The London Music Ministry Conference (LMMC) was held on 25 January at All Souls Langham Place and entitled ‘Singing in the Gap: worship while we wait for Jesus’ return’.
The aim of Music Ministry is ‘to serve the local church in helping leadership teams and individuals to serve God with the gifts He has given them in music’. The ultimate goal is that the church is built up by congregational singing, as the word of Christ dwells in God’s people richly (Col. 3:16).
Andrew Sach spoke from Matthew 5:1-12. ‘As members of the kingdom of heaven, we’re the most blessed people in the world! This serves as a motivation for Christians to sing.’
Graham Beynon spoke on the Israelites’ song in Exodus 15, encouraging people to think about singing in three dimensions: look look back to what God has done; upwards, reflecting the current truths of our relationship with God in light of His past acts; look forward in hope to the fulfilment of God’s salvation plan. These perspectives need to be kept in balance in congregational singing, grounded in the events of Jesus’ death and resurrection. Beynon carried a useful warning of a tendency in some more recent songs to an over-realised eschatology.
During the day new songs were introduced and seminars were held on themes ranging from service planning to singing with children. Music Ministry should be commended on yet another edifying word-centred, local-church-focused conference.
