Music Ministry and Money

I hope you were able to pick a few things from the first part of this article. In conclusion, we’ll be looking more at what I call some specifics. Interesting ways I’ve been able to bring some level of balance to the way the money thing plays out in our music ministry. Also, this would focus more on itinerant music ministers. That is, those who run a travel schedule, with invitations to minister from place to place.

We established earlier that folks may have some grounds to charge, but also stated that God does call people to a higher place of working without charge. We stressed the importance of a personal revelation and strong conviction in this regard, as this could be a very sacrificial path to thread.

However what has become quite disturbing is the way and manner some music ministers go about charging. There’s the issue of unreasonable amounts or figures, as well as the way and manner payment is requested. Believe me I’ve heard both ends of the spectrum, and each end make compelling arguments.

The side of the music minister who because of many disappointments and horrible experiences resorts to charging and demanding advance payment, sometimes, in full, to avoid “stories that touch”, and the side of the clergy or host, who cannot see any reason why a God-given gift and grace should be treated like a mere commodity, both seem to have valid points for thinking and working how they do. I would attempt to bring some clarity by sharing some personal stories, experiences and principles. And hope that this sheds some light.

VOLUME versus HONOUR

I’ve discovered that many times the issue is not really that of volume, that is, the amount of money one is/was given, but rather a question of honour. And I’ll explain. Make no mistake, as much as possible, and as God blesses, it is good to honour ministers of the gospel with substantial amounts, especially those who live faithfully, sincerely and sacrificially.

“Elders who do their work well should be respected and paid well, especially those who work hard at both preaching and teaching. For the Scripture says, “You must not muzzle an ox to keep it from eating as it treads out the grain.” And in another place, “Those who work deserve their pay!””
‭‭1 Timothy‬ ‭5:17-18‬ ‭NLT‬‬

Remember I said in the previous part that music ministers are actually preachers of the gospel, but in songs.The truth of the master is ,true,meaningful and impactful music ministry is Impossible without a strong word base. Therefore, the scripture above, in my opinion, applies also to music ministers-But that’s not our focus right now.

If you are like me, you may have visited a ministry, who may not give you as much money as you would think, but then would have experienced such show of love and honour from them. And come to agree that they would very readily do more if they had more. I mean, you feel such warmth, love, liberty and have such a fulfilling time of ministry, even as regards the hunger, thirst and expectation from the house which precipitated a release of God’s glory and presence. I experience this from time to time. Some of those times, in fact, when given the honorarium I feel like turning it down, and sometimes have done so Just out of love to give back. But also, I do understand that receiving makes room for them to be blessed.

““I don’t say this because I want a gift from you. Rather, I want you to receive a reward for your kindness.”
‭‭Philippians‬ ‭4:17‬ ‭NLT‬‬

That’s why I say to people, that when you honour true ministers of God, you aren’t just supporting them, but more importantly, crediting your account.

“17 Not because I desire a gift: but I desire fruit that may abound to your account.”
Kjv.

So we see from the example above that sometimes it’s not always a question of leaving with so much money. Meanwhile you can go elsewhere,and are given so much but then, treated with an “AFTER ALL WE ARE PAYING YOU” attitude. I’ve been to places where you are more or less abandoned after the event is over-using the American parlance, “dropped like a hot potato.” The most severe scenarios would normally be a combination of both. Little or no volume plus dishonor.

Now, having heard a number of unfortunate experiences by some music ministers, and in fact, even those I have experienced myself, I still find it hard justifying the way some of our colleagues work. Remember I have established that those who charge may have scriptural backing in that regard, and that It doesn’t necessarily translate to a lack of spirituality. But what is sometimes worrying is how they go about it. I say every time, we are one family, hence we can’t slam the kinds of bills and requirements we get to hear these days on family. My reasoning is this, the gospel we received, and were changed by, was a gospel available to ALL. The very reason why we sing today is that gospel. “28 Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will giveyou rest.” Matt 11:28.

So if this gospel was available to us regardless of our financial standings, why then do we make our ministry so unaffordable sometimes? What then is the key? The standard of the bible is simple, MODERATION. “Let your moderation be known unto all men. The Lord is at hand.” Phil 4:5. Whether you charge or don’t charge, endeavor you are moderate in your demands. For instance,for those who charge-You cannot charge a University Students’ fellowship the same as a mega church,this is where the principle of relativity comes in.Infact such places as Campus fellowships are where we should sow our gifts freely.

So for those who don’t, how do you even ensure that some basic logistics are taken care of in the event of the very worst case scenerio. That’s fine, I’d gladly share our template.

Because we have a clear instruction from, and covenant with God of not charging, we however try to ensure that basic things are sorted out. When we get a request or invitation, we always ask that it comes in writing. Asking for details and a brief of the event in question. An event within Lagos, where we live, would not, except for unique circumstances require special transportation arrangement. However, those outside of Lagos normally do require transportation plans.Initially, the hosts were responsible for making the transportation arrangements, flight bookings, car charter services etc. But later we found it better to make those arrangements for the following reasons.

1. Flexibility reasons. In the event of a sudden change of plans, we were able to do so without having to call the hosts. Eg, flight rescheduling, cancellation, change of airline etc. we also realised that many flight tickets booked ahead for us were wasted when we suddenly had to travel from other points. Eg flights booked from Lagos-Portharcourt. But for some reason, had to come in from Abuja . Though it is cheaper to book ahead of time, but we realised it was safer to have the money to book close to the time of the event when we were very sure of our movement. Hence we request for flight ticket fares, and also do return every surplus, if there was any, after the booking. Most hosts don’t have an issue with this. What is however not right to do is getting ticket fares from multiple sources for the same destination. Let me explain.
You have two or three invitations from Abuja, and coincidentally they are around the same time, and won’t clash. Let’s assume you have a leading to do most, or all. The first thing, ethically speaking, to even do is let your primary host or main host know about other invitations. What you do is, if I let them know about it and they are not comfortable, I decline. Here is why, it’s not so nice to have an agreement with a host, and all of a sudden, another ministry or organization begins to advertise your coming. So, assuming they are fine with your other events, I believe it’s not right demanding transport fares from all the hosts for the same destination around the same time. Some think it’s smart, it’s actually wrong and a sin. You may get everyone of them to share the cost of transportation, or get one who may be willing to bare it alone. Truth is the host really do not care if you got the fares from multiple sources, so long as you made their program. That Notwithstanding, necessity is placed on you to act responsibly and ethically. Remember that you are a minister of God.

2. To ensure there are no surprises with logistics. This should not apply across board. There are places you have been to before and can trust their integrity. In such cases you can rest assured that your travel plans are sorted. But in cases where you may not be sure of where you are headed, it might be safe to make your travel plans.
I remember traveling to an African country with a team of 11, my pregnant wife and 2 year old son, and after the event, there was no Honorarium, which we didn’t really bother about. But more disheartening was that the hotel bills and flight tickets were not paid. We were stranded and locked in the hotel, and afterwards abandoned at the airport. The Nigerian Ambassador had to wade in, pleading with the Airline to ferry us on credit, while they ceased our bags, and we paid when we arrived Lagos. So it may not be bad to make your travel plans if possible and necessary.
Another thing we do is make sure accommodation is sorted. We still trust the host to do this on their own, but still check to ensure we at least have a place to lay our heads and keep our stuff.

The hosts also help with ground transportation and feeding, and most times these are not really an issue.

Having done this, we then trust that they would bless us with their material gifts having done so to them with our spiritual gifts. We do not suggest anything, a baseline or an idea, as our covenant with God is to live purely by faith, but God has really been faithful to us. But like I said earlier, in the word of my friend, Dennis Anderson, “Ministry is sacrifice. Sometimes you find gold, other time you find stones”, but all in all, it’s for the Lord.

And please don’t forget, we get our true rewards in heaven. Even on this earth, there are other ways God blesses us, apart from just money. I can’t begin to count the very numerous supernatural gifts and blessings I enjoy. This God is indeed too good. And has not asked us to serve him in vain.

OTHER STREAMS OF INCOME

Now, away from honorarium. There are other streams of income now available to musicians within the music circle, that when pulled together helps to make a decent living in music. There’s the caller tunes, YouTube royalties, mechanical and performance rights and royalties, streaming, online sales of music, physical cd sales, seed offerings etc. And because the demand for music has overtime been on the increase, more authentic streams of income have become available to musicians. I know what I’m saying. And the onus is on you to research and know how these work. I have held a seminar on this recently to educate people on the opportunities available for gospel musicians, and written some articles. Please find them. Or better still Google more information online.

PLANNING & INVESTMENT

You see, because of the way and manner musicians or music ministers earn their money and living, which is not the regular 9-5 structure with a constant monthly salary, they tend to just spend their money that way. Somehow expecting that events will always come. And this has led to musicians being broke. People say it’s hard to make a decent living through music, unless of course you hit it big, and become a celebrity. That’s not true. In my opinion, a more than average musician, who knows his stuff and is serious can make more than a decent living. Truth is, most of us don’t apply wisdom in our spending and living.
One day, I felt a leading to go check how much I had cross my accounts in a particular period, after feeling my income was never enough. And what I saw after getting my account statement was shocking. I said to my self, ” if you had saved a percentage of this amount for a number of years, you would have done so and so with it. So I decided to open what I termed a DUMP ACCOUNT. An account where I just saved money. No ATM, Internet banking etc. Here I would just dump some unexpected funds. Eg. Someone comes sows a seed, truth is I wasn’t expecting it anywhere, so why don’t I act as though I never had it. So after paying the tithe,and sowing any other seeds from it, I treated it like I never had it. Dumped it. Over time, that account has helped fund some projects I won’t have been able to undertake. One thing I do not believe in is begging. I don’t believe a minister of this gospel should turn a nuisance or parasite because he is living by faith. He or she does not put God in a good light. Infact, such living only ridicules the faith message. Planning and saving your money is not enough expression of faith. It is indeed an expression of wisdom. Jesus is both the power of God and the wisdom of God.

“There is treasure to be desired and oil in the dwelling of the wise; but a foolish man spendeth it up.” Proverbs 21:20

I decided a long time ago I won’t be like the anointed prophet who died and left his family in debt. You don’t have to be too. The secret is living with wisdom. Please understand this is not driven by fear. But more importantly, informed by biblical principles of wisdom.

Last year, I felt such an unction, I believe from the Holy Spirit to begin investing in real estate. Just acquiring landed properties. So I started. It doesn’t have to be very expensive. For a long time I thought doing so meant you had to have some massive stash of cash somewhere, but I’ve found out you don’t have to. I began a research on it, and found a credible christian firm and gradually from time to time, I put out some funds to do so. I believe one of the ways God wants us to have physical dominion over the earth is to Aquire property. I’ll advise every one to do so. There are many other kinds of investments you can put your money in, please find it. You see, my dream is to one day get to a place where I would be invited to minister and would give seeds everywhere I go instead of waiting for honorariums.Please please please do not live beyond your means,there is a difference between living by faith and living a fake life.Learn to grow in stages and phases.

SOW SEEDS AND INVEST IN THE KINGDOM

I’ve always said that the seed for financial prosperity is not worship. It is money. Many church musicians do not give. God doesn’t grant us an exemption on that principle because we are music ministers. We must learn to respond to the leading of the spirit to give when he says so.

Finally, God who calls us is equally able to take care of His own. I’ve always said I live a supply-based life. By this I mean, God supplies our needs per time. While we may not have billions stashed away at the bank, we have got unlimited flow of resources in glory, and in Christ Jesus. Such that every need is met every time. And at the end of the day, prosperity goes beyond money. It is having peace, joy, hope, love, and an assurance of eternal bliss. Things truly beyond anything money can buy. And don’t forget that money is a spirit – Mammon. And should only serve us, and not the other way round.

I hope this helps you.

Next we’ll be looking at Music Ministry Ethics. Some do’s and don’ts. Anointing and skill may open doors for you. But it takes wisdom and character to walk through them.