Shout for joy to the LORD, all the earth.
Worship the LORD with gladness;
come before him with joyful songs.
Psalm 100:1-2
The Music Ministry’s job is to lead congregational singing on Sunday mornings! Our core instruments are voice, guitar, piano, and drums but the team usually includes one or more of the following: bass guitar, violin, saxophone, or trumpet. The songs chosen are always theologically accurate, but they come from a wide range of styles and eras. If you’re interested in being a part of this ministry, please contact our Music Director, Jesskah McCartney, in person on a Sunday morning, or via the Crestwicke office.
about us
We are 17 musicians, 10 vocalists, and 9 audio-visual technicians. Our job is to lead and facilitate congregational singing on a Sunday morning through songs specifically selected to help us prepare for and reflect on the sermon that day.
We sing a range of very old, old, kind-of-old, not-really-new, newish, new, and very new songs in hopes of creating a repertoire of very good songs, regardless of the dates they were written. Most of the songs recount the gospel (to varying levels of detail) because it’s at the core of who we are as a church. The Good News is always “on topic” no matter what the sermon that day: it’s always something for unchurched people to hear, and always something for believers to ever be reminded of.
our audience
We sing songs to and for God: our Messiah, Father, Creator, Redeemer, King, Saviour, Lord... Jesus, YHWH, Holy Spirit. We sing to worship Him. We sing because He deserves praise for who He is and for what He has done. We sing because we want to praise Him for who He is, and for what He’s done. We sing from a place of foundational joy because we have been redeemed and rescued by Jesus and have nothing to fear, everything to live for, and more to look forward to. Outwardly, however, we can sing in celebration, in prayer, in sorrow, in a combination of those, or in something else entirely depending on what we’re working through as individuals or how the Holy Spirit leads.
It is up to the heart of every individual to choose to worship God (through song or otherwise) as an act of the will, but each and every song in Crestwicke’s repertoire is scrutinized for theological accuracy (first) and for singability (second) so that the intellectual and physical/vocal side of singing is without hurdles, and the individual need only be concerned with their own heart or attitude. We strive to lead well with voices, instruments, and technology so that it’s easy to follow or join in singing, rather than being distracting because of sloppiness or a “performance” feel.
joining the Music ministry
The ministry always welcomes new members who demonstrate musical ability (through a non-scary audition), and who demonstrate having faith in Christ (through a non-scary conversation). If you play an instrument not mentioned in the first paragraph, you are still welcome to join.
If you can sing and would like to learn to sing harmony, (or to read music, to sight-read music, to transpose, or other certain music theory skills) please contact the church and we will organise private or group lessons pro bono.
The Music Director generally organises the elements of the service including Scripture readings which are currently assigned to musicians/vocalists by default as they are already on stage but if you are interested in reading Scripture during our services, we would love to have you!