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Heavenly Talents, Earthly Bills: Rethinking Gospel Music & Jesus Economics
The age-old question dividing Nigeria's Christian community has resurfaced with new intensity: should gospel artists be paid for church performances? This raw and unfiltered conversation tackles the uncomfortable tension between ministry and marketplace in gospel music.
Many church leaders argue that true worship shouldn't come with a price tag, quoting scripture and tradition to justify why gospel musicians should perform freely "for God's glory." Meanwhile, artists struggle with real-world expenses—paying band members, buying equipment, supporting families—while being told their reward awaits in heaven.
The hypocrisy becomes evident when examining how churches treat foreign gospel artists versus local talent. The same institution that books flights and luxury accommodations for international Christian musicians often expects Nigerian artists to minister without compensation. This painful double standard has pushed countless talented musicians away from gospel music entirely.
Through personal experiences of forming a gospel group in the 90s—sometimes having to sing in public buses just to get fare money home after ministering—we explore how lack of support impacts talented individuals. The global perspective reveals striking differences: South African churches legally must pay musicians, American churches regularly compensate gospel performers, while Nigerian artists face spiritual guilt-tripping for expecting payment.
Finding balance requires churches to establish fair payment structures while artists maintain perspective about their calling. As we navigate this conversation, one truth emerges: if we truly value excellence in worship, we must also value (and compensate) those who create it. Excellence isn't free—and neither is the electric worship experience that transforms Sunday services.
Ready to join this important conversation? Subscribe now and share your thoughts on whether gospel music should be ministry first, business second, or if balance is truly possible.
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Turn up. I told you not I'll be good. You are worse than me. I know that you are saying this. She is, but that's not me. Hey, welcome to another episode on the Butterbox Podcast, where we keep it real raw and unfiltered. Of course you know, my name is Bubba K and here on the Butterbox Podcast we talk pretty much about everything.
Speaker 1:The topic we're talking about today has got the Nigerian church community divided. Let's talk about money and gospel music. Should gospel artists be paid when they perform in church, or should they do it for the glory of God? Well, some pastors are saying why should we pay them? Gospel music is a ministry, not a business. Meanwhile, the artist, on the other hand, is saying oh God, now prayer will go chop. Now, where do we draw the line? Ministry or profession? Let's talk about it Now.
Speaker 1:So the whole debate kicked off again when a gospel artist posted online about how some churches don't want to pay musicians. And boom, pastors and churchgoers started arguing left and right. Now some pastors were like if you are truly called, you won't charge for worship. Jesus didn't collect money to preach. Then gospel musicians clapped back saying bought pastor you the cholesterol already now? Now even celebrities jumped in nathan elbasi, frank edwards and even tim godfrey, you know, did lend their voice. Now some say, uh, churches should pay musicians. Others say it depends if you're called. Money shouldn't be your focus. But let's be honest most churches will pay. When it's a big foreign gospel singer coming to town, they will even book flights, hotels, vip treatment. But when it's a Nigerian gospel artist, do it for God, they say.
Speaker 1:Now this is where it gets interesting. What exactly is gospel music? Is it ministry or profession? Think about it. Pastors get paid. Some of them even drive exotic cars. Church accountants, ushers, media teams, instrumentalists they all get stipends. But when it's the choir, suddenly we say, ah, worship should be from the heart. Now let's take a global look at this whole matter. In the us, top gospel artists like franklin and Travis Green they get paid for church performances.
Speaker 1:Even in South Africa, south African churches have salaried musicians. It is a law you must pay musicians in the church. In South Africa let's not talk about our neighbor here, our next door neighbor here, ghana it is a norm you must pay musicians. But in Nigeria what you hear is use your gift for God. If we go biblical, even in the Old Testament, the Levites, that's the temple musicians, the musicians in the temple. As of that time they were taken care of. They were basically full-time worship leaders who got food and money from the temple. So if we say gospel music is a ministry, should the artists be full-time ministers too, with salaries? Anyway, see, this whole talk isn't just about gospel office. It's about money in Nigerian churches in general.
Speaker 1:Let's be real. Some pastors live like kings while their congregations struggle. Some churches have money to build multi-billion narrow cathedrals, but when it's time to pay musicians suddenly budgets no day. Meanwhile, if a church wants an international guest speaker, they will drop millions on flights and accommodation. That's a guest speaker coming to the church to preach. Make flights available, the big time. Hotel accommodations and vip treatment will be rolled out. But when is an enduring gospel singer? Brother, your reward is in heaven. I see it like hypocrisy, kind of. Or are we just afraid to talk about it?
Speaker 1:At some point in my life, when I started, I started in church and at that time this was around the late 90s, into the early uh, 2000s had a gospel group. In fact, I formed a gospel group. I think we were six in number, a couple of guys in my church, my home church and a friend of mine from another church who started a gospel accapola group at that time and we were very popular at that time. We went to a couple of churches Not just a couple of churches, we went to pretty much most of the popular churches in Lagos at that time and we were ministering. We were singing in a cappella and we were known we had to invest money in costumes because nobody was sponsoring. We didn't have sponsors at that time, so it was from our pocket money we could. We used our pocket money to make costumes for ourselves when we went out to minister because we needed to look good, costumes for ourselves. When we went out to minister because we needed to look good shoes, costumes, everything to make us look good when we were on stage and we had nobody who was supporting us at that time. Even our church, our home church at that time, wasn't in support.
Speaker 1:Now, one of the ways we did make money for ourselves back in that uh, back at that time was probably when we get wedding invitations to come perform, we were paid. Now we noticed that when we're invited for weddings or other activities outside church, we were being paid, but when other churches invited us to come minister. When we were done ministering, the pastor calls us, holds our hand, brings for us and nothing is given to us. In most cases, we have to track. We had to track back home.
Speaker 1:This was the era where malware bosses were very, very popular. It was a thing at that time. We'll get into malware bosses and we will lap ourselves. We had ministered and we didn't have money to go back home. And so, because we were broke and we didn't have money to go back home, as a gospel, a cappella group who had gone to another church to minister, what we did is that the moment we entered the malware bus, we start singing, we start harmonizing. Now I start the song, my other group members start harmonizing with different parts, and that beautiful melody that we were singing in that at that time inside that malware bus somehow got the attention of the people inside the bus and some of them, or most of them, were led to pay for us. Now we didn't have transport fare going back home.
Speaker 1:It was a risk we took. We got into the bus and just trusted that if we sink, maybe, just maybe, people will be moved and they will pay for us, and in some cases it worked. Most cases it never did. And we'll have to start arguing and start telling, uh, the conductor, we don't have money. And conductor will say as an address fine, like this one, I don't even get money for none of that shit. She found our pocket. It was embarrassing at that time, but we're going all over churches in lagos ministry. But we did not have money in our pocket because most of the churches at that time were not paying us.
Speaker 1:Now I did it for a couple of years and time came when I needed to go to the university. My parents have watched me go out every night, mostly friday night, to go minister in other churches and I'll come back home without money in my pocket. And this got them asking okay, yes, it was my parents responsibility to send me to the university at that time, but they couldn't afford it and me that was going out regularly to minister could not even raise money to support or assist my parents in sending me to school. And this brought me to a crossroad and I thought about it and I did ask myself a lot of questions if I really wanted to continue like this. And at some point I told myself enough is enough, I don't think I can do this anymore and somehow I got to the university and that was where this whole gospel music thing ended. For me at that time, that's the group, yes, although I was going around singing in campus fellowship doing gospel music even though I wasn't getting paid. But there was no encouragement and somehow I had to put an end to it and look for other things to do. I had to find other creative things to do with my time and most of those creative things that I started doing at that time led me into broadcasting, led me into podcasting, to what I'm doing today, and I'm being paid for it.
Speaker 1:So the talk about gospel musicians and gospel artists not being paid is something that is highly debatable. But I think that churches need churches need to understand that as a talented gospel musician, you have bills to pay, you have rent to pay and most of these gospel artists they do have families that they need to take care of. They have a wife or, if it's a female gospel artist, they have a husband, they have kids, they have extended family. They have bills to pay. Now, if you keep praying for them and trust that their reward is in heaven, how are they going to take care of themselves here? So it's debatable. We need to ask these questions and sometimes I just think it's um, we, we hide under the guise of his church. Is god? We have to do it for god and we forget that people have a life they need to provide for. This is a life. This is a profession, as much as we tend to look at it as spiritual. It is a profession. People make money from it. Of course we, if I make reference to the experience hosted by the house on the Rock Church.
Speaker 1:Pastor Paul Adefarasi, if you look at all the gospel musicians that come every year during the December period, if there was no money attached to it, you wouldn't see them there. It is because they have been paid for. That is the reason why you find them coming there and, yes, they are paid for their hard work. These gospel musicians need to rehearse. Sometimes they need to pay their band members, backup singers, instrumentalists that because they don't sing alone, they have a team of backup singers and instrumentalists that they work with. These same people also have families depending on them, so they have to pay them. Most times they go to studios where they rehearse and they need to pay studio time, studio fees, to get the space to rehearse. So if you don't pay them, how do they, how are they able to afford all these things? And then, when they come to your church, if they are not, you know, performing or singing or ministering at their best, you see, they are kind of, they are not spiritual enough because it takes a whole lot to put music together.
Speaker 1:And now, when we come under the guise of calling one gospel or circular, we forget that music takes a whole lot to make it happen. We have to put all these things into considerations when we talk about it and if we want to talk about a lot of secular artists today that left the church because they felt they were not supported by the church. It all started from there. A couple of gospel art secular artists that I know today started, as you know, choir members. They started singing in church and over the years they expected the church to support them. They didn't get the kind of support they needed from the church and they had to leave. The likes of Wanda Cole, the likes of Trudy Kaye, I can go on. I could go on and on and call a lot of secular musicians today who all started in the church but at some points they felt like the church wasn't giving them the kind of support they deserve, and so they had to leave the church and and today they're doing secular music.
Speaker 1:You may call it secular music. They don't see it that way. To them, they see, music is music. God gave the talent and so God that has given them the talent, do not care whatever they do with their talent. However, you are able to use your talents to provide for yourself. That is what is key, and as much as the church. People may not want to agree with what I'm saying right now, but it's the fact. However, you choose to run with your talent, that decision is solely for you.
Speaker 1:A lot of gospel artists or circle artists that feel hurt today is because the fact that when they started in church, the churches did not give them the kind of support they needed and they looked elsewhere. And that elsewhere was looking outside the church and in most cases, they got the support they needed. And they looked elsewhere, and that elsewhere was looking outside the church and in most cases, they got the support they needed outside the church. The question we should ask, like the secular music industry, how many churches have record labels? How many churches are willing to support their in-house gospel artists, sign them on, get accommodation for them, get a good car for them and get them started maybe just a few.
Speaker 1:Of course, I'm aware that back in the days christ embassy used to do that. I don't know to do that anymore, but at that time it was more like christ embassy was the only church that was doing that. But now you don't get to see that, and so when you see talented people in church walk away from church and go elsewhere to see how they can develop their talent and how they can build their talent and become something useful to themselves, it's for a reason. It's because they all have experiences and these experiences they've been able to manage it over the years. Some are pretty, pretty hard. Some do not even want to talk about it. Heart, some do not even want to talk about it, and that's why we have a lot of people outside the church who think they are doing better compared to when they were in the church. So this whole topic it's for me it's pretty much longer than what we think, and I just think we need to find a balance. We need to look for a way to, you know, find that equilibrium. Equilibrium where we can all understand ourselves and better use our gift.
Speaker 1:A pastor is called into the ministry of preaching. A gospel singer is called into the ministry of singing. Together, they are both working for God, for the enhancement of the gospel. Right now I kind of sound like a preacher, but I really do not want to sound like a preacher. But it's the fact. We need to find a common ground where we can make all these things work together. Your talent is supposed to make a way for you, your talent is supposed to provide for you, and if we keep depending on prayers where we can do those things actively ourselves, then that means that we do not even understand the scriptures that we read and the sermons that we preach on the pulpit.
Speaker 1:As much as I like to also be on the part of the gospel musicians, I would also like to address the fact that address the fact that they also have to do better. Because these days we hear the amount that some gospel musicians charge to come minister in a church and you're wondering. Some go as much as calling 10 million, 15 million era and you're wondering if I'm giving you 15 million Now, this is it. I do not want to sound like that gospel artist is not worth that amount. You are worth every penny. In fact, talent is unquantifiable. There is no level of value you can place over talent Because the value is so much.
Speaker 1:But again, you must consider certain things when you charge churches as a gospel artist. These things, if you put them into context, then we are able to arrive at a conclusion and say, okay, this is where we draw the line and this is where we do this, this is where we do that. But so, for me, gospel artists need to put into consideration a lot of things, because I know that you're all about the good life, you want to live the good life, you bills to pay, but do not overcharge. Do not over charge because when we begin to do this of course I'm aware that there are a lot of other gospel artists who do not charge they have their principles, they have the principles they live by. We hear people like nathan albasi, do see, or yacon, who say they don't charge and I I respect them for that. I do not know the um, the agreement they have or they have with god or the confidence they have with god, but that is their own, uh, personal agreement. They don't charge, they invite them to churches and they trust that the churches will use their good judgment to bless them. But they don't charge. And maybe, just maybe, some gospel artists may want to follow that pattern. I don't know, but if that's the case, that you do not want to be like Ducey or Yeko or the likes of Nathanel Bassey, who do not charge when they're being invited to a church, that's your call, do it however you want to do it.
Speaker 1:But we must find a common ground to these things. We cannot keep condemning gospel musicians and say they don't deserve to be paid. They deserve to be paid. Instrumentalists deserve to be. They take time to train themselves to bring themselves to the level that they are. So what's the way forward? Should gospel artists start charging churches heavily, or should churches set up an official payment structure?
Speaker 1:For me, I think churches should stop the guilt-tripping. If you have money to pay instrumentalists, guest speakers and media teams, then you should respect gospel artists enough to pay them too. Gospel musicians should check their priorities. If your motivation is only about money, then maybe gospel music isn't your calling. Worship should also come first Now. Balance is key in this matter. Maybe churches can have a standard budget for guest artists nothing extravagant but fair and gospel musicians can choose when to perform for free, or maybe for outreach events or similar churches because, the truth be told, excellence is not free. If we want gospel music to grow in Nigeria, then we need to start valuing the people who make it happen. That's the truth and, at the end of the day, my people, people.
Speaker 1:This whole issue is deeper than just should churches pay musicians or should we not value our talent in Nigerian church? If we want high quality worship experience, we have to stop treating gospel musicians like they don't deserve compensation and, at the same time, gospel artists should also remember this is ministry first, business second. So for me, that's my take anyway. Uh, that's where we'll come to an end on this episode of the battle box podcast. Remember, my name is baba k. You can follow us on all our major platforms on twitter, which is x now on, on Instagram, facebook, tiktok and, of course, you can also subscribe to our YouTube channel, abotabox, and you will definitely find more and more engaging topics that you will definitely enjoy. Remember, stay informed, stay woke and, of course, like I always say, the matter does not matter until it begins to matter.