WHO SHOULD SING GOSPEL MUSIC?

There’s always a ‘strange’ reaction from the populace when a renowned secular artist releases a song that carries a biblical message. In some cases, the fellow gains more fans especially from the lukewarm ‘saint-group’ and even some of the ‘staunch brew.’ For the Luke-warm, it’s normally a gate pass to formally declare their support to the artiste. However, we know that they have always been fans, at least, behind the scenes. For the staunch one, it could be for the very hope that the artiste is moving towards salvation. This, if you can relate, is the very feeling that has surrounded the Kenyan Gospel industry in the recent past, when Sauti Sol released their song “Kuliko Jana” and when Nyashinski came out with the celebrated “Mungu Pekee.” If someone brought to you the lyrics of the above songs without the names of the composers, and assuming you have not heard anything about them, would you tell that they were sang by secular artistes?

Well, someone is about to say, “Yes, I got the Discernment Spirit.” That’s alright, whether or not you know the artiste, take the same lyrics, put on a beam balance with some of the lines we get from some of the fulltime gospel musicians. I bet you won’t really need to stress the Holy Spirit to show you the right lyrics to embrace. Let’s get back to the big question: Who should sing gospel music? Perhaps we should define the term ‘gospel.’ There are just thousands of people who have defined this word whether in school, church or even in the devil’s camp. However, for the sake of this post, I will just state the simple meaning. The word gospel refers to “Good News” and in the Christian circles, it’s the good news about Jesus Christ, the man who died on an old rugged cross for the sin of humanity. This portion of the holy scriptures can help amplify the message better:

 Luke: 4:18-19: The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he hath anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor; he hath sent me to heal the brokenhearted, to preach deliverance to the captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable year of the Lord.

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I tend to think that any song that should be classified as gospel needs to meet the above criteria as set by the master of Good News Himself. In this sense then, does it matter who does it? In some instance, days after Jesus had died, Paul, a murderer who would later become one of the important pioneers of the church, noted that he did not care whether or not those who preached the gospel did it out of malice or not. The main agenda is to see the message moving. Years before the coming of Jesus, his great grandfather would cry out thus: Psalms 150:6: Let everything that hath breath praise the LORD. This statement validates not only human beings but any other thing that has life to talk about the goodness of the creator, acknowledging the wonderful works of the maker.

The only danger of relying on the secular artistes in relaying the gospel is that doing so puts the Christian at a vulnerable situation to fall into heresy. So, it is important to scrutinize the lyrics before fully endorsing them. This, I should add, requires a deeper understanding of scripture since the composer may not be aware of the errors they make. Perhaps a simple advice I could tell secular artists is to always consult their Christian friends whenever they want to write a gospel song.

The problem with this again is that many a Christian are too shallow to be relied upon for such a task; otherwise we would not be having some shameful songs on our Television sets, on top of the charts, composed by ‘Born Again’ fellows. Wonder how this comes about? Check who their mentors are! God is not limited, if He used Nebuchadnezzar, changed Paul’s heart, he could send a gospel tune to anyone. Let the shallow Christian continue with gymnastics, He said he will even use rocks.
By now I know there's someone who feels that I'm just trying to justify secular artists. Yet the same person doesn't feel Christmas is complete without the church putting O Holy Night on the carols list. Follow this link to read the story behind this acclaimed hymn: The History of O Holy Night

 The writer is the founder of Dowe Music & Arts 

 and one of the worship leaders

 at Mavuno Church, Nakuru

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AFLEWO NAKURU Graces ASK Show

 AFLEWO at the 2018 Nakuru ASK show

The Gospel Music Industry has and will always be under scrutiny, with critics from all over the world. Well this is a good thing and it just confirms that a Christian is like a lamp set on a hill. In Kenya, it seems there are those who are dissatisfied with the content in the songs that gospel artists produce today. Just recently, we even heard Mr. Felix Oduor a.k.a Jalang’o, a comedian advising the Christians to rethink their songwriting skills. The nation is begging for authenticity.
However, the truth is that God has always had a remnant in every generation. There are within us, yes, just here in Kenya, gospel artistes who have a personal relationship with Christ and who compose music inspired of the Holy Scriptures. Some of them are not very famous but their music uplifts, entertains, refreshes and above all, glorifies God.
Apart from artistes, there are bodies springing up to encourage the true worshippers to keep the fire burning amidst the present confusion. Today, I will mention one of those bodies (Please note that this is not some sort of endorsement on any group but just an insight into some of the activities that the larger body of Christ and/or worshippers can emulate in the quest to equip the church in true worship)
Africa Let’s Worship(AFLEWO) is a non-profit organisation whose major aim is to bring together members of the body of Christ to worship. You can read more on the AFLEWO Website. The organisation has various chapters in Kenya as well as other countries in Africa. The main activity through which it achieves its mandate is through Music. There are however, other activities such as prayer, corporate social responsibilities as well as evangelism that become building blocks.

One becomes a member of AFLEWO through auditions which take place at the beginning of the year and then registration. Well it is important to note that all those who participate in the annual events do so at their own volition with a calling to serve. It is a voluntary task that one must be willing to serve and give their resources in terms of time and money. Even so, the registration fee is quite affordable since it varies from chapter to chapter depending on the economy of every city.

The registration for AFLEWO Nakuru has already been done. If you wish to participate as one of the ministers, you might want to start planning to join next year. Be sure to check in here for updates on the same. It’s amazing how God is using young people and the elderly alike to break the denominational barriers in Nakuru. As the practice sessions continue, everyone realizes that the very God we worship in different churches is the same and all He seeks is a heart of Worship. 95% of AFLEWO’s participants are worship leaders and/or gospel artistes, gifted instrumentalists but each of them submits to authority and on your first day you might think none of them knows a thing in music, as they follow the lead of the music director. How do you behave in your worship team?
It is important, as one may realize through following AFLEWO’s events, that worship is more than just a song or music. As worship leaders, we are called to lead others in an all-round manner of lifestyle. We’ve got to get in touch with the community, if our impact is to be felt. Gone are the days when servants of God would only appear on the pulpit on Sunday, preach like they don’t care about the earthly problems that the congregants go through and disappear for the next six days.

Last Sunday, AFLEWO graced the Nakuru Agricultural Society of Kenya(ASK)'s show through music ministry. This is just spectacular. In this respect, it goes beyond the norm where ministry has been known to happen only in church. I believe it is in interacting with professionals in various fields, just where they are that makes it easier to prove to them that God is looking out for them. Have you ever felt condemned on that day duty called at your workplace and you had to miss church? Don’t you think it would have been different if someone had come around and offered a prayer and perhaps read a scripture to you say for thirty minutes? Christians must seize these opportunities whenever they come because whether we like it or not, not everyone can come to church but we can take church to where everyone is. That’s the mandate in Matthew 28:19-20

Coming Saturday, AFLEWO Nakuru will be on the streets of the town doing worship through cleaning. Again, this is a pointer that a true worshiper has to embrace a servant-hood heart. How clean will our county be if churches took turns in maintaining the city? Remember, for AFLEWO, it’s an annual activity that takes place once in a year, and since membership is not permanent, the body just functions to reinforce what the church should be doing. See the flyer below for the update on the upcoming activity on 14th July.

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