Welcome to our Total Praise Band Ministry

Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly as you teach and admonish one another in all wisdom, and as you sing psalms, hymns and spiritual songs with gratitude in our hearts to God (Colossians 3:16 NIV)

Praise the Lord, Praise God in His sanctuary; Praise Him in His mighty heavens. Praise Him for His acts of power; praise him for his surpassing greatness.  Praise Him with the sounding of the trumpet; praise him with the harp and the lyre; praise Him with the tambourine and dancing; praise Him with the strings and flute. Praise Him with the clash of cymbals; Praise Him with resounding cymbals. LET EVERYTHING THAT HAS BREATHE PRAISE THE LORD( Psalm 150:1-6 NIV)

Our ministry seeks to lead people into a closer relationship with God through praise and worship, discipleship, fellowship, and evangelism.  Our primary means for accomplishing this is through Christian music, incorporating various musical instruments for this purpose.

Our MUSIC Praise and Worship Philosophy

• Stylistically Diverse
  Montco Bible Fellowship has a rich tradition of drawing the best from contemporary resources and great traditional Christian music from across the ages. Because our aim is to glorify God with music of excellence drawn from many genres, the musical styles and the composition of the ensembles are deliberately varied from week to week.
   
• Respectful of both Traditional and Contemporary Sources.
  We seek to avoid dichotomy between traditional and contemporary worship styles by blending worship music that makes extensive use of the rich heritage
  of Christian hymns, as well as the best of contemporary songs and song settings.  All is to be done with integrity, good musical taste, and excellence in honor of the Lord.
   
• Actively Involves the Congregation.
  Although we embrace solo and ensemble instrumental and/or vocal performances, our primary goal is to encourage members of the congregation and visitors to actively participate in musical praise and worship of our Lord.
• **Ideas taken from the WORSHIP AND ARTS MINISTRY guidelines at NPC  as we believe they also closely match our own musical philosophy at Montco Bible Fellowship)

PHILOSOPHY**

The following are important biblical principles as it relates to our ministry in music:

1. God considers music a very high priority in celebrating His Worship. I Corinthians 14:25-26, Ephesians 5:19
2. Musicians are ministers appointed by God and music for worship is not for entertainment. I Chronicles 16:4-6
3. The leadership is called by God to be    teaching everyone involved in the music program, as well as its congregation, how to minister to one another through music. As a part of the ministry of equipping others, we may utilize resource persons when more musicians are needed. Ephesians 4:11-12
4. Singing praise to God is not optional. It is commanded to all. Psalm 66:1-2, I Chronicles 16:23-35
5. The extensive use of musical instruments is commanded in the scriptures. Psalms 98:4-6, 81:1-4, and 33:1-3, 147:7, and 150
6. All songs text must be consistent with scripture and doctrinally sound. Colossians 3:16
7. All music must be appropriate for the occasion and inspirational. Ephesians 4:29
8. The ministry of music is seen as a wonderful opportunity for evangelism. It is open to both members and friends of our congregation.

Psalm 34:3  “Glorify the Lord with me; Let us exalt His name together.”

 **The above biblical reference ideas obtained from WORSHIP AND ARTS MINISTRY guidelines at NPC.  The above is directly taken from the Word of God and reflects the musical philosophy of the band members.

Expectations as agreed to by band members:

1. Band members should be born again believers
2. Band members (both individually, in pairs, and as a group) should maintain an active devotional life with the Lord Jesus Christ including time each day for worship, the Word, and prayer.
3. Band members should be committed, both individually and as a group, to Montco Bible Fellowship in every way:  committed to the leadership, committed to attendance (i.e. church services and rehearsal), committed to faithful stewardship  (through tithes, offerings, missions), and committed to prayer.
4. Band members should be committed to an adequate amount of rehearsal and preparation time prior to ministry.
5. Band members are expected to be humble, flexible, gentle and resilient. Advance planning goes into the scheduling of music. However, surprises frequently occur and changes must be made (e.g. rescheduling rehearsals to accommodate others when it is practical to do so, etc.).  Musicians will maintain flexibility and a sweet spirit during these circumstances.
6. Band members should fully support the band ministry, each other, and the other ministries at Montco Bible Fellowship.   We should get to know each other as a body and be supportive.  Band members will strive to be flexible of the needs of other ministry groups in such areas as use of church space, equipment, church programs, and working with other ministry groups on special projects, musical performances, etc.
7. Band members will be supportive of and actively incorporate Montco's I.O.U. (Inward - Outward - Upward) philosophy as part of their monthly itinerary.

History of the band and the band name:

The band, originally made up of Andrew James on drums, Henry Sekawungu on bass guitar, and Sharon Jeffries on piano, was created during fall 2001 at the suggestion of Senior Pastor Tony Hart and under the supervision of Associate Pastor Sam Butler.  The group was named "Total Praise Band" at the suggestion of Andrew James, as the name best reflects our intent to musically laud/extol our Lord God completely and absolutely.  The band became a formal ministry group of Montco Bible Fellowship Church in January of 2003.)