The only problem that I can see with paying is when we start having "hired hands" for things, and sometimes it's a slippery slope and the worship team, composed of those who are meeting to lead others in worship of God, becomes simply a secular band that plays Christian music.

I'm not involved in the church too much, but do the other people who WORK in your church get a salary? Then you should, too. Playing in a church is not less work than playing at other places. Maybe the rates vary, but I don't see a reason why not to get paid for work you do, unless it's a totally voluntary thing and accepted like that.

Do you pay church tax? A big part of that money is intended for salaries for people who work there.

I'm in our church praise & worship band as well and we receive no pay, but its because our church wouldn't be able to afford it. We all have our own equipment and other than covering us for occasional string changes or drumsticks there is no compensation. As a matter of fact, I purchased the PA and Speakers of the church myself. That being said, I also run the books at the church and would have no problem compensating anyone for praise and worship or any other ministry if the church, minister, or who ever makes the financial decisions at the church approved it (I'm not that person). I myself, currently am not being compensated to run the books. I was at one point and asked that the money I was receiving (a very small sum that would cover say an SX Jazz bass once a month) to be directed to the minister of the church. If anyone feels uncomfortable receiving the money why not have it be a donation to some other ministry in their name. I have much more to say, but it would go on forever so I'll stop here...

Our worship band first, for many years, proved to be faithful in worship, in ministry, and in tithing. Then, just a few years ago, the church elders surprised us by putting us into the budget (with no demands on how we used it). We initially used it only for equipment and band necessities but now they, with an even larger budget, are demanding that we receive some of the benefit personally. Yahweh proves his love for us yet another time!

Funny story, I posed a similar question to a religious friend of mine, and he basically indicated that its not the act, but the intention, and those who glorify God with music will be eternally rewarded, and those who abuse faith for earthly gains will find themselves in somewhat.... warmer climates*.

*not florida

The church I'm currently working, Grace Lutheran, pays the drummer. Well worth whatever they pay him.. the guy is an amazing talent. I love working with him.

I would definitely, gratefully, receive any salary or stipend a church wanted to pay me. I'm not a wealthy person by any means, and I think it'd be great.

The guys in the Musicians Union get paid scale. I'm not in the union and I'm really not worried about getting paid for church type gigs.

This is a tough question and one that brings back memories. I to would definitely and graciously receive a salary or stipend a church wanted to pay me but at this point in my spiritual walk it's not an issue. I used to be what you would refer to a a backslider, walking away from the faith after both teaching, ministering and even playng in a Christian Band. During my "away time" I received a call from a drummer friend who had just been hired to play for a church and they were looking for a bass player. It was a small church willing to pay me for both rehearsal and service times. Just to show you that God is always in the mix and has a plan and purpose for your life, I met the women who is now my wife, began teaching again and was ordained to preach. Anyway, after playing ther for about 2 years the churchs budget could no longer support paying the musicians and I had to make the choice of either not playing since I would no longer be getting paid for my service or playing because that what God gifted me to do for His glory. I choice to stay and play. so, as I said before if the mega church I play for wants to pay me I could definitely use the money, however, Playing for an audience of ONE is payment enough.

I have played in church a lot but not recently. We used to work for free when I was very young. After I became a professional, I was hired many times. There was a black Baptist minster who would come out on Saturday nights to the clubs with his wife. Of course they didn't drink, but they would watch the bands. After the set he would come & hire a few guys to play the next morning. He only hired the best cats & you better believe his church service smoked. It was packed because the music was guaranteed to be good & he paid us $100 apiece. I never felt bad about it. It was good for everyone concerned. God got praised, the church made money & so did some musicians who would have been somewhere else otherwise. The idea is to get folks to show up. The minister used to say "We'll take 'em anyway we can get 'em."

I have played at my Church coming up on two years now. It was a blessing for me. At the time I wanted to play but was not happy about the club scene or message. When I started looking into local Praise Bands several offered money. Some offers were very good. Yet I could not take those offers because it would have required changing Churches. My Church is part of my family.

At this point if the Church offered to pay the members I would rather the funds be used to continue to upgrade the equipment. But I would not necessarily turn down an offer. I would then use the funds to upgrade my equipment or the Churches.

I would have concern about why the band members wanted to be part of the Ministry. When I talked to a few of the paying Churches it was about paying me to perform. The part of Faith and Ministry was not discussed. I think the ministry is the important part of playing. This would concern me when recruiting new members.

There is also the matter of how much everyone is paid. Not everyone is at the same skill level or puts in the same effort. This can lead to egos and hurt feelings. No pay could help lessen this.

As far as more practices, I think that is alright if you are being paid. The Church is making an investment in the players, so the players should invest back into the Ministry. I would love to have more time where the musicians could spend time just jamming to help build that band tightness that comes from playing together.

In the end it is a matter of Faith and what is true in your heart.

If offered, sure. But l think if you put a lot of time into it, it's nice to get a little back.

In our church, only the pianist, who is the Musical Director, and the Pastor of Worship receive a monthly salary because they are staff.The choir, musicians and sound booth personnel are volunteers and do not receive any salary. I have no problem with this at all, but as others have stated, would not turn down a salary if offered one. I am blessed to be able to serve the Lord with the talents and passions that He has given to me!!! I will give Him excellent praise through music whether I get paid or not!!! I HAVE BEEN BOUGHT AND PAID FOR BY THE BLOOD OF MY LORD AND SAVIOR, JESUS CHRIST!!!


A Groove is a Terrible Thing to Waste!

If they want to pay you, take the money.

If you don't want to keep it, just give it back the next time the money basket comes around.

Win win situation... They give to you, you give back to the church.

why not make it a free will donation? you don't have to ask for money, but if they want to support you....