Get paid to play at church?

[christhee68]

I play in an all-volunteer praise band at my church, but I know several professional musicians who play at other churches and get paid for it. They usually get $100-$150 per service.

Do any of you get paid to play at church or know of people who do?

[Geoff Charles]

A co-worker of mine get's paid for playing at Church. He also mentioned that since they get payed for playing, you have to officially audition for a place on the praise team.

[Plexi8759]

Our worship band is also an all volunteer group though I would like to get paid not just for monetary reasons. Also the gift of service to me is offered to Jesus and I do not begrudge giving it. I would simply like more to be expected of us as a group. As it is now I could go all week without even thinking about the next service only to show up and "wing it" giving a sub par performance ..... If I wanted to. Professionals by strict definition get paid to do what they do ... It's their profession. As a result they are often at a higher level and more is expected of them. On a side note it would also be nice if it were natural for an entire group to strive to be better regardless of monetary benefit.

[bikeracr]

I had to audition, but don't get paid...nor do I want to. I spend a lot of time working up the music and preparing. Like me, most of the musicians are volunteer, but come to a 3 hour rehearsal prepared. This is my way of serving, using my gift, and having fun!

[TxTeleMan]

Never got paid. Go to weeknight practice. Go to Sunday morning practice. Learn songs on my own time. Play Sunday morning. Own expensive gear.

The church Music Director gets paid. They pay the sound men. But not musicians. For us, we're sharing our gift...

[jaiacosm]

i do get paid...I know its our way of serving and all... but in the bible all of the ppl working in the temple the musicians, scribes all of them, the priests, they all got paid..
Pastor gets paid, sound guy gets paid. Why some do and others dont.? Musicians get paid.

[Plexi8759]

Originally Posted by bikeracr

I had to audition, but don't get paid...nor do I want to. I spend a lot of time working up the music and preparing. Like me, most of the musicians are volunteer, but come to a 3 hour rehearsal prepared. This is my way of serving, using my gift, and having fun!

Very well said ... I'm ultimately responsible for me and I work hard probably because I enjoy what I do so much. I don't need to get paid to do it and I've gotten used to the fact that some people are unable to devote the time necessary to be prepared for a 3 hour rehearsal though if we did we would be much more skilled as a group.

[Thighbanez]

I don't get paid at my own church, but if and when I play out at others I get paid. Sometimes I volunteer for those too.

[PopsCC]

Was going to say I've never been paid in 30+ years of playing in churches; however, a few times as a guest, we received a love offering, which usually covered the cost of getting there...
But, I've never expected to be paid; God put the music in me, and I'm just letting it out for Him.

[74 Deluxe]

I don't get paid but the benefits are awesome...

[Teleworshipkid]

Does all-you-can-eat sushi once a month count as being paid?

[dconeill]

I used to do music setting for my parish, and laying out the weekly worship guides. I insisted on being paid, mostly so I wouldn't contribute to a race-to-the-bottom among music copyists in the area. I then contributed all I was paid, and some more besides, back to the parish.

[bear04]

I don't get paid at church but have been paid when we played at outside events. Like previously mentioned, usually only enough to cover the cost of our gas to get there. Anything above and beyond the cost of our gas is donated back to the event we are playing at.

[Joe-Bob]

When I played at church, I got paid, but not nearly enough. The result was that the group leader didn't value what I did there, and even though I did excellent work, he had no respect for it either.

Get paid for playing at church. If you choose to give it back, fine.

[PopsCC]

Have to add to what I posted above:
If I was doing worship music as a full-time or part-time vocation (minister of music, etc.), I would expect to be paid.

[Robbied_216]

I run a praise and worship team at my church on a volunteer basis. There is a high expectation on me, and I have a high expectation on the others that are involved. We treat it with the same seriousness as many would a "gig". As far as I'm concerned, our p&w should be treated with greater excellence than anything we do, regardless if there is money involved.

I wouldn't ever want to be paid on a per service basis, (I personally don't like the message that conveys about building the church) but if I was offered a full time position on my church staff and one of my responsibilities was to run this team, I'd be down with that.

[Thighbanez]

Originally Posted by Thighbanez

I don't get paid at my own church, but if and when I play out at others I get paid. Sometimes I volunteer for those too.

Just to note: My playing is nowhere near good enough to even come close to being paid at my church. The keyboardist....now HE deserves to be paid!!! That guy is frickin amazing and totally blessed in the fingers and heart by God!

[soundchaser59]

If I were to get a staff position at a bigger church doing fulltime music and guitar, then yeah getting paid would be great. But as long as I'm just on a rotating team thing playing 4 songs 1x or 2x a month for the church, I dont need paid. I think there is a bigger church down the street, maybe 10 times our membership, where the regulars might get a stipend or something, but it's not a lot of money. But I notice they are also epxected to be a lot more dedicated and to play a lot better than your run of the mill volunteer who thinks he can go in and practice everything once on Saturday night and nail it all like Brewster the next morning.

[revelator]

Fulltime staff until this past Sunday (now I'm "self employeed" as a church planter) & I got paid then.

Now I lead worship as a "guest" leader & get paid for it. I've also gotten paid to lead at conferences & retreats. If I'm the leader I just let them know they need to cover expenses (aka gas, hotel if needed & food) for myself & my team & that anything above that is greatly appriciated. Now when I've been asked to play guitar for a artist at their concert or conference I usually "require" payment but even then it depends on who/where/when.

[McGlamRock]

Haven't spoke to her much about it, but the keyboard player in my band gets paid for the services she plays in around the Bay Area.