The Fat and Bloated Kings of TIny Little Kingdoms

I have spoken on my blog many times about the positive reasons why I want to base all my ministry in the local church - and only be accountable to its leadership. I believe it to be a healthier and more obedient path. The local church is the best qualified steward to ensure the worship of God is handled in a way that honours Him.

For 10 years I published my songs and released records with some great people. Many men and women who love God and whose greatest desire is to resource the church. In 2001 when Kingsway and Survivor formalised their ties with EMICMG and the Sparrow Group, I can remember sitting in an “artists” meeting with many of our new American partners. I’d been to a handful of artist meetings before, they tended to be a good chance to meet up with all those who worked for Kingsway and who were working hard for your ministry. It was also a great opportunity to meet the other songwriters and musicians who also were connected to the label.

From 2001 onwards these meetings took a different tone. Our first encounter with our American partners greatly troubled me. We spent an hour looking at sales figures, streams of revenue and market strategies. We listened to a few speeches on how important we all were to EMICMG and they would reassure us that they were “all about the songs”. Which in the Christian Publishing world translates in to “songs make money”.

I can remember sitting there and inside I was screaming “IT’S NOT ALL ABOUT THE BLOODY SONGS!”. I was desperate for someone to talk about the church in terms that didn’t make it the market, or the consumers, of our products. I longed for someone to talk about building the Kingdom or about the Glory of God. It never came. Then towards the end of the day I was astounded when they started to pull out gold, silver and platinum discs to hand out to those writers whose songs had appeared on the biggest selling albums.

Every year after that the same patterned followed. We would meet up in a country mansion conference centre. Meet and greet all the American partners, who grew fatter and fatter year on year. A few tedious speeches about how important all the song writers were - though some are clearly more important than others. A look at the previous years sales figures and a review of how many Dove Awards the group had been nominated for and had won. This was then followed by the now customary handing out of Gold Discs for contributions to compilation albums. Once again the people entrusted with God’s worship were forming objects out of gold and silver - the Old Testament irony seemed to be lost on everyone else.

At some point I’d get to meet a few of the senior executives and they’d tell me what great talent I had and how important I was to them (ie. I needed to write better songs) and they would say how they were watching my progress keenly (ie. I seriously had to write some money making songs soon). The whole thing left me feeling sick and confused. From the first class travel and the five star accommodation to the ever bulging waist lines it left a sour taste and an unwanted impression.

Were these the people whom I trusted with owning and managing my songs? Were these people really the stewards of God’s worship that they should be? I never experienced any deep sense of spiritual integrity or humble obedience. Not that it wasn’t there - but I didn’t see it.

The modern worship movement/industry/kingdom (whatever you want to call it) is sick and its fat and its lazy and its greedy. It is full to the brim of good and gifted people who absolutely love God - yet many of whom are totally blind to its shortcomings and misdirection. They see no incongruence with businesses that deal in God’s worship. They are self seeking because they have to be. That is the nature of business. There are bills to pay and salaries to provide. Projects can’t break even they have to make profit. Markets have to be explored. Revenue streams created and absorbed. They have no choice because their livelihoods, families and mortgages depend on it.

Yet that doesn’t seem quite right, does it?


Jeshurun put on weight and bucked;
      you got fat, became obese, a tub of lard.
   He abandoned the God who made him,
      he mocked the Rock of his salvation.
   They made him jealous with their foreign newfangled gods,
      and with obscenities they vexed him no end.
   They sacrificed to no-god demons,
      gods they knew nothing about,
   The latest in gods, fresh from the market,
      gods your ancestors would never call "gods."
   You walked out on the Rock who gave you your life,
      forgot the birth-God who brought you into the world.

Deut 32:15-18