Vicky, tell us about yourself – where do you live and what do you do?
I'm originally from Canterbury in the UK, but I now live in San Diego California. I've been involved in worship ministry since I was old enough to shake a tambourine at the age of three! I first led songs for a congregation when I was about 12, and from my early teens knew that was what I wanted to do with my life - help people connect with God through music and lyrics. Now I lead worship across the States and Europe, record albums of worship songs and also speak and teach. I love it!
What’s your advice to young women who want to become worship leaders?
My advice would be - go for it! You can do it! Sadly there were few women leading worship when I was growing up. My Mum led the songs in our local church, so thankfully I had a role model to watch. But many young girls say to me after I play "I've only seen guys leading worship on platforms until I saw you. I feel called to worship leading, but until now I felt a bit disqualified. Now I've seen you up there, I know God can use me to lead worship someday too!" That really motivates me to keep going, and show the younger girls they can step into this calling.
A survey in the UK said that men want to sing proper ‘macho songs’ in church and don’t like touchy feely worship songs, and yet most worship leaders and song writers are male. What’s going on there? Is this true in your experience?
Maybe it’s because the male songwriters writing the more emotional songs are artists and creative types who are more in touch with their feelings and more used to expressing them publicly and musically? Overall, I don't think that it's really about church or God. I think many men (and women) find it hard to express emotion in any public setting if they aren't used to it. And public corporate singing is an unfamiliar practice to many. So I think it has more to do with that, than the type of songs we sing in worship. When I lead some congregations I can tell they are struggling to express themselves...so I'll use less intimate songs and take the pressure off them rather than push them where they aren't wanting to go.
Do you think women lead worship differently, and if so how?
Genesis says God made us in His image "male and female he created them". So both men and women carry something unique in the way they reflect the 'imago dei'. I don't think of it as a competition - rather it’s a complementary relationship. Only when both men and women are represented in ministry can the fullness of God's image be represented. There are characteristics that women bring to worship leading that a man can't, and vice versa. It's not always what you'd think though. Many would assume women bring the 'softer side' to worship and men the 'stronger side'. I disagree as that for me feels like stereotypical gender roles. I've seen some incredibly sensitive men bring a very deep, emotive element to worship. And I've seen some women bring a very strong war cry of aggressive kingdom-bringing worship. So both genders bring something special and unique, but much depends on the individual and their personality. I'm a girl but I love playing my electric guitar loudly through my amp and rocking out! That for me is genuine worship from my heart.
At the age of 18, I couldn't figure out which of two pathways to choose - go to Uni and study theology, or hit the road and start full-time worship ministry. I was pulling my hair out trying to choose! God in his sense of humour had a wonderful plan for me that included both. It turned out that my degree at Oxford would be my training ground as a songwriter – shaping my mind and taking me deep into God's word. It also equipped me to teach on worship, which has become a key part of my worship-leading ministry today. Songwriters are the theologians of our day, as people remember songs way more than sermons. So we have a responsibility to get great theology into our lyrics, as we are feeding a generation through our music – and we’d better be feeding them truth!
Many Christians in ministry are concerned about the potential for inappropriate relationships between men and women, which can sometimes lead to women being excluded or missing out on opportunities and on mentoring. Have you experienced this? How do you safeguard your relationships with others?
It is good to be careful about this, but some people take it too far. I love all the men I am around in Christian ministry and on conference platforms, but purely just on objective numbers it is a bit of a man's world in both the UK and USA. Because of this, the guys need to be sensitive about how they treat women in ministry. I try and avoid being alone with men if no one else is around but sometimes when men creates rules like "I will never ride alone with a woman in a car" it makes us girls feel a bit left out and like we are seductresses when those thoughts had never even crossed our minds! There has to be room for us to be allowed into the social circle otherwise it can get lonely. It's also tough as many male pastors (only) travel with male worship leaders. There aren’t many female pastors or speakers who travel a lot, so it’s tough to replicate this as a female worship leader if the male pastor leaves you behind. So there are definite ways we all need to re-address these things and figure out a better approach.
You seem to be doing more in the UK recently, why is that?
I love the UK – it's my homeland! When I moved to the States I signed with an American record label and needed to give concentrated focus to the USA, as the label were investing a lot in me. As the States is so large it meant that almost all of my time needed to be spent within the USA, letting the American church get to know me. Now that I have established great relationship with the States over five years of touring, it frees me up to be able to spend more time leading worship back home, which I am very excited about! I led worship at Spring Harvest's Big Top last April and will be back there in 2010. I am also the artist representative for Hope for Justice, a UK based organization fighting against human trafficking, so I’ll be leading worship at their events in September and next spring. I'll also be at Youthwork the Conference in November. And there are plans for more events in 2010 – so I’ll be around a lot more!
There seem to be quite a few worship songs with a justice flavour being written at the moment, why do you think this is?
I think the theme of Justice is something God is stirring up in the church globally. It's great because we need an awakening, to see that worship is SO much more than songs. If you check out Isaiah, Micah, Amos and the other OT prophets you'll see that worship has much more to do with social action and justice than we might have thought. Unless we are living right and making a change in the world, Amos says that God will 'put his fingers in his ears' when we sing and that our beautiful songs will sound like a noisy din to him. He wants the offering of justice and mercy – of taking the love of Jesus into a broken world. I think we are all learning about what worship really means. So that accounts for the songs that are springing up on this topic. May there be many more!!
Vicky was talking to Wendy Beech-Ward, Director of Spring Harvest.
The Sophia Network exists to connect women in youth work and ministry to access training, develop skills and share wisdom.
Vicky Beeching and Geraldine Latty: two female worship leader who inspire me as a local female WP!
(Monica)
Posted by: Monica Cooper | August 01, 2009 at 10:57 PM