Why We Worship Leaders Fear Getting Old (Repost)

Zac HicksChurch & Ecclesiology, Worship and Pastoral Ministry4 Comments

I first posted this back in 2011. It sparked a LOT of heavy conversation, from the philosophical-cultural, to the personal. I can’t tell you the sad testimonies I’ve heard from former worship leaders and pastors who were kicked to the curb, largely because of the issues raised below. I want to continue raising this issue, because it has the power to affect one’s sense of calling to ministry within the local church. So here it is, slightly modified and updated.

Many informed commentators have noted the dramatic shifts in cultural thinking which took place in the 1960s. Of the countless changes, one of the more dramatic shifts was our culture’s general perception of aging. Young people were beginning to be identified as a group and class unto themselves, and with this classification has come a strong leaning in culture to glamorize youthfulness and abhor the aging process. The phrase “youth culture” would have been unintelligible prior to the 60s, but today it is common speak.  The glamorization of youthfulness affects everything from marketing and entertainment to presidential elections and local church ministry.  And obsession with youth culture has affected the ministry of worship, as well.

I had a recent phone conversation with a worship leader friend of mine who leads music on the other side of the country.  In a candid moment, we were both expressing concerns about the longevity of our jobs as local church music leaders.  We wondered whether, in ten to fifteen years, we would be viewed as out-of-date, irrelevant, washed up, and cheesy—one of those old guys trying to look and act young.  Ultimately, we questioned whether we would be as effective in doing our task once we started “looking old.”

No worship leader really voices it.  No congregation overtly acknowledges it.  But many of us think there is something lacking in a worship leader who has gray hair or smile lines.  He or she must not be truly “with it” and up on trends (another value exposed which needs to be challenged).  He or she wouldn’t be capable of authentically crafting and leading a musical style that is current and fresh.  They might be just fine in a traditional or blended worship environment, but if we want to “reach young people,” a forty-something at the helm is no good.

This is lamentable.  And (to make up a word) repentable.  That we were even having such a discussion tells us that culture’s obsession with youth has invaded the heart of the church.  What does the Bible have to say about being old?

Is not wisdom found among the aged? Does not long life bring understanding? (Job 12:12)

I thought, “Age should speak; advanced years should teach wisdom.” (Job 32:7)

At the window of my house I looked down through the lattice. I saw among the simple, I noticed among the young men, a youth who had no sense. He was going down the street near her corner, walking along in the direction of her house. (Proverbs 7:6-8)

The glory of young men is their strength, gray hair the splendor of the old. (Proverbs 20:29)

Do not rebuke an older man harshly, but exhort him as if he were your father.  Treat…older women as mothers. (1 Timothy 5:1, 2)

Prior to the 60s, the elderly were much more celebrated in culture.  Most native cultures—from Native Americans to native Hawaiians to native Africans—favor the aged as the source of knowledge and wisdom.  Such cultures actually look to the elderly for guidance for the future (imagine that!).  Nowadays in the West, the elderly are irrelevant cultural cast-offs.  They are the Dalit caste of modern America.  We quarantine them in homes.  In church meetings, we roll our eyes when old Mr. Jones stands up and wags his finger in the air.  And we worship leaders brush off their comments like dust on our feet.  And we move “forward.”

Though I’ve never heard it from a single one of them, I’d bet that every twenty-something who’s been a worship leader for more than a year has had the thought, “What happens when I get older?”  (Implication: I have to do something different, because this can’t work.)  I know a few forty- and fifty-something worship leaders who are currently looking for positions in churches, and I know that the market is tougher for them. 

This ageism is more than just bias and prejudice.  It’s sinful idolatry.  And I’m guilty myself of playing into the hands of these gods every time I entertain a fear of getting older or judge an “older” worship leader as irrelevant or out of touch.

The truth is: the more I’ve gotten to know the generations of worship leaders above me, the more I realize that the Bible is true.  With age comes wisdom.  Churches should desire older worship leaders.  Though youth should not be despised (1 Timothy 4:12), biblical wisdom reminds us that being young carries liabilities against which we need to be on guard.  I long for my generation of worship leaders to have open and honest conversation about this evil bubbling under the surface.  I long for us to confess it, to repent of it, and to seek its change.

4 Comments on “Why We Worship Leaders Fear Getting Old (Repost)”

  1. I admit I fear this as a 23 year old. I'm tempted to think I would have to get my full time worship leading gig before I'm 30 in order to stick with worship leading the rest of my life. That or do church planting. More importantly though, as you said, it's about people's hearts changing from that of cultural expectations/thinking to that of biblical trust and reality. Definitely something for God's people to pray for.

  2. Good post. Thanks for reprinting it.

    You and Conner have put your finger on the issue. As long as we (and The Sheep under our care) continue to view (music) ministry as something physical and temporal, we'll continue to see our pastors 'kicked to the curb.' When will we pastors (of music OR preaching) truly believe that true worship (whether expressed in obedience or music) is a matter of s/Spirit and t/Truth, and then lead The Sheep entrusted to us to believe the same?

    How come preaching pastors aren't subject to the same disrespect as music pastors? Their wisdom is recognized and given double honor- as it should be. The ministry of music is just as much a ministry of the Word as is the ministry of preaching (compare Col. 1:28 and 3:16).

  3. I think that there is definitely an "agism" in the church. Some of it is cultural and some of it is the oftentimes single generational approach the church takes in it's ministries. It's a single layer approach where we focus on the current level of staff and we don't build layers into our ministries. This is often perpetuated by pastors whose focus can be on their current career rather than the next generation who will eventually replace them. For example, the long term Youth Pastor is one who eventually isn't the face of the ministry as much as the one who leads the leaders of the ministry. Worship leaders can stay culturally relative throughout their careers, but the trick is developing the next generation of worship leaders along the way and not just when they see their careers waining. The ideal worship leader is a guy who leads well and then trains others to lead well. The long term Worship Leader will have great worship leaders he is mentoring who can become the "face" of the ministry while he remains the "wisdom" behind the ministry. Teaching pastors have a longer leash when it comes to perceived longevity, but the admonition is still to build into the next generation of teachers, Moving from 100% of the teaching to 65% or less of the teaching throughout the year.
    And this isn't pandering to culture as much as being multigenerational in our own approach as ministers.

  4. Finally, a post that reveals how I've been feeling about the sin of ageism and worship leaders. Amen brother! Why can the world's secular bands still be around playing for 40+ years and we think it's so cool yet it's NOT cool for older worship leaders who are crafted musicians in their own right, to continue playing music in ministry?!?!! It makes no sense and it's dishonoring to God and His Word. It's because when we start compromising in the Church, it leads to more compromise and so on and so on.

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