Developing Christlike Communities Through Music

This session will be livestreamed.

Viewing the purpose of church music through the prism of St Paul's metaphor of the "body of Christ", this session will explore how church music enables us to build Christlike communities, in high and low-resource contexts. How music-making helps the gathered community to engage more closely with the Spirit which, for Paul, is the fundamental force that knits the body together. How it encourages those who are part of the worshipping community to act in a more loving and inclusive way towards one another, and towards those beyond the church. This is key, because love, according to Paul, is how the body is built up and invigorated.

Speakers

Andy Thomas

Andy Thomas is author of Resounding Body: Building Christlike Church Communities Through Music (Sacristy Press, 2020), an associate tutor at RSCM and a freelance church musician working mainly with Anglican and Methodist churches in Bedfordshire. Andy has served as Director of Music for a variety of churches and community choirs in Sheffield and London. His (fabulous, challenging) experience at St John's, Waterloo inspired his book, where he built a choir from scratch despite being assured it could not be done. Andy is passionate about the power of music to grow and invigorate church communities, and is particularly keen to support those with limited musical resources.