Ross Cobb has observed that contemporary band directors and traditional organists are often at each others' throats.
In an effort to remove roadblocks to using music for the gospel the St Andrew's Cathedral's Music Director is urging people to embrace both traditional and contemporary music.
"Neither should look down their noses at the other. If we are going to reach 10 per cent of Sydney, then it is inevitable that we are going to have to make "horses for courses' decisions and incorporate as many styles of music as there are people. The gospel is bigger than any musical style, be it old or recent".
Ross believes church ministers can help team building across the musical divide.
"Both sides need to understand each other and develop a common vision: that of reaching the lost" Unity is always a powerful thing for gospel ministry."
Mr Cobb believes more churches should be using traditional services for outreach.
"A commitment to excellent classical music is essential if we are going to take the gospel to all of Sydney," he says.
"If you have an organist, love him. He can help you harness the power hymns have in reaching the unchurched."
South welcomes tradition
At the parish of Mittagong in the southern highlands, assistant minister, the Rev Janelle Baglin, says their new 11am traditional Anglican service has seen growth.
"It is beginning to grow and many visitors to the Highlands attend this service " probably because it enables them to have a leisurely start to their day."
The 11am has been running since February 2007. Prior to that, the church had an 8am traditional service and a 10am ‘middle of the road’ family service.
"We found families were dissatisfied with the service as they felt it was too traditional, and the older folk were unhappy because they wanted more tradition, especially in terms of music," Mrs Baglin says.
"We wanted to honour our older folk by providing them with a service that they could relate to and worship at. These are saints who have served God for many, many years, and it would be very wrong for us to make them go to a service where they were uncomfortable."
Mrs Baglin’s experience in music ministry includes having been the full-time musical director at St Luke's, Miranda from 1991 to 2001. She says the Mittagong leadership team has tried to give the 11am service a distinct culture.
"We have three hymns and have returned to using hymn books. This means our music is very similar to our 8am service. But the choir also sings regularly at the 11am service and is the only service at which they sing. It is one of the defining characteristics of that service. We also have regular musical items that happen at no other service," she says.
"Hymns are good to use if the congregation knows them. And visitors and newcomers will feel more comfortable if they know the songs and can sing them," Mrs Baglin says.
The older congregation is best served by both the style and language of the hymns according to Mrs Baglin.
"Many know the words and find them edifying. They understand the biblical imagery that many hymns contain without it needing to be explained."
Mrs Baglin says this service gives older citizens the type of church service they expect.
"It gives them what they went to when they were a child, but with a little more interaction and congregation participation. We are working to attract those aged 60 years plus," she says.
"The Highlands has a higher proportion of retirees per head of population so we are trying to provide a real option for people to invite their friends to come along to. We try to give them that traditional church experience while providing a relevant Bible message that is well applied."
Blowing God's trumpet
Professional jazz musician Richard Maegraith is breaking new ground as a "jazz catechist' working to reach out to Sydney's jazz community.
Dean of Sydney Phillip Jensen especially appointed the St Andrew's Cathedral member and, according to the Moore College student, good progress is being made.
Earlier this month Mr Maegraith organised a get together with a mix of 16 professional jazz musos and students from the Conservatorium of Music in his home.
"What was exciting was the whole mixture of backgrounds " both denominationally and where people were at in their walk with the Lord," he says.
"By being in the relaxed environment of my lounge room we were able to have a Bible study, pray, then have a jam together."
Richard says he has given the group a three-fold goal.
"I'm trying to start a nucleus of like-minded individuals who see a need to meet together to encourage one another, pray and evangelise our peers."
Mr Maegraith says it is important to overcome the challenge of ministering effectively to musicians, whose lifestyle and schedules tend to clash with church meeting times.
"Many musos leave churches because they don't fit into mainstream church culture. Due to lots of late Saturday and Sunday night work it's hard for them to get into the church model of worship and gathering," Richard explains.
Another successful initiative is the Cathedral's jazz service that took place on June 8.
The 10:30am service exchanged the choir and pipe organ for re-harmonised hymns and a rhythm section.
"It was an opportunity to enjoy the gift of music in a different way and the response was overwhelmingly positive, particularly towards our willingness to try something different and thereby reach new people," Richard says.
"By holding it during the Darling Harbour Jazz Festival we had many people present who I didn't recognise and who later came up to talk to me."
Richard also runs a Bible study for around half-a-dozen jazz students from the Sydney Conservatorium of Music which is currently on hiatus due to university holidays.
Mr Cobb can confirm that the Cathedral's ministry at the Conservatorium has flourished in the last four years.
"We are just seeing the new grads coming through and that's starting to pay off in terms of the music we are able to deliver at the Cathedral," he says.
"Pray that God will bring in a harvest of gospel-minded musicians across Sydney to create the church music of the future."
