Thoughts on Christian Music Education by Richard Hickam

I’m a music geek - always have been, always will be. One summer in the early 1980’s, Cohutta Springs Camp (a Christian youth camp in Northern Georgia) was experimenting with ideas for different summer camp themes, and they decided to offer a band camp. I was there along with my brother and about 15 others from different parts of the Georgia/Tennessee area who just couldn’t get enough wind instrument fun (though I suspect some were made to be there by their mothers).  It’s been that way my whole life. Late last night I was attaching velcro on various electric guitar pedals to stick them in a pedalboard. These type of activities happen regularly.  I’m 43. I still can’t stop experimenting with sounds and music and thinking about new ways to use them for God’s kingdom.

I wonder how many people reading this article were in a band, orchestra, or choir group in a Christian school.  I wonder how many are using what they learned in these institutions for kingdom growth today.  Bassoon offertory in church?  Doubtful. Singing for the widows, orphans, or prisoners? I don’t know. Christian institutions have taken cues from the public school sector in regard to repertoire, concerts, and tours. Those are not necessarily all bad things.  Students may play or sing all the way through graduate school . . . and then what? Many people stop after their student experience and never use their gifts again except for congregational or shower singing.

How do we transform thinking about learning music for art’s sake into using music as a lifelong pursuit for Christ?  How can we teach smaller musical groups that can be more useful for practicality in a variety of Christian experiences rather than focusing only on large group ensembles?  How can our tours that only visit Christian institutions instead witness to those who need to hear the message of Christ through song?

In my later years of teaching music, I was challenged to take my groups to orphanages, women’s shelters, schools for the mentally challenged, and a prison. As I made the shift away from visiting only Christian institutions and amusement parks, something inside my students and me began to change as well. A larger perspective on the ministry of Christ began to open up.

So, you’re not a musician, and what does this have to do with you? Well, each one of us has been given a gift, and we need to examine closely how we are using it. Merely tending the local flock might not be enough; there’s a whole world out there that is waiting to hear about Christ through what you have to offer.

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God."--1 Corinthians 10:31

Richard Hickam