March 22, 2000
When talking about music, think outreach
___By Mark Wingfield
___Managing Editor
___FORT WORTH--Decisions about worship and music styles should be based on how best to reach your community with the gospel, a Round Rock minister advised during an Innovative Church Conference sponsored by the Baptist General Convention of Texas.
___"Selecting your music will be one of the most critical and controversial decisions you will make in the life of your church and your ministry," said Richard Muguerza, worship pastor at The Fellowship of Forest Creek. "You must match your music with the kind of people you want to reach."
___One way to learn what musical styles appeal to the people a church wants to reach is to find out what radio stations they listen to regularly, he suggested.
___Armed with that research, worship planners can incorporate Christian music with similar styles, Muguerza said, emphasizing the intention should not be to water down or reduce the gospel message but to present it in a way that will sound interesting to the unchurched.
___Making these kinds of changes in an existing church can be painful, he confessed, speaking from his experience leading his congregation through change and admitting that his personal tastes are not the best for his particular situation.
___"Remember your target," he said. "Remember who you're trying to reach. If we did my style of music at church, there wouldn't be many people there."
___While church leaders may be tempted to evaluate their worship and music by their own standards, they instead should evaluate the results from the perspective of those they are trying to reach, he said.
___"People will judge your music program according to their own standards," Muguerza advised. "If they don't like it, they won't come back."
___And regardless of what style is chosen, it must be done with excellence, he said.
___This is important because worship is praise to God, who is worthy of excellence and because unchurched people expect excellence, he said. "Everything you do in ministry should be done with one thing in mind: To give God our best."
___A key factor in change is for church leadership from the pastor and beyond to explain to the church the purpose for the change, he said. "You have to push the purpose. If there's no purpose from the leadership, you've shot yourself in the foot."
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