There are some seriously talented individuals in this world. If you don’t think so just check out the latest round of budding young singers, musicians on youtube.
Or you can catch an episode of America’s Got Talent to see some oddly amusing “talents”. After catching a few minutes of a recent episode of AGT I was wondering what the world is supposed to do with all this? Some of these people have talents that they have cultivated, worked to develop, and are very entertaining, but there just may not be a market for it. That got me thinking about the church. What are we supposed to do with obvious talent that we don’t have a place for in our worship services. God designs churches with specific visions to reach certain communities and connect with certain people. That’s why there are so many different churches and their should be!
1 Peter 4:10 says, “As each has received a gift, use it to serve one another, as good stewards of God’s varied grace…” Peter tells us every gift can be used to serve people and glorify God.
But, with the vision of our church in mind, what am I supposed to do with an incredibly talented kazoo player (a real thing that happened) or to make it more realistic a wonderfully trained oboe player? Playing the oboe is a God-given ability and is no less valuable than playing the guitar in the eyes of God, but it’s impossible to create a place where everyone’s talent can be used in the worship service setting. If you tried you could very realistically end up with a 3-ring circus. We are trying to build our bands in the way that best supports the vision of our churches. So what is the church supposed to do with uniquely talented people?
1.) Take a Responsible Risk
While you need to maintain a certain standard and sound that fits your congregation don’t be afraid to involve some of these uniquely talented people from time to time. We’ve featured harmonica players, string ensembles, etc… that don’t fit our every week sound, but are great for mixing it up and including fresh talents in the worship service.
2.) Support Them
Look for ways to encourage and support these people. If you have an oboe player and can’t involve them very much in the worship service support what they do in the community. Attend their concerts to show that you and the church value what they do and support them even if their talent may not be directly useable on Sundays. Their talent is still extremely valuable to the Kingdom of God!
3.) Discover Ways To Help Them Develop
Make sure to nurture them and challenge them just like you would any musician. This is something that I could definitely grow in. I want to know more about the unique talents in our church and how to challenge people to grow. Statistics show that after age 27 artists stop advancing and growing in their art and I want to always encourage people to more deeply develop their God-given talents. God deserves our best and no matter what is used on Sundays everyone’s talent is valuable and given by God. Therefore, we all have the same responsibility to multiple and develop that talent for His glory.
There are unique talents that maybe the church you attend can’t use regularly in services, but aside from things that are contrary to His Word there is no talent the church cannot support, encourage, and invest in. Every creative person no matter how unique or odd their talent may seem was given that talent and passion by their creator so let’s find ways to support and encourage all the arts in our community and all the talents in and around our churches.