Pandemic? No Panic!
Christian Music Ministries: a year of challenges and blessings
When your ministry involves travelling round the UK (and beyond), to churches and other Christian groups, using music, song and prayer ministry to encourage, teach, inspire and equip (and even entertain), what do you do when travel, events and particularly live music are banned?
CMM’s diary is normally booked up for months, even years, ahead with invitations to lead workshops, seminars and sometimes concert performances of musicals, coupled with times of worship and teaching, and a gentle introduction to Holy Spirit ministry. These are led by Roger Jones, or one of his assistants, often with a volunteer team of musicians and ministry leaders.
Crisis
As the pandemic hit, postponements multiplied as did event cancellations. Without events income from gifts, sales of CDs, music scores and other books plummeted. The future looked challenging, to say the least.
So why are we still giving thanks? Here are a few reasons.
Something old(ish)
Heart and Soul, CMM’s weekly programme on Brumside Radio online has continued to offer encouragement, uplift and testimony, with a variety of worship music (from 6-8 every Wednesday, repeated at 11 on Thursday morning, with archive programmes on the CMM website). There’s a mix of local people with national and even international Christian leaders and musicians all talking about their life and faith. Past star interviewees included our own Marcus Pagnam and Darren Richards. Frequent contacts from around the world encourage and remind we are truly “one people” in the Lord.
Something new
this last year CMM has also been streaming the weekly Sunday morning service from Coleshill Baptist Church, led by the minister Rev. Simon Gudger (a long-term CMM soloist).
responding to the lockdown isolation and anxiety, Roger and his wife, Mary, have started sharing a weekly encouragement, Live at 5, on Mondays on CMM’s YouTube stream.
online conferences and seminars have replaced previous live events — but have enjoyed being able to welcome even more participants, freed from the limits of venues and accessibility.
choir practices have also managed to resume via Zoom.
New creativity
Meanwhile there has been a burst of creativity of all kinds, much now available free via the website.
pre-existing audio recordings transformed with creative and uplifting visuals.
through lyricist/composer collaborations via email or phone, new songs have been written, remotely recorded with soloists and even choir. With Easter coming, more new songs are in the final stages.
almost unexpectedly, a new family mini-musical — Three Wise Camels — has been written, recorded, published (complete with comic cartoon camels) and turned into a semi-animated YouTube video for Christmas 2020. Hopefully, live performances will be possible in due course.
another musical is in the early stages of writing and development.
Thank God with us
for this outpouring of his gifts, in music, word, image and technology
for medical developments that mean Summer and Autumn 2021 events seem possible again
Please pray with us
for wise adjustment for all as events start up again
for solutions to the financial shortfall
for staffing as two team members are about to leave
And finally, a big thank you to all those who have prayed for me and for the work of CMM over the years. You’ve been vital part of God using and magnifying the creativity he inspires and reaching out in his love.
Alison Fuggle
Christian Music Ministries
