One pastor has decided that church musicians should not only play and sing for free, but that they should be condemned if they don’t. This is quite a stretch, and doesn’t hold water biblically, historically or ethically. The online backlash has been considerable, and our own post on the List’s Facebook page has gotten more attention than usual:
This begs the question, when are you willing to perform your hard-earned talents and skilled without pay or other compensation? Are there any circumstances when you might consider it? We’ve found that most performers have some (if only a few) circumstances where they would consider a gratis appearance. But whatever we choose individually, it’s just downright wrong to demonize a group of people that already gives so much for not wanting, but needing to be paid for their training, experience, time and energy. This one man’s approach to this issue can only leave us wondering what kind of musical influences he had when he was growing up. Even those of us raised in evangelical environments where musicians are more frequently unpaid are at a loss to explain and justify that upbringing, much less this ill-conceived argument by Pastor Antwi, and the video has gotten plenty of criticism online.
It’s nice to know that much of the world has our backs, peeps.
