One of our regular contributors and guest bloggers asked us recently to pose a Friday Facebook Question that he was keen to get some opinion on. This was:
“How are music lessons approached in your church? Are musicians encouraged to use the building to teach?”
Whilst a lot of people have clicked through to see the “answer”, we’ve not actually had anyone offering much of an answer so I thought I’d tackle it here and see if you might perhaps like to share your experiences as a comment.
What I am about to write is, I imagine, quite UK church centric so please do bring your own perspectives to the discussion.
Years before we created the Musicademy DVDs, we ran a local music school. At its peak we had some 250 students learning guitar, bass, drums, keys and voice with us. We taught in groups of 5-10 students delivering a structured curriculum. Some classes focussed on rock and pop songs (you can access the guitar lessons here) an others were focussed purely on worship music. We often had non church goers at the worship classes (because the time suited them) and vice versa. It was a great way of connecting people through music.
The answer here is “It depends”. Over the years we’ve had vastly different experiences of teaching in churches. Some have been so challenging that we’ve ended up hiring community halls and school buildings instead. This has brought us great sadness. A few stories:
As you can see, this subject is treated very differently depending on the church. We’d love to know what happens in your situation. How does it work when fees are charged? What are the problems and opportunities you have faced?