Prelude: A Brief History
For over a century, Southern Baptists have been committed to strengthening the Church’s corporate song. In the early 20th century, “schools of music” were established among several of the convention’s theological seminaries with the intention of training God-called men and women for church music ministry. Over time, as Southern Baptists established new seminaries, the seminaries added church music programs to their core academic offerings. Today, five of the convention’s six theological institutions offer degrees in church music and worship, with the mission of training men and women to lead music ministries in the local church.
Although the youngest of the Southern Baptist seminaries, Midwestern Seminary (and Spurgeon College) boasts an almost 50-year legacy of training musicians for leadership in the local church. During the 1980s, the seminary established its Department of Church Music under the leadership of Dr. A.L. “Pete” Butler and his wife, JoAnn. The Butlers taught students hymnology, church music history, general church music, music theory, conducting, voice, and piano. Their ministry paved the way for Midwestern Seminary’s commitment to educate church musicians well into the 21st century.
In the last decade, the seminary has experienced tremendous growth and revival under the leadership of its fifth president, Dr. Jason K. Allen. His “For the Church” vision has deeply impacted every branch of ministry preparation on campus. In 2015, the Department of Church Music was renamed the Department of Worship Ministries and, building on the foundation established by the Butlers, has since grown and fortified its effort to train musician-theologians for lifelong ministry service.
Call to Worship: Our Mission to Support and Strengthen a Singing Church
The mission of Midwestern Seminary’s Department of Worship Ministries is to equip musician-theologians who will strengthen the worship of the local church, namely her corporate song. The church’s Sunday gathering, and the singing that takes place therein, is a priority and biblical mandate. Our worship programs, therefore, train individuals who will commit to leading their churches in this weekly endeavor with strength, confidence, and biblical integrity.
At its core, the seminary is a vibrant worshiping community. Twice-weekly chapel services include the robust singing of Christ-centered hymns and theologically rich songs alongside Scripture reading, prayer, and expository preaching. These worship services spiritually strengthen and enrich our students, faculty, and staff. Seminarians who participate in full-throated, joy-filled singing in chapel are more likely to replicate those experiences in their local churches in culturally-sensitive and thoughtful ways. Regardless of ministry or degree emphasis, all students on campus experience this formation through chapel, shaping their understanding of worship and impacting the worshiping life of their local churches.
Many churches and church leaders struggle with knowing how to effectively encourage their congregations to sing with greater vigor and vitality. Beyond chapel, we hope to strengthen the local church and its biblical mandate to worship by providing resources, conferences, and regular interaction with local church ministry leaders. Our goal is to be an arm of support and encouragement to pastors and lay leaders serving in churches of all shapes and sizes. As the current generation of worship pastors and church musicians retires, we hope to supply their churches with capable men and women who are adequately prepared to lead out in corporate worship. By training theologically-minded, biblically-focused, and skilled church musicians, we aim to resource the Church with individuals who care deeply about the form and content of corporate worship and who prioritize singing truth without compromise.
Teaching: How We Equip Musician-Theologians For the Church
A call to worship ministry begins with a general call to ministry. Such a call brings a unique set of expectations and a burden of preparation. Some students sense a very specific calling to combine music leadership with a pastoral role which includes preaching and teaching. Others sense a more general call to combine music leadership with discipleship, evangelism, church planting, counseling, youth ministry, women’s ministry, missions, or Christian education. A common misconception is that a worship ministries degree limits one’s service to music and nowhere else in the church. Nothing could be further from the truth! Our worship curriculum starts with a strong foundation that enables individual students to pursue multiple avenues of ministry, helping students understand that serving people with the gospel and training them to be disciple makers is at the heart of all ministry.
At the same time, individuals pursuing a call to worship ministry must be equipped with a comprehensive and diverse set of musical skills to fit the needs of today’s church. Such a musicianship goes deeper than performance; it is about stewardship, service, and shepherding others. We, therefore, train our students to understand the God-given language of music so that they can lead a broad range of musical styles and genres, rehearse and train vocalists and instrumentalists, and compose and arrange music to serve their churches. We train our students to focus the core of their musical efforts toward leading congregational song, teaching them the skill of healthy and effective singing from behind a piano, guitar, or microphone. We also train our students with a biblical and theological foundation to help them discern what types of congregational songs are good and fitting for a congregation. We pray that the musician-theologians who graduate from our institution walk away with tools to know the musical culture of their local churches and lead with confidence.
Response: A Call to All Ministry Leaders
“Everyone studying at Midwestern Seminary, regardless of their focus of ministry preparation, is ultimately a worship major.” This motto in the Department of Worship Ministries expresses an important sentiment for every seminarian—and ultimately for every church leader and believer. We should all care deeply about worship. God created us for worship, and the Bible is replete with examples. We therefore want everyone to see their value as a worshiper and the role they play as individuals who can strengthen the Church’s mission to worship. Although not every pastor is called to be a trained musician, all pastors ought to care about what their congregations sing and how their congregations worship. We pray that they and all ministry leaders—from children’s ministers to youth ministers, from small group and discipleship leaders to evangelists and missionaries—will see the beauty, importance, and priority of preaching, teaching, praying, and singing the Word week in and week out.
Benediction: A Charge to the Local Church
Our task in training the next generation of church musicians is a big one, and we need the local church’s help. A biblically robust and healthy worshiping church can be strengthened by seminary graduates who have experienced the priority of corporate worship and the power of strong, unified corporate song. Furthermore, a seminary’s ability to resource the Church with capable music ministry leaders can happen easily when churches identify members who are qualified and gifted for music ministry and send them to institutions like Midwestern Seminary and Spurgeon College to be further trained and readied for Kingdom work. To start this process early, the local church should seek to provide opportunities for students and youth to serve using their musical gifts and be mentored in worship.
When this synergism takes place, in which both seminary and church partner together to strengthen one another’s mission, a “singing seminary” like Midwestern can more effectively encourage the Church to sing and worship so that the world might see and encounter the beauty of the gospel and our great Savior, Jesus.
MATTHEW SWAIN | Associate Professor of Worship Ministries, Assistant Dean of Worship Ministries, Wayne and Berna Dean Lee Chair of Church Music and Worship Ministries
