Ghanaian gospel recording icon, Emelia Baidoo, has spoken on the issue of whether church instrumentalists/Singers are supposed to be paid for their work. Speaking in an exclusive interview with Best FM’s Naacy on the Sunday afternoon show, Gospel After Church, she simply said “The worker is worth their wage”, hence, supporting the motion that they should be paid.
She explained that if it is what the person does for a living on a regular basis and they have also been taken by the church to play during services, then they are worth being paid.
Just as the Bible says, the hand that does not work shall not eat. If you run a church and have prayer meetings, rehearsals, week long programmes, and in all cases, you expect the instrumentalist/singers to be there but you don’t pay him, how will he/she eat at the end of the day?” she quizzed.
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Emelia Baidoo continued that, “If they come to church not looking presentable, you will complain about their appearance too so if he or she is working as an instrumentalist or singer in the church, you have to pay them so that they can also fend for themselves. It is God’s work that they have committed them-self to, however, they are using their time so you need to help them to be able to do God’s work well”.
According to the singer, singers/instrumentalist are sometimes underrated because people feel they are only seated, playing whatever they play, not realising that even before the church service, they rehearsed for hours.
“It’s the preparation that determines that output on that day so it’s important to put all that, including the number of times you need him to do ministry, into consideration. My father used to say that what makes a good church is good word, good praise and worship, good prayer and good sound”.
On this note, the singer concluded that instrumentalists are an important part of a good church, hence, they need to be paid for their work so that they are motivated to keep doing God’s work.
Emelia Baidoo who has been described by many has one of the best when it comes to stage performance, is currently out with a new single dubbed “Onyame Nsa” which she features De Thompson.