Musicians in the church

Red Mountain musicians do not have to be Christians. We have said from the beginning that a vocalist must be a confessing Christian, but the musicians can come and play, whether they believe or not. It has been beautiful to invite musicians to play with us who have not been in a church for sometimes upwards of 20 years. (From Music at Red Mountain)

This is just one of the points on the Red Mountain (PCA) church's website. I know that Mark Driscoll's group in Seattle operates under a similar policy. What do you think of it? Do you think that all church musicians must be committed Christians? I'm not quite sure what to think of this policy.

Comments

I have a hard time believing that a non-Christian musician would play to praise God. Playing for some other reason is inappropriate IMHO.

How do you fit this with the idea that all of life is worship though? That's where this confuses me.

A guitar player or organist providing accompaniment would not be playing with the glory of God as the first thing in his or her ind, but at the same time a non-Christian plumber would not be unplugging your kitchen drain to the glory of God either. I don't think that there are many who'd be opposed to hiring a non-Christian plumber - but why draw the line there?

I see where you are going with this. Indeed, everything we do is to the glory of God. A Christian musician plays to glorify God with the talents God has given them. I draw the line between playing as a performance and playing in church. You wouldn't hire an atheist to prepare and deliver a sermon.

You wouldn't hire an atheist to prepare and deliver a sermon.

And the position of the church that I linked to seems something roughly like that... anyone saying words must be a Christian. They distinguish between playing something and saying something.